| Description | The minutes include details and resolutions on all business put before it as detailed in catalogue record UC 2/3/6. The committee appeared to be working closely with Dissenting congregations in other parts of the country. The minutes of 4 October 1789 document the presentation of a letter circulated by the Dissenters' Committee in London on instituting a committee of deputies from several congregations in the country, and discussion of 'the beneficial tendency of a general union amongst the Dissenters and the particular advantage to be expected in prosecuting the intended renewed application to Parliament for redress of the hardships which the Dissenters labour under'. The early minutes, particularly some of those of the 1790s, suggest that the congregation was forthright and independent. They held ministers with reformist sympathies, such as the Reverend Dr Joseph Priestley, in particularly high regard, as Nonconformists began to face increasing persecution and violence by loyalist mobs. The minutes of 2 October 1791 include a copy of a letter sent to Priestley by the younger members of the congregation offering their condolences for his persecution during the rioting that occurred the previous July, asking for his speedy return to Birmingham. The minutes of the 16 October 1791 include a copy of Priestley's moving reply. |