On the death of Abbot Palmer, the sub-prior, Father Bernard Burder, was appointed provisional superior and was elected as second abbot in 1853. Burder was a grandson of George Burder, a non-conformist divine who had been one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Religious Tract Society and the London Missionary Society, and editor of the "Evangelical Magazine". His father, Henry Forster Burder was also a non-conformist minister and had been a co-founder of the Congregational Union. Bernard Burder himself was a somewhat changeable character and his tenure as abbot proved to be unsettled. Against the non-conformity of his family background, he initially converted to the Anglican faith, into which he was ordained as a clergyman, serving as curate at Babbacombe, Devon, and then at Ruardean, Gloucestershire. He converted to Catholicism and in 1846 he presented himself at the guest house of Mount St Bernard, where he was accepted into the community by Abbot Palmer. Burder enjoyed a swift progression of office, being recorded as "Master of the Novices" and then sub-prior, before succeeding Abbot Palmer as superior six years later. Burder is described as having been, "a middle-aged man, rather stout, somewhat bald on the forehead, and about the ordinary height. He possesses a fine, full, clear voice, and a distinct enunciation".