NOT PROSELYTES, LYMPSTONE, 1811

This somewhat niche blog  is for the record.  After all, this well may have been the first time Lympstone affairs hit the national press! 

"The Salisbuty and Winchester Journal 21st October 1811.   On Sunday the 13th inst. three persons, advanced in years, proselytes from the principles of Joanna Southcott, were publicly baptised by the Rev. Mr Gidoin in the parish church of Limpston, Devon."

What was going on in Lympstone that The Salisbury Journal and The Bristol Mirror and no doubt other early newspapers should publish this report?  As far as I can see the only local paper, The Exeter Flying Post, did not print this story.

In any case the report was mistaken.  It was written as though these baptisms were triumphant conversions to the Church of England.  In fact the three candidates were not proselytes,  that is to say they had not abandoned Southcott.  They, and presumably the rector, simply did not find Joanna's principles to be at odds with the Anglican Church, within which were some who tolerated Dissenters and others who did not.  From what we know of him, John Prestwood Gidoin, the much loved and respected Rector of Lympstone from 1792 until 1820 would have been for toleration every time.

We know all this because of a letter to the editor of The Bristol Mirror from the Reverend Samuel Eyre, a Bristolian advocate of the 'divine mission' of Joanna Southcott.   He had read the report of baptisms in Lympstone and at once wrote to John Prestwood Gidoin, the rector, to ascertain the real facts.  Eyre received a reply from Gidoin superscribed the Lympston Rectory  and dated  Oct. 25 which The Mirror published  (23rd November 1811):

"REV SIR, - The circumstances you allude to , were misrepresented; they should have been as follows:- Three persons of riper years, Dissenters, and believers in Joanna Southcott, were baptised in the Parish Church of Lympston.  The followers of Joanna Southcott are in union with the Established Church."

It would be easy enough to learn the names of the three  persons of riper age from the Parish Registers.   I'm assuming they were JPG's parishioners.  I wonder how many believers in Joanna Southcott there were in the village at that time.  .Joanna Southcott had a huge following across the nation.  She made rather a mess of things three years later by not fulfilling her promise that she would give birth to the Messiah - but at least she tried!   She was an overweight, Devonshire dumpling, of riper age, from Gittisham, and, in my opinion, as mad as a hatter yet able to carve out a lucrative career as an influencer on a mission from God.  Well, that sort of thing still happens!

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