Abraham Booth, London, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Bermondsey, Southwark, undated.

Dear Sir,

         Having had an opportunity, sooner than I expected, I have made an enquiry, relative to the questions you proposed. All the information, however, that I can give, is only this: Mr. Hiller’s Gift was first tried, by the Church in Little Prescot Street, Goodman’s Fields, on Nov. 16, 1767; & he went to Bristol, for improvement, about the latter end of Feb. or the beginning of March, 1768. – As to his Dismission from our Church, I cannot find any thing relating to it, nor do I know any thing of it: the old Church Book, about that time, having been kept very incorrectly. I am pretty well assured, however, that his Dismission from our Church, must have been, not to Tewkesbury, but to Wantage; where he was when I first knew him. – Respects to Mrs. Rippon. – I remain,

                                 Yours,

                                             A. Booth

                                                                                             Saturday Afternoon.

Text: John Rippon Letters, British Library, Add. Ms. 25387, fol. 109. Reference is to Thomas Hiller (1737-1790), who was originally from Kingstanley, Gloucestershire, before coming to London, where he joined the congregation in Goodman’s Fields. He attended Bristol Baptist Academy from 1769-1771, during which timehe assisted John Haydon at the Old Meeting House in Tewkesbury. In 1771 he became the stated minister at Tewkesbury, remaining there until his death in 1790.   If Booth is correct, while a student at Bristol and prior to his work at Tewkesbury, he also ministered at Wantage. See Robert W. Oliver, The Strict Baptist Chapels of England: The Chapels of Wiltshire and the West (London: Fauconberg Press, 1968), 109.