Those not conforming to the state church were persecuted through the 17th century, then ‘tolerated’ as second-class citizens with restricted rights from 1689 into the 19th century.
It could have been a baptism by a lay person. It has always been recognised in ecclesiastical law that a person who is not a clergyman, can baptise in an emergency.Stan
The 1688 Toleration Act (1 William and Mary, c.18) established the right to religious freedoms for most non-conformist denominations of Christianity (although not fully for Roman Catholics until 1791). Three main conditions had to be satisfied for non-conformists to be allowed to worship without fear of prosecution:meetings were not allowed with the doors locked, barred or bolted;preachers and ministers had to sign a declaration of faith and subscribe to an oath (or solemn declaration) of allegiance;places of meeting were to be certified to the bishop or archdeacon, or to local Justices of the Peace (JPs).