Baptists

Baptists, one of the most important of the sects that appeared during the English civil wars, established themselves in a number of towns during the 1650s. They were regarded as a potential threat to order both by the Cromwellian regime and by the Restoration government. In the 18th century they survived as a numerically insignificant minority: in 1800 there were five congregations, all in the south or south‐east, with roughly 500 members, mainly from the urban lower middle classes. During the 19th century numbers rose rapidly, to over 4,000 by 1861 and 7,000 by 1901. This growth was mainly in Ulster, and the new recruits, mainly converts from other Protestant denominations, were drawn predominantly from small farming or industrial working‐class backgrounds. However, there was also a middle‐class element, particularly following the revival of 1859, while Dublin, with a membership drawn from the affluent southern suburbs, remained both the largest and most influential Baptist congregation.