John Ryland, Jr., [Bristol], to unnamed correspondent [John Sutcliff], 22 December 1809.

My dear Bror

         You wrote to me sometime since about a young man’s coming to Bristol, do you think of sending him?  On what foundation?  Do you wish the Education Society to adopt him?—If so, wd he be willing that they shd send him into Cornwall to Mr Rowe of Redruth?  I do not know that I cd get them so to do. But I wd be willing to give up my advantage, if it be one, for the sake of Rowe’s having some assistance—and Rowe cd do as much as most persons for a young man’s improvement. Rowe and Webb are much the best Scholars we have had here in my time, who finished their Educatn at Bristol. Stennett might equal them in some respects, but they have much more natural Genius than he—

         Or your young man might go to Redruth only for half a year & come to Bl next Augt if he wishes it—

         I will describe the Case in Rowe’s words. 

 “A  person of the name of Michell has been with me for 18 months, in conseqce of which, regular preaching has been maintained every Lord’s day at Redruth, St Die, Chacewater & Pool. He has been supported by subscriptions, Chacewater 15£ Pol 10 £ Opie Smith 10£ & the Bl [Bristol] Fund 5£ together with some trifling extra helps.

     In conseqce of extreme & culpable inattentn on Michell’s part, Captn Morcam (Captain of a ship, a Deacon of Truro, & occasional preacher) has declined assisting any longer than Christmas, and the conseqce of the loss of the 15£ from Chacewater, raised in Capt. Morcam’s family, must be Michell’s retiring, which will throw me into considerable embarrassmt. You yourself know St Die. Owing to the unhappy affair of Godwin that Cause is reduced, but there is still a Congregatn and Subscripts to the amount of 10 or 12£ pr Ann. I do not like the Idea of shutting up a house (a very good one   I have preached there) the debt on which is not yet paid, but it is the only alternative of my having no Assistce and will occasion a loss in my income of ten or twelve £ which altogether is but about 60£ pr Ann. 

     Either Pool or St Die must be given up. Indeed Redruth is so increased in importance, & my scholastic engagements so many, that I believe both must be resigned—Pool is an important little interest, we have already two members from it, & maintain a very respectable congregation, tho the place of worship is inconveniently situated. I could not in Conscience resign that, in ordr to preserve the dwindled concern at St Die, where there has been no hopeful promise of conversion from the beginning. Pool is situated at the west of Redruth, where there is no Methodist Congregatn, but they abound in the neighbourhood; & if we once dip our foot out I am convinced it will be difficult, on acct of Methodt Inflce to procure a place of worship again.

     I am decidedly of Captn Morcam’s Opinion, relative to Michell’s removal. He has been a very unsuitable person. His intellect is not many removes from that of an Ouran Outang, he has been famously discipled in the false Calvinistic School, & after all my efforts to give him better views, I must pronounce him incurably infected wth that moral Miasma. Captn Morcam says he will manage Chacewater himself, & I shd have no objection to his trying for a few months to convince him, he will find a greatrdifficulty in it than he is aware of. I don’t doubt he will get so thoroughly tired & sick in 3 months, that he will give 20£ a year rather than be without assistce.

       I have just stated these particulars, in ordr to request your advice as quickly as possible. I will retain Michell if possible a week or two, till it be determined if either St Die must be given up or whether it is possible for you to provide an assistt for me— I think there is no doubt 50£ cd be raised to transport a suitable person, cd such a one be procured. He should be a prudt Man, of sound but moderate notions, & of tolerably decent talent. Could such a person be procured, I think we wd have a considerable opportunity of doing good, & may be thus prepared for a more important Station in the Church—I have not written to Mr Opie Smith, neither do I intend it, I have already written on the Subject repeatedly, but the good man appears to be more concerned to get his money in, than for any other branch of the Cornish Business. I suspect he wd not like the idea of St Die being given up on that Acct— (I own I shdnot like it) If St Die be given up, must I as a trustee keep the key?  I must have instructions on that head, as I have no doubt but the Harveys will make an immediate effort to procure possession for the Independts.” 

So far Rowe—I do think it wd be the easiest method of all, (to accomplish this Object, wch I think very important) to let your young man go to Redruth for one half year—If you and he consent, I will try to get him the Bmd Benefactions; and I hope I can surely accomplish that—Rowe wd help him on well in Learning—& get him some pocket money—I wd very readily send down a Studt who is already here; but probably BrPage wd oppose it, and I neither like to conquer him, nor to let him conquer me—It wd be worth while for the Mission Society, or any Body that cares for the Cause of Christ to help—Let me hear speedily—Or if you prefer any other plan, propose it.

                                             [Concluding portion of the letter is missing]

Text: Eng. MS. 383, fol. 1773, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. William H. Rowe (d. 1817) was minstering to the Baptist congregation in Redruth at that time. Joseph Stennett (d. 1824) served as the Baptist minister at Coate (1798-1810) and Calne (1810-24). Opie Smith was a wealthy brewer in Bath and prominent member of the Particular Baptist congregation at Somerset Street. Another reference in the above letter may be to James Mitchell, a Scotch Baptist who ministered at Cateaton Street in London c. 1806 before leaving to itinerate in Cornwall under the sanction and support of the Haldanes of Scotland Another possibility is James Mitchell (1781-1834), who served several years with the London Itinerant Society before becoming minister of a new Baptist congregation in Chapel Street, Borough, in 1813. Besides the Bristol Baptist Fund, established in 1717 “to make provision for the support of and succession in the Baptist Ministry,” some students at the college were also beneficiaries of the Terrill Fund, which was begun in the late 1680s and fully instituted in 1715 by Robert Bodenham (d. 1726) of Broadmead. The Terrill Fund was based primarily upon properties left to Broadmead from the estate of Edward Terrill (1634–ca.1685), a leading member of the Broadmead church in the seventeenth century. By the late eighteenth century, the Terrill Fund was earning about £60 a year, enough to support two ministerial students. Other bequests, such as that from the estate of Bernard Foskett (d. 1758), enabled these Broadmead Funds to support several more ministerial students. These two funds—the Bristol Baptist Fund and the Broadmead Benefactions--served as a West Country counterbalance to the Particular Baptist Fund (sometimes called the “London Fund”), which was also founded in 1717 to assist Baptist ministerial students. See See Walter Wilson, The History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches and Meeting Houses, in London, Westminster, and Southwark; Including the Lives of Their Ministers, from the Rise of Nonconformity to the Present Time, 4 vols. (London:  W. Wilson for W. Button, 1808-14), vol. 2, p. 522; Evangelical Magazine 12 (1814), 154; J. A. Jones, ed., Bunhill Memorials, Sacred Reminiscences of Three Hundred Ministers and Other Persons of Note, who are Buried in Bunhill Fields (London: J. Paul, 1849), 177.Roger Hayden, ed., The Records of a Church of Christ in Bristol, 1640-1687 (Bristol: Bristol Record Society, 1974), 10-11; Raymond Brown, The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century (London: Baptist Historical Society, 1986), 49; and Norman S., Moon, Education for Ministry: Bristol Baptist College, 1679-1979 (Bristol: Bristol Baptist College, 1979), 104, 106-107.