When, in 1662, the "Act of Uniformity" was passed, and two thousand ministers were ejected from the Church of England, two Southampton ministers were among them: Nathaniel Robinson, the Rector of All Saints, and Giles Say, the Vicar of St Michael's. Non-conformity had begun in the neighbourhood. Robinson was "affectionately encircled by a few who entreated him to be their minister." The worshippers met secretly in various houses, but most frequently in a tenement just behind the Bargate, which afterwards became the property of Isaac Watts the elder.

The pastor of this group was Nathaniel Robinson. Giles Say gathered his company at first secretly, and then afterwards in his own house in Blue Anchor Lane. Isaac Watts, senior, became a member of Robinson's ‘Independent' church and, subsequently, a Deacon.

Southampton at this time was very different from the place it now is. Its population was only a few thousand. It was, we are told, "a charming little sequestered town, the gentle river (Itchen) rolled its pleasant and lucid waves before it, undisturbed by the iron floating bridge, and unsullied by steamboats,"(2) but this is a misleading picture.

In 1665 the town had been nearly depopulated by the Plague. The richer inhabitants fled in panic. Those left behind could not bear the burdens that fell on so small a company. The shops shut, and the deserted streets became entirely overgrown with grass. Famine threatened the poor who remained. Thirty years later, in 1695, it was still in a low state. It was reported that it was "not in the same flourishing state as formerly for, having lost its trade it has also lost most of its inhabitants, and the great houses of its merchants are now dropping to the ground and only show its ancient magnificence."

After the turn of the century it was reported again that the population was so small that the five churches were more than adequate for the inhabitants. Further comment speaks of the town as "an old fortification run to ruin," and that "the trade of the town is inconsiderable, and the vessels that lie here are but few."

Persecution
The town, we know, was the scene of persecution, but so were many other places at this time. Let us look for a moment, therefore, at life among the Dissenters at this period, for Isaac Watts, senior, was not alone in his suffering. It has been said that the period from 1662 to 1688, the year of the "glorious revolution," when William of Orange replaced James II as King of England, was the "golden age of Independency." Though it was a period of intense persecution the "Independent " churches flourished. These particular churches were described thus because they were each self-governing communities. The persecution was widespread but varied immensely in its intensity. It was never systematic over the whole period nor over the whole country.

However, Nonconformists (i.e. Independents, Baptists, Quakers and Presbyterians) were under constant threat of having their meetings broken up and of being fined. They needed great patience, and responded, through the grace of God. It was a period when those ministers who were unable to preach used the opportunity to write. The Puritan ministers whose names are famous, such as Owen, Goodwin and Manton, published their works at this time, and John Bunyan wrote most of his works at this period. "Pilgrim's Progress" appeared in 1678.

The ejected ministers, like Robinson and Say, were mostly men of learning and suffered considerably. Few of them were permitted to earn a reasonable wage. In spite of hardship the congregations increased up and down the country. Independent churches outside the Church of England were joined by those that had been formed within the parochial system and were driven out in 1662. The established Church and Government felt threatened as they saw the growing numbers of Dissenters.

They feared that Cromwellian forces would once again challenge their power! It was not many years since the Church of England had been replaced by the Presbyterians as the Established Church. Scandalous rumours about the intentions of Nonconformists were spread and punitive Acts of Parliament were passed. However, the people themselves did not share the zest for harassing Nonconformists, especially after the established ministers chose to desert their posts in London during the Plague of 1665, when the ejected ministers took the opportunity to fill vacant pulpits. To the majority, the Plague and the burning of a sizeable part of London in '66 were regarded as a ‘Divine visitation.'

Suppression
The authorities were not to be dissuaded. In 1670 a Bill was introduced which was described as "the quintessence of arbitrary malice." It was described as an Act "to prevent and suppress seditious conventicles." The malicious aspect of this Bill lay not only in the heavy fines, but in the fact that the sworn evidence of two informers was sufficient to gain prosecution, and that these informers themselves were given a third of the fine!

A survey was carried out by the established Church as to the extent of Nonconformity. The results alarmed them as to its widespread character. Dr John Owen stood out as the leader of the Nonconformists. (Isaac Watts occupied his pulpit in later years, and for this and other reasons Owen's mantle fell on him.)

In 1672 relief was granted to the Dissenters at the ‘Declaration of Indulgence’. Upon this event, the Dissenters in Southampton met for worship in Mr Say's house, which was licensed at Whitehall on the 2nd May. "We do hereby permit and license Gyles Say of the (congregationall persuasion, to be a teacher of the congregation allowed by us in a Roome or Roomes, in his House, in Southampton, for the use of such as do not conform to the Church of England, who are of the persuasion commonly called Congregationall."(3)

In 1673, however, the declaration was revoked. Say and Watts were thrown into Southampton gaol (God's House Tower) for refusing to conform. In the elder Watts' poems there are several references to his ‘darksome, melancholy cell.' These were strange days. Immorality was open and moral standards appalling. A man might 'swear like a Briton' and be ‘as drunk as a Londoner’, but if he chose to say his prayers in his own way he was a menace to society and guilty of a criminal offence!

Freed
Watts was out of prison by 11th September, 1673, for on that day he married Sarah Taunton, daughter of Mr Alderman Taunton, a pious woman and a woman of taste. Her father was descended from the Huguenots who escaped from France to England after the massacre of Protestants in Paris on St Bartholomew's Day, 1573. A community of Huguenots flourished in the town. One of his grandchildren, Richard Taunton, founded Taunton's College in 1760.

Watts settled in 41, French Street (4) where he conducted a boarding school of such repute that pupils from America and the West Indies were committed to his care. Apparently the persecution to which he was subjected ruined his academy. We are told he was 'a clothier,' ie clothmaker. This may well have been his trade before he had to give up his school, for many dissenters learnt a trade and combined it with teaching and preaching.

His mother and his wife's parents lived nearby. The young couple were constantly harassed by their enemies and Watts was again imprisoned. The strain on his wife was considerable, and when their first child, Isaac, was born on 17th July, 1674, he was small and sickly. He was baptised about September, the actual date not being recorded "by reason of an unsettled estate of the church at the tyme."