The recent article by Tom Locke about contribution to foreign missions by Badsey and Wickhamford parishioners in 1925 reminds us that the church was not a stranger to making donations for foreign causes. Nearly 270 years earlier, the following entry appeared in the parish register:
Contribution from the Parish of Badsey and Aldington towards the relief of Divers Protestant Churches driven out of Poland and of 20 Protestant families driven out of the confines of Bohemia (according to His Highness’s Declaration) the sum of 26 shillings and five pence, the second day of May in the year of our Lord 1658.
Sum £1 6s 5d
Richard Cragge, Minister
John [?]
Thomas Pigeon
The script at the bottom of the page is illegible.
“His Highness” was Oliver Cromwell, who had been Lord Protector of England and Wales since 1653. Richard Cragge had been the Minister since 1645. The two other names mentioned – John [difficult to decipher the surname] and Thomas Pigeon – were the Churchwardens.
“His Highness’s Declaration” was made in response to a petition that Oliver Cromwell had received. The declaration, which ran to four pages, was printed in London in 1658 by Henry Hills, and John Field, printers to His Highness:
….. from several Churches of Christ, professing the Reformed Religion, lately seated at Lesna, and
other places in Poland, representing their sad and deplorable condition, through the persecution and cruelty of their Antichristian Enemies in those parts, in the time of the War in Poland, by whom they have not only been driven from their habitation, and spoiled of their goods upon the account of Religion only, but forced to flie into Silesia for preservation of their lives, and for the Liberty of their Consciences, where a considerable number of them continue in great want and misery……
….. And His Highness having in like manner received a Petition from Twenty Protestant Families heretofore seated in the Confines of Bohemia, where Misnia belongs unto it, representing their distressed and lamentable condition, through the persecution of the Jesuits and Inquisitors of the House of Austria, by whom they have been driven out of their habitations, and spoiled of their goods, upon the sole account of Religion, who now for the safety of their lives, and for the liberties of their Consciences, are retired into the Marquisate of Culembach, where they finde a present shelter in this their very sad and calamitous condition …..
Oliver Cromwell was “greatly afflicted with the miserable and calamitous condition of the said Churches, and Families”. Having consulted with his Privy Council, he desired that collections should be made for the relief of the poor churches and their members and families. The declaration was sent to the Ministers and Churchwardens of all parishes within England and Wales. Within three days of the collection being made, the sum of money had to be handed to the High Sheriff of their county, who would then pay it into the hands of Sir Thomas Viner and Sir Christopher Pack Knights, Aldermen of the City of London.
So this was how the parishioners of Badsey and Aldington came to contribute £1 6s 5d (equivalent of £139.92 at 2025 prices) towards the fund.
Maureen Spinks, September 2025
See also
- Badsey and Wickhamford contributions to Foreign Missions, 1925
- A declaration of His Highness, for a collection towards the relief of divers Protestant churches driven out of Poland; and of twenty Protestant families driven out of the confines of Bohemia.:. In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2, University of Michigan Library Digital Collections.