William Madgwick[e]

William Madgwick[e] was baptized at Broughton, along with Thomas Purdy, in 1769. Madgwick later studied at Bristol Academy.  His first preaching experience was at Unicorn Yard, which he supplied after the departure of William Clarke in 1784.   According to the Unicorn Yard Church Book, Madgwick preached for five Sundays, after which the church met on Sunday, 22 January 1786, and invited him to preach again in June. Madgwick preached for five Sundays that summer, but the church decided not to pursue him as a candidate any longer. An entry in the Church Book notes, “it being observed by the repeated absence of both members & hearers; not with that satisfaction to the Church or congregation as could be wished—the Sentiments of the Brethren & Sisters present being taken & being nearly unanimously returned to be that Mrr Madgwicks ministry had not been acceptable not being useful—agreed that the above be conveyed him in the most tender & respectful manner by the Officers of the Church who are also directed to present him with the Churches most affectionate wishes.”  Joseph Jenkins turned down an offer from the church during this time.  Daniel Williams left his church in Preston and assumed the pastorate at Unicorn Yard in January 1787. Madgwick then went to Foulmire [Fowlmire], Cambridgeshire, where a dissenting congregation was formed in 1781.  Joseph Harrison came to preach to them in 1782, but some problems in his ministry led to a group leaving and forming a Baptist meeting at Harston, which Harrison led.  After Harrison’s removal, the church at Foulmire called Madgwick in 1787 as pastor.  He was replaced by Thomas Smith of Bedford in 1795. While at Foulmire, Madgwick subscribed to Robert Robinson’s Ecclesiastical Researches (1792). See Broughton Church Book, Angus Library, Oxford; Unicorn Yard Church Book, ff. 265-69; “Statistical View of Dissenters in England and Wales,” The London Christian Instructor, or Congregational Magazine, vol. 2 (1819), 504.