The Methodist societies established by William O’Bryan (1778-1868) became known as the Bible Christians, and the first formed at Launcells and Shebbear along the Devon and Cornwall border largely on agricultural land.
Shebbear College is a co-educational Methodist independent day and boarding school located in Shebbear, Devon, 39 miles from the county seat of Exeter, in South West England and is one of a group of independent boarding schools that form part of the Methodist Church's involvement in education.
Notable Old Boys include: Sir Pridham Baulkwill, Sir Ivan Stedeford and E. W. Martin.
The parish, which lies about six miles east of the town of Holsworthy has part of its eastern boundary formed by the River Torridge, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Milton Damerel, Shebbear, Black Torrington, Ashwater, Cookbury and Thornbury.
Samuel, the eldest child, remained behind, studying at Shebbear College in Shebbear, a small village in North Devon, and later at a school in Chatham in Kent.