Robert Westley

Robert Westley was a taylor at 17 Cullum Street, Fenchurch Street, London (Holden’s [1799]: 786). He was a Baptist, having joined John Rippon’s congregation at Carter Lane on 16 December 1773 (Horsley-down and Carter Lane f.37). Westley became a deacon in March 1791, performing church duties at times with his friend, John Cowell. An entry in the Carter Lane Church Book for 16 January 1792 reads, “The church being inform’d that our Sister Thebe Austin was chargeable with the sin of Drunkeness, Brethren Westley and Cowell were appointed Messengers to admonish her and to make enquiry into the truth thereof and make their report” (n.p.). By June 1793, he had become a Trustee of the church, signing as “Taylor, Cullum Street.” That same year the church appointed Westley and William Lepard, Jr., as messengers to the Protestant Dissenting Deputies, for better “managing the Civil Affairs of Protestant Dissenters” (n.p.).  Numerous members of Carter Lane were active in the early 1790s in promoting civil toleration for Dissenters. At a meeting on Monday, 22 February 1790, the church agreed, at the request of the Protestant Dissenting Deputies, to contribute to a public collection aimed at defraying “the expences attending the application to Parliament for repealing the Test and Corporation Laws and to pay the same into the hands of Edwd Jeffries Esqr their Treasurer” (n.p.). Westley was also a subscriber to the Baptist Missionary Society in 1800-01 and in 1804-05  (BMS Periodical Accounts, vol. 2, p. 207; vol. 3, p. 137).