ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



however was, as Browne Willis tells us, * ever remarkable for its 

 orthodoxy and strict adherence to the principles of the constitution 

 both in church and state.' * The ejection of ' scandalous ministers ' 

 began even before the war. The first to go was James Bradshaw of 

 Chalfont St. Peter, of whom Dr. Andrewes of Beaconsfield had spoken 

 as a ' well-meaning man ' but ' wonderful timorous ' ; it seems that 

 he was provoked at last into wishing the Puritan lecturers hanged. 2 

 Andrewes himself did not live to see the disestablishment of the Church 

 he loved. 3 John Barton, prebendary of Aylesbury, and George Roberts 

 of Hambleden were both ejected in or before 1642.* Besides these, 

 Walker in his Sufferings of the Clergy gives the names of twelve others B 

 ejected after this date, and therefore rather for political than religious 

 reasons ; fourteen other cases may be gathered from different sources, 8 

 making a total which represents about one-seventh of the clergy in this 

 county. Their places were filled by men whose chief recommendation 

 was that they were ' godly, diligent and painful preachers ' 7 ; and as the 

 people of Buckinghamshire had long set a very high value on sermons 

 as the chief means of grace, it is probable that they were on the whole 

 well satisfied with the change. Here and there, 8 however, the new 

 ministers had some difficulty in collecting their tithes, and at Hamble- 

 den, Taplow and Monks Risborough they were vigorously resisted by 

 the ejected incumbents and their supporters." At Maids Moreton, 



Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, 53. 



a Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, 190 ; and Dr. Shaw, History of the English Church under the Com- 

 monwealth, ii. 279. He was ejected 12 November, 1640. 



' His successor, George Ashton, was ejected some time before January 1650 (Lambeth Library, 

 Parliamentary Surveys of Livings, iii. 19) 



John Barton on 18 July, 1642, and George Roberts, 23 September, 1642. Dr. Shaw, History of 

 the English Church under the Commonwealth, ii. 298, 299. John Barton was probably imprisoned for a 

 short time (Lipscomb, History of Bucks, ii. 45). George Roberts joined the King at Oxford (Walker, 

 Sufferings of the Clergy, 339, on the authority of Anthony a Wood). 



The incumbents of Cheddington, Shenley, Langley Marish, Great Marlow, Wendover, Hillesden, 

 ' Wickham,' Turweston, Stony Stratford, Moulsoe, Tyringham and Illmer. ' Wickham ' is probably 

 West Wycombe, which had been some time sequestered by October 1645 (Add. MS. 15669 f. igod) 

 William Oakley of Hillesden and Anthony Tyringham of Tyringham were still however serving their 

 respective cures in 1650 (Lambeth Library, Surveys of Livings, iii. 56, 82). 



Stoke Goldington, Taplow, Monks Risborough, Hulcott, Newton Longville, Fleet Marston, 

 Leckhampstead are named as sequestered in the Minute Book of the Committee of Plundered Ministers 

 (Add. MSS. 15669-71 ); Upper Winchendon in Dr. Shaw, History of the English Church under the Com- 

 monwealth, ii. 308 ; Beaconsfield, Hughenden, Winslow and Fulmer, in Parliamentary Surveys of Livings, 

 iii. ; Beachampton in Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, 147 ; Bierton in Records of Bucks, ii. 160 ; 

 Chetwode in Lambeth Library, Augmentations of Livings, vol. 975, 28. There may have been others also : 

 exhaustive lists for the whole country have yet to be collected, and it is clear, from the work done in con- 

 nection with this county and others, that Walker's numbers fall very far short of the truth. 



7 Variations of this description are applied to all approved ministers in the Parliamentary Surveys. 



8 At Weston Turville, Taplow, Newton Longville, Monks Risborough, Langley Marish (Add. 

 MS. 15669, f. i63d; ibid. 15670, f. 58d, I78d; ibid. 15671, 14-17, 119, I78d, 182). 



8 At Hambleden Dr: Roberts was ordered twice in 1647 to yield peaceable possession to Henry 

 Goodeare (Add. MS. 15671, i8gd and 228). He had been ejected in 1642 and had been at Oxford with 

 the king, but was bold enough to return at this time and claim his rectory. At Taplow Dr. Edmunds 

 remained in the parish and maintained that he was the true rector and that no tithes ought to be paid 

 to his successor. He was compelled to promise conformity to the orders of the Committee in 1647 (ibid. 

 15670, f. 210), but Sir Thomas Hampson and one of the churchwardens still refused to recognize and 

 pay the intruded incumbent (ibid. 15671, 14, 17, I79d). At Monks Risborough the ejected rector, even 

 after he was summoned to appear before the Committee for disturbing the Parliamentary nominee, had 



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