Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Deputies were the elected representatives of every congregation of the Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist denominations of Protestant Dissenters, within a ten mile radius of London. They evolved as a formal body to press for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts and "to take care of the civil affairs of Dissenters".
The Deputies appear to have originated at a general meeting of Protestant Dissenters held on 9 November 1732 at which a committee was appointed to consider an appeal to Parliament for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts. A meeting on 29 November 1732 recommended that every congregation of the three denominations appoint two deputies to form an assembly, and in January 1736 it was proposed that the deputies should be elected annually. This resolution became fully effective in January 1737, when 21 of these elected representatives were chosen to form a committee to deal with the main business of the year.