Prynne in court
In 1850 Prynne brought a charge of criminal libel against Isaac Latimer, owner and editor of the Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal, over an article prompted by religious differences which seemed to reflect badly on him (24 January 1850). The trial took place at Exeter, before Mr. Justice Coleridge, on 6 and 7 August 1850, and excited bitter local feeling.
Latimer as defendant alleged that the English Church Union was responsible for the prosecution and funding it. The jury found the defendant not guilty, and the costs which Prynne incurred caused him financial troubles. In 1852, Prynne's support of Lydia Sellon, together with his advocacy of auricular confession and penance, provoked a pamphlet war with the Rev. James Spurrell and the Rev. Michael Hobart Seymour. Both Spurrell and Seymour were campaigners active at that time against the restoration of Anglican religious orders, particularly female orders.
An inquiry on 22 September 1852 by Phillpotts into the allegations against Prynne's doctrine and practice worked out in Prynne's favour. It took place in the Royal Hotel, Plymouth. Three girls to whom Prynne had acted as confessor made public statements. Following suggestions of Pusey, who thought Prynne should be defended by a lawyer, and Phillpotts, Prynne was defended by the Rev. Frederick Darling, his curate: who concentrated on cross-examining the girls to test their statements. Much of the content of the confessions was of a sexual or obscene nature, including an alleged incest with an older brother, and was not made public. Criticisms were published by the Rev. Joseph Hemington Harris, vicar of Tormoham, writing as "Presbyter Anglicanus", and by the Rev. Robert Henry Fortescue in correspondence with Pusey (1854, the year in which Fortescue became rector of Stockleigh Pomeroy).
A riot then took place when Phillpotts held a confirmation at St Peter's the following month.
