Nonconformists

Nonconformists, name given to sectarian English Protestants who have refused to conform to the regulations governing ceremonies and doctrines of the Church of England. It is used in a restricted sense to denote the clergy ejected from the Church in 1662 for their refusal to submit to the conditions of the Act of Uniformity; the act required that all clergy in England receive episcopal reordination regardless of what Protestant sect they belonged to before this act.