Colonel Robert Duckinfield

Here’s a hero of the faith. Unusually, a local council has had the wit and grace to erect a statue in his memory. I drove to Duckinfield town hall, east of Manchester, to see the statue of Colonel Robert Duckinfield, an avowed puritan and supporter of Cromwell, who served on his Council of State. He fought in the civil wars and captured the Ise of Man for Parliament. In the chapel (below) attached to his home at Duckinfield Hall (now lost) he established one of the country’s first Independent congregations, what we today would term Congregationalists.

Few Christians are celebrated by the world, much less ones of puritan persuasion with Cromwellian association. Local councils are often either indifferent or hostile to our evangelical heritage, so may God bless Tameside. As for the good colonel, he is standing before the Lord Jesus whom he served so faithfully on earth. For his own statue and honour, he cares little.

Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies: Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent are their instructions. Ecclesiasticus 44:1-4