ommonly
called "the glory of the Independents." He died in 1829.

By the year 1851 this community had grown to such dimensions that it had,
in England and Wales, 3,244 chapels, with a membership of 1,002,307.
{80b}

The connection of the Congregationalists with Horncastle is of
comparatively recent date, and the evidence on this subject is somewhat
conflicting. Weir, in his _History of Horncastle_, published in 1820,
does not name them, in his list of Nonconformists, as existing here at
that time, but Saunders' _History_, published in 1836, gives them with
the others. Hence they would appear to have established themselves in
the town somewhere between those two dates; yet there exists a curious
small publication, entitled "The Confession of Faith of the Society of
his Majesty's Protestant subjects (dissenting from the Church of England)
called Independents, in Horncastle, in the County of Lincoln, and places
adjacent, Framed in the year of Christ, 1781, by W. R. Lincoln, printed
by S. Simmons." {80c}

The inference from these facts would seem to be, that, at that date,
1781, there was an Independent congregation in the town, probably small,
consisting of "W.R." and his personal adherents; as the wording of the
confession is said {80d} to be very remarkable, and indeed unique, "W.R."
was evidently rather of an eccentric turn of mind, which led him to
publish this authoritative statement of Faith.

The society, probably, in a few years became extinct, and it is not till
the year 1820 that we find any sign of their revival. _The Church Book_
supplies the following details: In 1820 certain worshippers in the
Wesleyan Chapel of that day, finding their religions views not in accord
with general Wesleyan sentiment, decided to erect a chapel of their own;
and for this purpose they selected a site in East Street, at the north
west corner of Foundry Street, where now stands the house, 42, East
Street. This building was opened for public worship on March 22, 1821;
the morning preacher being the Rev. B. Byron of Lincoln, the Rev. John
Pain, a Hoxton student, preaching in the afternoon, and the Rev. Thomas
Hayes of Boston, in the evening.

Mr. Pain officiated for a few weeks and then returned to Hoxton to
complete his education for the ministry. He had, however, left a
pleasing impression behind him, and he was afterwards invited, in an
address signed by 130 of the townsfolk, to come and settle among them as
their first