This proposal was put to Parliament by Lord Sidmouth. He suggested that Dissenting ministers should be required to establish their respectability in order to be licensed as ministers. Parliament received hundreds of petitions from Dissenters in response to this request. Sidmouth failed to achieve his goal and shortly after an act was passed which removed some of the legal restrictions placed upon Dissenters by earlier legislation such as the Toleration Act.
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Attempt to introduce licensing for Dissenting ministers". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4453, accessed 09 June 2026.]
