58 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
ordination. He, with the younger Hughes, had been imprisoned, 
and set free on promising not to return to Plymouth without leave 
of the governor, the Earl of Bath, or his deputy. His absence 
could not have been long ; for he commences the first register-book 
of the Unitarian congregation in Treville Street, now preserved 
at Somerset House, with the entry of the marriage by him at 
Stonehouse, on the 17th September, 1662, not a month after 
Bartholomew-day, of Walter Trowt and Katharine Crampron ; 
while on the 28th November he baptized Mary, the daughter of 
George and Mary Lapthorne. He had no cure, but was an occa- 
sional preacher, and he ministered to the people who adhered to 
Hughes and Martyn when they were cast into prison. In the 
congregation thus formed the two societies in Treville and Batter 
Streets originated. It has been held that there were two congre- 
gations from the commencement ; but as Hughes and Martyn both 
ministered in the same church, and as Sherwill was the only 
minister free to engage in ministerial work in Plymouth imme- 
diately on the ejection, it seems clear that the Nonconforming lay- 
folk of Plymouth must for a considerable time have constituted 
one body, though meeting in different places, as best they could. 
But Sherwill ere long had assistance. Obadiah Hughes was 
ordained by Jasper Hicks, the ejected from Landrake, and five other 
ministers, and preached in the neighbourhood as he had opportunity. 
At length, being no longer safe, he removed to London in 1674, 
where he became minister of a large congregation. John Quicke, 
ejected from Brixton, also preached in Plymouth, and once spent 
eight weeks in the Marshalsea. Quicke continued preaching at 
Brixton after Bartholomew-day, until removed by force. When 
prosecuted for this he excused himself on the ground that there 
was no one else to supply the spiritual wants of his people ; and 
though imprisoned, contrived to escape on appeal. He would not 
agree to give up preaching as a condition of liberation ; and indeed 
made the best of his opportunities in gaol by preaching to the 
prisoners there. For this Bishop Ward prosecuted him, and, I am 
happy to say, unsuccessfully. Nathan Jacob too, the ejected 
minister of Ugborough, rode to Plymouth once a fortnight, and 
eventually became permanent pastor here. 
But for several years Sherwill was clearly the sole regular 
minister of the Plymouth Presbyterians. George Hughes never 
saw Plymouth after his retirement to Kingsbridge. He was then 
