Dr Williams's Library is a small English research library in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as University Hall.
Dr Williams's Library is a small English research library in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as University Hall.
The library was founded using the estate of Daniel Williams (1643–1716) as a theological library, intended for the use of ministers of religion, students and others studying theology, religion and ecclesiastical history. Several of its first directors were ministers associated with Newington Green Unitarian Church. [1] The library opened in 1729 at Red Cross Street with its original benefaction of around 7600 books from Williams. [2] Its site moved frequently, until the acquisition of its present home, University Hall in Gordon Square, [3] in 1890. It has always had close ties with the Unitarians, and after a V-1 flying bomb destroyed Essex Hall, the headquarters of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the Library offered a few spare rooms to displaced workers. They stayed for 14 years, until 1958. [4]
In addition to its theological holdings, the library contains collections of philosophy, history, literature, and related subjects. There is also a large collection of works on Byzantine history and culture bequeathed by Norman H. Baynes (1877–1961). In 1976, it acquired the library of New College London, which until then had trained Congregationalist ministers.
The library is known to researchers of history and genealogy for its holdings of pre-19th century material relating to Protestant nonconformity in England, including papers by Dissenting minister Joshua Toulmin. It holds the manuscript of a 17th-century diary written by Roger Morrice (1628–1702), an English Puritan minister and political journalist; it covers the years 1677 to 1691, and in 2007 the Boydell Press published a six volume edition of Roger Morrice's Entring Book. The library also has many manuscripts of Philip Doddridge (1702–1751), a Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter, including letters between Doddridge and his wife, his wife's diary and some of his artifacts. Among the other Nonconformist texts in its collection are a variety of editions of Unitarian revisions of the Book of Common Prayer. [5]
On 13 July 2006 the library offered for sale at Sotheby's its copy of Shakespeare's First Folio. The book sold for a hammer price of £2.8 million. [6] The library's director, David Wykes, commented: [7]
The library has been proud to own this remarkable copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, but its sale will secure the finances of the library and safeguard our important historic collections of manuscripts and printed books for future generations.
Amongst its aims was that, for a small fee, it kept a central registry of births mainly (but not solely) within non-conformist families, to avoid the necessity of having to have a child baptised in the Anglican church. It had variable success; up to 49,000 births were registered there until after a few months of the General Register Office for England and Wales starting up in 1837, following the Births and Deaths Registration Act the previous year. These registers are now at The National Archives under class RG5 and indexed in RG4.[ citation needed ]
Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about 1.6 hectares in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Corporation.
Andrew Kippis was an English nonconformist clergyman and biographer.
Philip Doddridge D.D. was an English Nonconformist minister, educator, and hymnwriter.
Thomas Rees, Welsh Nonconformist divine, was a Unitarian minister and scholar.
Newington Green is an open space in North London between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, Green Lanes and Matthias Road to the north, and Boleyn Road to the east. The Green is in N16 and the area is covered by the N16, N1 and N5 postcodes. Newington Green Meeting House is situated near the park.
New College London (1850–1980) was founded as a Congregationalist college in 1850.
Joshua Toulmin of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian (1761–1764), Baptist (1765–1803), and then Unitarian (1804–1815) congregations. Toulmin's sympathy for both the American (1775–1783) and French (1787–1799) revolutions led the Englishman to be associated with the United States and gained the prolific historian the reputation of a religious radical.
Samuel Jones was an English Dissenter and educator, known for founding a significant Dissenting academy at Tewkesbury.
Newington Green Unitarian Church (NGUC) in north London is one of England's oldest Unitarian churches. It has had strong ties to political radicalism for over 300 years, and is London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use. It was founded in 1708 by English Dissenters, a community of which had been gathering around Newington Green for at least half a century before that date. The church belongs to the umbrella organisation known as the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, and has had an upturn in its fortunes since the turn of the millennium.
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's educational systems from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
Samuel Clark (1684–1750), usually known as Samuel Clarke of St Albans, was an English Nonconformist pastor and theological writer, known for his Collection of the Promises of Scripture. He is not to be confused with his near-contemporary Samuel Clarke (1675–1729), philosopher and Anglican clergyman.
Richard Biscoe was an English clergyman. Initially a Dissenting minister, he later was an Anglican, Boyle Lecturer, and President of Sion College.
Walter Wilson (1781?–1847) was an English biographer of nonconformist clergy and their churches.
Essex Street Chapel, also known as Essex Church, is a Unitarian place of worship in London. It was the first church in England set up with this doctrine, and was established when Dissenters still faced legal threat. As the birthplace of British Unitarianism, Essex Street has particularly been associated with social reformers and theologians. The congregation moved west in the 19th century, allowing the building to be turned into the headquarters for the British and Foreign Unitarian Association and the Sunday School Association. These evolved into the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarianism, which is still based on the same site, in an office building called Essex Hall. This article deals with the buildings, the history, and the current church, based in Kensington.
Wymondley College was a dissenting academy at Wymondley House in Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, England. Intended for the education of future nonconformist ministers of religion, it was in operation from 1799 to 1833, when it relocated to Byng Place in London and became known as Coward College. It was also known as Wymondley Academy and Wymondley House.
Harris Manchester College (HMC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as a college for Unitarian students and moved to Oxford in 1893. It became a full college of the university in 1996, taking its current name to commemorate its predecessor the Manchester Academy and a benefaction by Lord Harris of Peckham.
Coward College was a dissenting academy at Byng Place, Torrington Square, London. Intended for the education of future nonconformist ministers of religion, it was in operation from 1833 to 1850. It was the successor to Wymondley College in Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire and the precursor, via a merger with two other colleges, of New College London.
Timothy Cruso (1657–1697) was an English Presbyterian minister and writer. He studied in the Newington Green Academy; proceeded M.A. at one of the Scotch universities; was pastor at Crutched Friars in 1688; was appointed to the Pinners Hall merchants' lectureship in 1694; and died at an early age in 1697—just eight years before Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe and immortalised his name. Cruso also published homilies and sermons.
51°31′26″N0°07′53″W / 51.5240°N 0.1315°W
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