A Brief History - Three People
Francis Bamfield - First Minister
The first named Baptist minister in Dorchester was Francis Bamfield who took up the pastorate in 1662, although there is no record where was the place of worship. Almost as soon as Bamfield took up the position, he and other Nonconformist ministers faced religious persecution owing to the Act of Uniformity, which made the Book of Common Prayer compulsory. At about the same time The Five Mile Act was aimed at the same ministers. They were forbidden to come within five miles of their church. This Act was not repealed until 1812!
For one reason or perhaps for a combination of the above, Bamfield was arrested. He was not alone – 2,000 ministers throughout the country also refused to comply. Bamfield was imprisoned in 1662 with six other ministers in Dorchester jail (now long gone) for eight years, solely for preaching the Gospel. Not wishing to waste his time, Bamfield formed a church within the prison. Each morning he would go to the prison yard and preach to his fellow inmates unaware that his sermons were keenly listened to by local Dorchester folk who would gather outside the walls to listen.
In about 1670, still refusing to comply with the terms of the Acts he was transferred to Newgate Prison where he somehow managed to produce a pamphlet advocating the sanctity of the Sabbath. Scant records tell us that in 1672 the Baptist Church in Dorchester had two ministers in quick succession, namely John Dibnam and Francis Nye, the latter remaining until 1689. However, Bamfield’s message was adopted and the virtues of the Christian Sunday was enthusiastically preached.
Sadly, Bamfield was never released and after suffering greatly died in Newgate Prison. Perhaps aptly, a Judge Parry wrote, “Dissenters in the West of England were much like the early Christians and following their chosen religion was a dangerous pursuit at any time”
Thomas Hardy - A Distinguished Visitor
It is not generally known that Thomas Hardy once visited Dorford Baptist Chapel. Whilst working as an apprentice architect in South Street, Dorchester, Thomas Hardy was befriended by a work colleague, Henry Bastow. He invited Hardy, as a young 19 year old, to attend a mid-week prayer meeting at Dorford in 1859 during the time that Revd Frederick Perkins was Minister.
Hardy had been brought up in the Church of England but accepted the invitation. Unfortunately, at the same time that the prayer meeting was about to begin, Cook’s famous circus entered the town and apparently Messrs Perkins, Bastow and others watched the procession while Hardy waited for the prayer meeting to begin in the cold, dark vestry. Three quarters of an hour later they returned to begin the prayer meeting. Not surprisingly, Hardy seemed to have shown little interest in the Baptists. However, in her book on the life of her husband, Mrs Hardy says that the Baptist Minister, Perkins, won Hardy’s admiration by his piety and thoroughness and from them Hardy learned the necessity of plain living and high thinking.
Bob Pinkney - Long Distance Preacher
At the beginning of the 1930s, the Dorchester Group of Baptist Churches was set up consisting of Dorford, The Park Mission (now the Pentecostal Church in Cambridge Road), Buckland Newton, Piddletrenthide and Winterbourne Abbas. Initially very successful, by the mid 1950s owing to declining numbers the Group disbanded and many of the churches were closed and converted into private homes. However, during that period, Bob Pinkney who became a member of Dorford in 1934 with his wife Joyce, frequently preached in the Baptist chapels in those villages. Having no means of transport in those days, Bob thought nothing of walking to and from Winterbourne Abbas in order to take services. He once mentioned that when Communion was to be celebrated he requested that it took place at the morning service instead of the evening, otherwise he would be walking home in the dark!
With thanks to Richard Baker for this information
