Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    R6/63/33/4
  • Title
    From: Daniel Newcome, Vicar of Woburn To: Mrs.Cruttenden at Mrs.Howland's House, Streatham [Surrey]
  • Date free text
    1717?
  • Production date
    From: 1711 To: 1720
  • Scope and Content
    From: Daniel Newcome, Vicar of Woburn To: Mrs.Cruttenden at Mrs.Howland's House, Streatham [Surrey] "I beg the favour of you to present with my most humble Duty to my Lady Duchess the following Account of the Archdeacon's Usurpation on the Jurisdiction of Woburn. That Mr.Rome of this parish was cited by him, as under, his Archdeaconry to appear in his Court at Bedford to answer to an Action of Defamation, after which Mr.Rome came to me to know what he must do, and I well remember I earnestly advis'd him not to obey the Citation, for that I was satisfy'd the Archdeacon had no Power over any Parishioner of this Town, & that I could assure him my Lady Duchess would defend the exempt Right of this Parish. But this it seems did not give him sufficient satisfaction; so he wrote to Mr.Middleton to know Her Grace's Pleasure from him which I suppose might have given him Resolution to have stood his Ground against all the Archdeacon's menaces. But when he came to be excommunicated for not appearing then he thought Mr.Middleton's Answer was dubiously express'd, and was prevail'd on by fear and the Applications of the Archdeacon's emissaries to surrender himself for Absolution. On Sunday May 18th the Archdeacon chose to have the Schedule of Excommunication publish'd in the Church of Ridgemont [sic], & from thence sent it to me by his Apparator the dame day attested to have been solemnly publish'd. This I knew was what the Archdeacon could not justify, and therefore refus'd so much as looking into the schedule, and told the Apparator the Excommunication was invalid, and that it should not with me exclude Mr.Rome from any divine office of the Church, I should make no manner of Account of it. To this Message the Archdeacon sent me a Letter in answer to be communicated to my Lady Duchess in these words. "The Excommunication against Mr.Rome having been publish'd in the Parish Church of Ridgemont, I thought myself bound in Justice to yourself & him to acquaint you both with it; him that he may not presume to enter your Church on pretence that it was not sufficiently made known to him; yourself that you may not ignorantly admit an Excommunicate Person to the sacred Ordinances of Religion. Wherein I thought I had done you pleasure, and you must needs have been like minded, if you had consider'd the nature of excommunication, which debars the person so long as he continues under the censure, not only from communicating with the particular Congregation where the schedule is publish'd but from the Communion of the Faithful in general. This I think proper to mention early to you, because you seem'd displeased with the Apparator, who came only to give notice of what had been done, as if his very Message were an infringement of her Grace's Privileges the which must certainly be a mistake in you, who did not surely consider that if an Inhabitant of any Parish throughout the Kingdom of Great Britain had committed a crime, whereof the Cognizance his [sic] in the Jurisdiction of Bedford and was thereupon excommunicated for contempt of the Jurisdiction such his Excommunication would operate everywhere after due notice if it. It was indeed out of a particular Regard to Her Grace's present apprehensions, wherein I believe her Honour is misinformed, that I required not the schedule to be published by yourself, and in your Chapel of Woburn, because I would avoid bringing the Dispute to an issue, till such time as her Grace should think fit to call me to it. It grieves me exceedingly that this matter of the Jurisdiction has been and I'm afraid will continue to be, a bone of Contention, so long as it remains undecided. I well hoped this winter to have put it upon a fair issue when with the Bp's consent, whose authority is as near concern'd as mine, I did propose to refer it to the Arbitration of my Lord of Canterbury. If that may not be accepted I wish heartily that it might be refer'd to my Lord's Somers or Cooper, that I may know for the future how to behave myself. In this Dispute I'm only a Transferee and cannot give away a Right my Predecessors have hitherto enjoy'd. I can but refer it to the Arbitration of the Laws, if I've unhappily constrain'd to it or which I had much rather to the arbitration of some person of Honour well skilled in the Laws, such as the noble Lords aforementioned". These are the words of the Archdeacon's letter to which I have made no answer but soon sent for Mr.Rome and advis'd him to persevere in Defiance of the Archdeacon's encroachments upon Woburn, assuring him that he should have the Privilege of the services of the Church, as he had before, and of receiving the Sacrament with us, if he was dispos'd so to do, when opportunity offer'd and that he might not think the worse of himself for the Archdeacon's excommunication I told him it was my opinion it was of no more validity than an excommunication from the Pope. But all to no purpose, his wife & relations were so frighted that the next Court day, May 21 he comply'd and appear'd. And the Archdeacon exerted himself in such a manner which I should be asham'd to relate; but that I think it may be a means for her Grace never to be used so again. Before the Absolution in the Court the Archdeacon reprov'd Mr.Rome for his contempt and then told him it was well you are here, otherwise in three days time you should have been laid in a Jayle, after the absolution the haughty Archdeacon thought fit to express himself in these insolent words. Mr.Rome you now see how your friends have done by you, the Duchess of Bedford and your parson made you a great many fair Promises and now have left you in the Lurch and very good reason why, because the Duchess dares not try the Title with me; and your Parson durst as well have eaten the nails off of his fingers as have preach'd after you had come into the Church after excommunication. When the Archdeacon ended one Howin a Proctor of the Court impudently triumph'd in the same words. This relation I took down in writing from Mr.Rome's mouth this morning as he tells me Mr.Hyde of Eversholt will likewise be ready with him to swear to the truth of it. Madam, I desire her Grace may know that the Apparator has serv'd me & the Churchwarden with summons to appear at the Bishop's Visitation in Ampthill, which we are resolv'd not to do. There is a Report here, but upon what grounds I can't learn, that the Bp intends to visit & confirm at Woburn which his Lordship shall claim to do, as under his Episcopal Power. I hope I shall receive her Grace's commands to refuse the use of this Church. But if the Bp should not, as the Bp of Lincoln did not, insist upon it as his right but desire only to borrow the use of the Church for confirming, then I submit it to her Grace, whether I may not consent to the Bp's making use of the Church. I depend upon my Lady Duchess's goodness that this tedious narrative may be ascrib'd to my honest and faithful care to preserve her Grace's authority entire here, humbly desiring that my Duty may be accepted by her Grace & Madam Howland, whom I pray almighty God to bless with all possible Happiness in the little Lords & Ladies"
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