William Chaplin
William Chaplinm (1773-1844) came to Bishop’s Stortford from Totness (the Fareham Independent Chapel) in the summer of 1797 to be the co-pastor to the aging John Angus. He was born in Totnes in 1773, and educated at Taunton Academy and was from 1793-97 pastor of an Independent congregation at Totness that had separated from the original Independent church due to the pastor becoming Unitarian. Chaplin was not ordained yet when he came to Bishop’s Stortford in 1797 (see Edward Windeatt’s A Sketch of Early Congregationalism in Totnes (Totness, 1883, p. 9). His acceptance “brought to the church another outstanding minister and preacher who guided her through an important period of change and development in local and national life” (ibid., 15). Ordained in August 1797, he worked with Angus then became sole pastor after the latter’s death in 1801, a position he maintained until his own death in 1844 (15). No church records survive from his ministry (ibid., 15), but the membership was around 40 at that time, but the number of hearers was around 250 (ibid., 16). While pastor, the Hertfordshire Union was formed in 1810 (ibid., 16). He firmly opposed Lord Sidmouth’s Bill in 1811 concerning itinerant preaching by lay ministers. Sidmouth’s bill would have required that for someone to preach in a community he would have to have the recommendation of at least six “substantial and reputable” householders of the congregation to which he belonged, and a congregation willing to listen to him. The bill would have effectively destroyed village preaching as it was then done. Much resistance to the bill came from organized efforts by eminent Dissenters, with seven hundred petitions brought to Parliament opposing the bill. Charles Grey, as usual, stood by the Dissenters, and the bill was dropped. One petition on 21 May 1811, came from Bishop’s Stortford and was signed by 126 people (ibid., 17). See also M. G. Lewis, The Congregational Church, Water Lane, Bishop’s Stortford (Bishop’s Stortford: Anchor Press, 1962).