History of Middlesex Volume 5 Baptist Entry

Under the heading "Baptists" in 'Hendon: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 39-43. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=26889 we read

Hendon Baptist church was formed in 1873 by a group led by E J Smart, a Brent Street ironmonger, which had been meeting since c 1869 in the former Hendon charity school in Church Road. In 1878 the congregation moved to an iron hall in Finchley Lane, built by Stephen Shirley as a temperance hall. A permanent church, seating 600, was opened in 1886 on a sloping site 80 yards to the west. It was designed by J E Sears in an individualistic version of 13th-century Gothic, and is an aisled cruciform building, whose crypt serves as a church hall.

West Hendon Baptist church arose from a Sunday school which was meeting in private premises in Pollard Road in 1884. Through the efforts of E. J. Smart, a mission hall, used also as a day school, was built in Edgware Road in 1885; the building survived behind a shop in 1970. Members began meeting in new premises on the corner of Wilberforce and Station roads in 1898 and shared a minister with Hendon Baptist church until 1901. A church of brick and pebble-dash was built in 1930. It had seating for 250 in 1970, when the old church was used as a hall.

Childs Hill Baptist chapel originated in open-air meetings which were held in a cock-pit at the Old Mead in 1865 and were transferred to a laundry in Granville Road in 1866, shortly before the foundation of the chapel. In 1875 new premises in Granville Road, erected at the expense of Heath Street church, Hampstead, were registered for worship (GRO registration number 22498 in line with the 1855 Places of Worship Registration Act). The church was built of brick in a partially Byzantine style and a hall of similar design was added later. The seating capacity was 400 in 1972.

Claremont Baptist Free church originated in a mission started by Childs Hill Baptists in Claremont Road, Cricklewood, by 1928. A separate church was formed in 1931, when brick premises, registered in 1935, were erected between Claremont Road and Cheviot Gardens. A brick hall was added in 1958. There was seating for 350 worshippers in 1972.

Tennyson Road mission arose from a Baptist group which was flourishing at Mill Hill in 1881. A chapel was built in Tennyson Road between 1894 and 1896 but by 1906 had been leased to the Brethren. In 1908 the building became the first meeting-place of Union Congregational church.

The entry under "Strict Baptists" reads:

In 1938 a long-established chapel in Christchurch Passage, Hampstead, was compulsorily purchased, whereupon the congregation took over a building in Bridge Lane, Temple Fortune, which was registered as Ebenezer Strict Baptist chapel later that year. In 1972 the congregation was affiliated to the 'Gospel Standard' section of Strict Baptists.

The first Baptists in Childs Hill

There were nonconformists in the Childs Hill area perhaps from the earliest times. The house of a Samuel Everard in Childs Hill, it seems, was used for such worship as far back as 1672.
Also
Baptists used a house at Childs Hill in 1823, registered a house at the Burroughs in 1831, and built a small chapel in Brent Street in 1832. After 1843 the chapel served as a warehouse until it was taken over in 1845 by the Shouldham Street Baptist Chapel, St Marylebone, which shared it with Congregationalists. In 1851 there were 30 worshippers but attendance dwindled after the opening of Hendon Congregational church and in 1857 services ceased. Another Baptist church, founded at the Hyde in 1843, had closed by 1857.
 
From: 'Hendon: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 39-43. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=26889 Date accessed: 19 May 2011.

John Pretlove

Fiona Pretlove Foster, daughter of former pastor, John Pretlove has been in touch. She pointed out one or two factual errors here that I have endeavoured to correct. She tells us that her dad taught at Criswell College, Dallas, Texas for over 25 years. Her mom passed away in 1996 and her dad has remarried. His second wife's name is Catherine, "who was also a member of his then congregation - a pattern!" comments Fiona. She says that Dr Pretlove is now pastor of a church in Las Vegas, Nevada (First Baptist Church of the Lakes) but comes to England about twice a year as he is on the board of Chosen People Ministries. He has another daughter (Heather) who, like Fiona, was born while at Child's Hill. He also has a son David (born in the USA) who is himself a pastor, in Reno, Nevada. Fiona also adds that John now has five grandchildren. "I still remember living in the manse" she says.
NB The trips back to the UK are now less frequent I think. A sermon from 2018 can be found here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=YjocDnrzpu4