Sheffield

SHEFFIELD:
Sheffield-Fulwood Congregational Church History up to 1868.

By the endowment of Wm. Rowterby, Esq., of Gunthwaite, a native of the place, a small chapel was built at Fulwood about 1724, and an annual sum provided for a minister. The chapel was endowed also by Thos. Hollis, jun., Esq , with ££10 per annum, still paid. The ministers have been-

• Rev. JEREMIAH GILL, perhaps the son of Rev. Jeremiah Gill, assistant to Rev. T. Jollie. He received aid from the Hewley fund. A house was built for the minister in 1754. Mr. Gill died 1758.
• Fulwood was then taken under the care of the congregation of the Upper Chapel, who held a service in the afternoons till :he removal of Rev. Jos. Evans, 1798.
• 1798. REV. JOSEPH RAMSBOTHAM (Rotherham). He had a school at Sheffield. He removed 1802.
• Rev. W. GORTON. He died 1806.
• The upper chapel again took charge of it for a year.
• 1803. Key. WILLIAM WHITELEGG (Warrington and Manchester). An Unitarian. He remained till 1810.
• The endowment which had been placed in the hands of the Roebucks was, during Mr. W.'s ministry, lost through their failure.* He removed to Platt, 1810.
• 1810. Rev. G. W. ELLIOTT, whom Hunter calls "A heretic from an orthodox academy." He was previously at Burton-on-Trent and Coventry. On his removal, in 1817, Rev. J. Boden "helped to rescue it from heterodoxy."*1
• The Rev. JOHN MCDONALD was ordained by the Rev. Dr. Bennett and the Rev. Jas. Boden, and continued at the chapel till 1827, when he resigned. He lived to a great age, and died a few years ago. Unfortunately, when he left Fulwood, he took with him the Bible and the registers of the chapel, and all efforts since made to recover them have been unsuccessful.
• In April, 1827, Philip Gell, Esq., of Hopton, Derbyshire, as heir of William Jessop, Esq., of Broom Hall, appointed the Rev. HUGH GARSIDE RHODES to be minister, and the document appointing him is witnessed by the Rev. Thomas Sutton, vicar of Sheffield, and by Mr. McDonald, the retiring minister of Fulwood. Mr. Rhodes still holds the living. The chapel has recently undergone repairs, and is now said to be a comfortable place of worship.

In 1861, the only and surviving trustees were Messrs. Offley, Shore, and Thomas Astine Ward. A new deed was prepared, nominating Edward Bramley, William Edward Laycock, Paul England Fisher, Alfred Beckett, and Michael Hunter, jun., trustees. These gentlemen are all Unitarians.

NOTES:-
* The minister at Fulwood was to be chosen by his friend Mr. Jessop and his heirs or by the inhabitants.
*1 MSS. Mon. Brit.