John Fenn

John Fenn was a hosier at 78 Cornhill, London. He may have been the father of Joseph Fenn [Finn], who became a missionary to India for the Church Missionary Society. In 1799 Fenn took on a new partner in his business, Joseph Wickenden. Wickenden joined James Dore’s congregation at Maze Pond in August 1799, having been in business previously in Portsmouth and a member of the Baptist church there.  Both Fenn and Wickenden were supporters of the BMS, subscribing £2.2 each in 1800-1801 and 1804-1805. Wickenden became a deacon at Maze Pond in 1800, and also served as an associate member of the Particular Baptist Fund in 1804-1805. He may be the same John Fenn, Corndealer, 16 Tooley Street, Southwark, who lived in Peckham, where his wife operated a school, or this Fenn could be the first Fenn's son. In either case, this is the family in whose home Hays is living for a time c. 1819-20. The Fenns would have known of the Dunkin and Hays families due to their connections as Southwark Baptists and the Peckham Fenn may well have had business dealings with the Dunkin, Hays, and Wedd cornfactoring concerns. See Universal British Directory, 1/2:142; Periodical Accounts, 2:204, and 3:132, 137; Maze Pond Church Book (MS., Angus Library, Regent’s Park College, Oxford) 2: ff. 20,184, 189, and 194; Valentine, Concern for the Ministry, 48.