local inhabitants assisted his work, but often he was met by resistance or non-co-operation. His commission, backed up by the authority to call on military force if necessary, meant that he usually got his way. He charged each church a noble (one third of a pound) for his services. Dowsing's commission was at the instance and under the direction of the Earl of Manchester. It therefore ceased when his patron fell out with Oliver Cromwell in late 1644. Dowsing is unique among the iconoclasts at work during this period because he left journals recording much of what he did. They contain many detailed entries such as this one dated Haverhill, Suffolk, 6 January 1644:"We broke down about a hundred superstitious Pictures; and seven Fryars hugging a Nunn; and the Picture of God and Christ; and divers others very superstitious; and 200 had been broke down before I came. We took away 2 popish Inscriptions with Ora pro nobis and we beat down a great stoneing Cross on the top of the Church." Versions of the journals are available on-line, and are collected and interpreted in the modern edition by Trevor Cooper. A portrait of him has been identified in the collections of the Ipswich and Colchester Museums Service at Wolsey Art Gallery, Ipswich. References Sources Published editions of the Diaries 1885: Evelyn White, C.H., Published by Pawsey and Hayes, Ipswich. With Introduction etc.1885 edition on-line from Canadian libraries 2001: Trevor Cooper, ed. The Journal of William Dowsing: Iconoclasm in East Anglia during the English Civil War. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2001. xxiv + 551 pp . External links RC Richardson on H-net - Review of Dowsing's Diaries Dowsing in the Colne-Stour Valley "A Good Word for William Dowsing" from Theology Today by James F White William Dowsing.org 17th-century English Puritans Roundheads 1596 births 1668 deaths People from Mid Suffolk District