In 1876 there was a disturbance at the exclusive meeting in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. A man wanted to marry his deceased wife's sister. Since this was forbidden by English law, he crossed over to France (where it was legal), got married, and returned. This caused a great deal of bickering. The situation was so bad in the Ryde meeting that J.N. Darby refused to visit it, describing it as "rotten".
Around this time, an Anglican clergyman in Ryde became convinced in his view of New Testament church principles, and soon most of his congregation wished to follow him and meet in New Testament simplicity. The clergyman's name was Mr. Finch, and he was a friend of the now aged Dr Cronin. Exclusive doctrine required that there could only be one church in a city, and if the believers in Mr. Finch's congregation wished to be received into Exclusive fellowship, they would be required to disband as a church, and individually apply to be received into the existing ("rotten") meeting. Mr Finch refused to do this, and he and his followers began to break bread by themselves, much in the manner of the first meetings in the 1820's.
Dr Cronin visited Ryde and tried to help the "rotten" meeting, but finally left and broke bread in the Finch meeting. When he returned to his home assembly in Kennington, his actions were deemed to be a denial of the one body and tasting of independency. After about six months of discussions, Dr Cronin was excommunicated.
Evidently this was not good enough for some in the Ramsgate meeting. Led by Mr. Jull, a majority decided to excommunicate the entire Kennington meeting for being too slow to excommunicate Dr Cronin. Since some disagreed with this action, the majority separated from them and began meeting in Guildford Hall. The minority (who opposed the excommunication of the entire Kennington meeting) met at Abbott's Hill. Owing to an oversight about procuring the key to the Hall, the Abbott's Hill group did not get in to the breaking of bread the first Lord's Day after the division and this was later adduced as additional evidence of their breach of fellowship.
Guildford Hall sent a message to the Park Street meeting in London requesting that they judge which meeting (Guildford Hall or Abbott's Hill) was in the right. This became known as the "Ramsgate Question". William Kelly saw nothing wrong in Dr Cronin's actions, but the Park Street meeting finally decided that Guildford Hall was right to excommunicate the Kennington meeting for being too slow to excommunicate Dr Cronin. Those who refused to accept the Park Street decision (including William Kelly and Andrew Miller) were deemed to be outside (i.e. excommunicated from) the Park Street meeting. J.B. Stoney was the leading man at the Park Street meeting (among those who agreed with the excommunication of William Kelly). This was in 1881. The majority of assemblies in North America sided with Park Street, and against William Kelly.