Nonconformists in Westbury

After the Reformation in England, laws against Baptists forced them to pray inn secret in their own homes. Several houses in Westbury were licenced as meeting places: in 1794, Mary Nippers house was licenced as 'a house set apart for them worship of God and religious exercises for Protestant dissension'. In 1816 a group of Baptists were licenced to meet in Mary Pentecosts's house. Mary Billing's home was also licenced, and three men provided their houses for this purpose in 1819, 1843, and 1850.

The Bible Christians, a sect principally based in Cornwall and Devon, bought a house for use as a place of worship, and their minister, Mr Westington, travelled from East Brent.

Bible Christian Chapel, Chapel Hill, Westbury sub Mendip
geograph-5170789, copyright Neil Owen

Thomas Collier (c. 1615-c.1691), Baptist Preacher

Thomas Collier was a somewhat mysterious character associated with

Westbury-sub-Mendip His origins are obscure and, as an itinerant preacher, he

appeared in various towns and villages in southwest England. It is known that

he was a preacher in Westbury in 1652.

Thomas Collier was a Unitarian, opposed to the concept of the Trinity. This made

him a controversial and unpopular figure in the established church. He published

his views extensively in a number of pamphlets.

A history of the Church of St Lawrence compiled by Tony Nott may be found

in the Westbury Parish Council website. Nott asserts that Thomas Collier was

born In the village in in March 1623. His family was

related by marriage with the Yeoman Hardwich

family. He was soundly educated and joined the

parliamentary army at the beginning of the war.

It was no doubt then that he became a convinced

Baptist but he must have been part of the

dissident group in the village. Collier must have

been a formidable man. He was a most effective

evangelist. His activities tended to split parishes.

Without any sources given, Nott's account of Thomas Collier cannot be verified.

His birth is not documented in the Westbury parish records of births, although a

Thomas Collier, son of Richard Collier, was baptised on 7th of March 1624.

Thomas Corbett, The Schoolmaster

Thomas Corbett was the only schoolmaster identified in the 1841 Census of Westbury. A native of Wellington in Shropshire, born in 1793, he was living with his wife, Esther and children Naomi, 12, and Jeshuran, 15, an agricultural labourer. (The unusual name of Jeshuran, the poetic name for Israel in the Hebrew bible, was popular among Baptists, although Jeshuran was later known as Jesse, a common version of the name.) Thomas's three daughters, Naomi, Ruth and Hannah, were living in Wedmore in the household of Robert Turner, Bookbinder and Engraver. (Naomi appears to have been added to the 1841 Census twice.)

We know, from the 1851 Census that Thomas was a Baptist minister. He was then living in Frome with his wife, Esther, and a daughter, Hannah, the daughter of Mary Ann Reid, his second wife.

Thomas had an interesting marital history. His first wife, Elizabeth, died in 1831, having produced two sons and two daughters: Eli, Jeshuran, Naomi, and Ruth. He succeeded in marrying his second wife, Mary Reid, in November 1832, her father having stopped the Banns in August of that year, perhaps because she was under age.

In Westbury, Thomas owned the freehold of a house and land, according to the 1846 Poll Book. Three tenants were named: John Weeks, William Toomer (?Turner), and George Weeks. This house may have been the Baptist school. There were other Baptist families in Westbury, including the Penticosts.

In 1867, when he was 69, Thomas married for the third time. On thee marriage certificate, and in the 1871 Census his occupation was Scripture Reader. He died in Bedminster in 1875, at the age of 82.