Charles Bamford

Charles Bamford (1727-1804) was born at Whitworth, near Rochdale, Lancashire, and was converted through the preaching of William Grimshaw of Haworth. He joined the Independent meeting at Whitworth under James Burgess (see letter 6) in 1748, but eventually adopted Baptist views and was baptized at Bacup in March 1755. He joined the church there and began preaching in homes. His first ministerial position was at Pellon Lane Church, Halifax (1755-1760), followed by a term at Machpelah, Oakenshaw, where he remained until 1774. In 1775, Bamford preached for a time to the congregation at Higher Lane, Haslingden, near Accrington, and then at Tottlebank. He returned to Haslingden, then came back once again to Tottlebank for a three year trial, “but the church did not accept him, it is supposed owing to his certifying the christening of an infant, which was contrary to Baptist doctrine.” Robert Wylie writes: “Leaving there, he declined preaching for a time until a newly-formed interest at Pole-Moor in Yorkshire again called him forth to labour, and there he preached with considerable success for several years.” Bamford served the Baptist church at Pole Moor, or Slaughwaite, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire, from 1793 to 1804. The Baptist Annual Register noted of the church at Pole Moor: “… the meeting-house is built on the common, a mile north of the village of Slaughwaite, six miles from Halifax, and three from Sallendine Nook. The number of members about sixty. A pleasing and an increasing congregation.—‘The good old pastor is more popular than ever.’” See C. E. Shipley, ed., The Baptists of Yorkshire: Being the Centenary Memorial Volume of the Yorkshire Baptist Association (London and Bradford: [n.p.], 1912), 216, 233; Robert J. V. Wylie, The Baptist Churches of Accrington and District (Accrington: W. Shuttleworth, Wellington Press, 1923) 33, 34; John Rippon, ed., Baptist Annual Register, vol. 3 (1798-1801), 39.