“ Into this movement he threw himself with militant ardour, his own goods being distrained upon, with those of numerous other Nonconformists, rather than that any contribution should be made by them in taxation for the purpose of an Education Act which in their opinion was calculated to support denominational religious teaching in the schools. ”

“ This degree, from an American college of minor academic status, afterwards led to sarcastic allusions, but Dr Clifford had not courted it, and his London University achievements were evidence enough of his intellectual equipment. At Praed Street chapel he gradually obtained a large following, and in 1877 Westbourne Park chapel was opened for him. As a preacher, writer, propagandist and ardent Liberal politician, he became a power in the Nonconformist body. ”