NON-CONFORMISTS AND

DISSENTERS IN FROME

continued

In 1850 The Baptist and Congregational churches, of which there were a number in Frome, decided to establish a new cemetery in the town. These were the dissenting churches. Dissenters were Christians who did not accept the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer. At the time everyone in England was obliged to use the book of common prayer. Several thousand ministers dissented (effectively refused to use it) and as a result they were ejected from their livings. John Humphrey was the incumbent at St. John's church in Frome. He was a dissenter and after losing his living founded the Rook Lane Congregational Church, which initially held meetings in the cottages opposite St.John's church and later met in Rook Lane Chapel in what is now Bath Street.