Toddington Quakers

We know from the parish registers that the Quakers were well-established in Toddington in the mid-17th century because on 8th October 1663 Ann White was buried "in the quakers burying place by Edmund White the Anabaptist contrary to law".

Visitations by the Bishop of Lincoln to Bedfordshire in the early 18th century give some idea as to the number of nonconformists in each parish from returns made by the vicar or rector. Former County Archivist Patricia Bell has compiled returns from 1706 to 1720 for the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society (Volume 81, published 2002); the returns for Toddington state that in 1706 there were eight Quakers in the parish. By 1709 this had risen to fifteen, shrinking to three in 1712, with four 1717  and five in 1720. Perhaps there had been two or three families in 1709, but one or two moved away before 1712 leaving one family which grew with the addition of children. There is no record of any registered meeting place.