Politics and Religion at Sheephey
In his Memoir, John Lord quotes from Canon Raines’ conversations with Miss Whithead, saying ‘The Kays of Park were Jacobites, which term was explained by saying they were High Churchmen in Religion, and Radical Reformers in Politics’. There is confusion here; at the time Jacobites were not radical reformers, they wanted the return of the Stuart kings. Was Miss Whitehead confusing them with the Jacobins of the French Revolution?
There is no documentary evidence of the political and religious views of the Sheephey Kays at the time, but there is plenty, in Richard Kay’s diary, about the opinions that prevailed at Baldingstone and we can make some inferences about Sheephey.
The Baldingstone Kays were staunch Presbyterians, truly Puritan in their approach to religion. They attended service twice every Sunday (in 1743, his father Robert was leaseholder for ‘the Dissenters Chapel in Bury Town’). Richard was regularly involved in the ‘Duty of Prayer’ and often mentioned ‘Days of Prayer’ held with his family and friends. Every entry in the diary concludes with a prayer. This extract says it all:
25th November 1747 This Day in the Morning we with many others attended at the Quaker’s Meeting to hear one Morgan from Bristol preach and pray his Performance was very good; in the Afternoon I waited upon Sister Betty Home she having been some Weeks with Friends at Manchester. Yester-Evening I went with several of my Friends to hear the new Organ at Manchester old Church play’d upon the first Time of it’s Opening before it’s Dons (or Worshippers); Musick in Divine Service at Churches seems to be coming much into Fashion; I was asked last Week to subscribe to an Instrument called a Bazoon to be played upon in Bury Church, they told me that Musick in Divine Service was the purest Way of Worship, it was serving God in the Beauty of Holiness, &c; it seems to me to be a merry Way of getting to Heaven, to be a Rejoycing as though they had already attained or were already perfect; Church Bigotry it’s to be feared is one great Sin in these Times; that they belong to the Church as by Law established seems to be Religion enough for Thousands; the serious devout Prayers of good Persons to God Almighty if delivered Extempore as they call it or without a Form, are of little Account with a great many; they shou’d seem to think with regard to Religion that as Christ has suffered and done a Deal for us, and as the Church is endowed with a many Forms of Prayer, so they have nothing more to do, need to take no more Pains, than now and then give Attendance to them at the Church, and these, they being so well acquainted with, and no Improvment further in Devotion can or is necessary to be made, therefore it seems high Time with some of them to set their Musick to work either to digest some Part of their Devotion which we often hear cloys with them and is not agreable to their Faith; or, in Imitation of glorified Saints and Angels in Heaven above who we believe are praising God Day and Night in his Temple. I doubt not there being great Numbers of serious good Persons in the Worship of the Church of England, but too many now a Days in that Profession run Matters into an Extream, place Religion in that wherein it really is not, say too much about their Church Priviledges, and tho’ Christians yet discover several Errours and Weaknesses. Lord, Direct our Faith, our Worship and all our Actions so as will be most agreable to the Purposes of Religion, thy Glory and the Welfare of our Pretious and our immortal Souls.
Richard’s political alignment is discussed in a separate note – the Baldingstone Kays were staunch Whigs. The diary shows a long and close relationship between the two families. Given the strength of the political and religious divisions in England at the time, this simply would not have happened had the Sheephey and Park Kays been Tory or High Anglican, or, if they were, there would certainly have been some sort of comment in the diary. In fact, there are some entries that suggest the Sheephey Kays were similar in their views to their Baldingstone cousins – for example, in June 1745, Richard attended a ‘day of prayer’ with his cousins at Sheephey which speaks volumes. It would be interesting to know where the Entwistle’s allegiances lay – did William and Ellin have an influence on the young children in their care? Lacking that, we can only assume they followed the rest of the family.
Having said that, it may well be that the years spent in Paris had an effect on the boys of the family, and that they brought home a different approach to their religion. The fact that John’s daughter Ann is supposed to have joined a convent could be regarded as significant.