The Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures was a group founded in 1783 in London, with a definite but rather constrained plan for Biblical interpretation. [1] While in practical terms it was mainly concerned with promoting Unitarian views, it was broadly based.
The founding group included John Disney, the initial Secretary, [2] and John Jebb. [3] (ODNB). The membership was 30 to 40, of varied denominations. Among them were Dr. John Calder, Michael Dodson, Andrew Kippis, Theophilus Lindsey and Richard Price in London. Those in the provinces giving at least financial support included Joseph Priestley, Bishop Edmund Law, Joshua Toulmin, and William Turner. [1] Robert Tyrwhitt joined in 1784. [4]
John Disney (1746–1816) was an English Unitarian minister and biographical writer, initially an Anglican clergyman active against subscription to the Thirty Nine Articles.
John Jebb (1736–1786) was an English divine, medical doctor, and religious and political reformer.
John Calder D.D. (1733–1815) was a Scottish dissenting minister and author.
The Society produced two volumes of Commentaries and Essays (1787), as its major achievement, before subsiding as inactive. [5] Among the contributors were Michael Dodson [6] and Henry Moore. [7]
Peter Stent was a seventeenth-century London printseller, who from the early 1640s until his death ran one of the biggest printmaking businesses of the day.
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Civil Division, and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, he is the second in seniority in England and Wales only to the Lord Chief Justice. The position dates from at least 1286, although it is believed that the office probably existed earlier than that.
The African Progress Union (APU) was founded in London in 1918 as "an Association of Africans from various parts of Africa, the West Indies, British Guiana, Honduras and America, representing advanced African ideas in liberal education". The first president was John Archer. He was succeeded in 1921 by John Alcindor. Others involved as founders included John Eldred Taylor, Thomas Horatio Jackson and Dusé Mohamed Ali.
Theophilus Lindsey was an English theologian and clergyman who founded the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in the country, at Essex Street Chapel.
The Theological Repository was a periodical founded and edited from 1769 to 1771 by the eighteenth-century British polymath Joseph Priestley. Although ostensibly committed to the open and rational inquiry of theological questions, the journal became a mouthpiece for Dissenting, particularly Unitarian and Arian, doctrines.
Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas. It was created out of the common law jurisdiction of the Exchequer of Pleas, with splits forming during the 1190s and the division becoming formal by the beginning of the 13th century. The court became a key part of the Westminster courts, along with the Exchequer of Pleas and the Court of King's Bench, but with the Writ of Quominus and the Statute of Westminster, both tried to extend their jurisdiction into the realm of common pleas. As a result, the courts jockeyed for power. In 1828 Henry Brougham, a Member of Parliament, complained in Parliament that as long as there were three courts unevenness was inevitable, saying that "It is not in the power of the courts, even if all were monopolies and other restrictions done away, to distribute business equally, as long as suitors are left free to choose their own tribunal", and that there would always be a favourite court, which would therefore attract the best lawyers and judges and entrench its position. The outcome was the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, under which all the central courts were made part of a single Supreme Court of Judicature. Eventually the government created a High Court of Justice under Lord Coleridge by an Order in Council of 16 December 1880. At this point, the Common Pleas formally ceased to exist.
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.
Robert Tyrwhitt (1735–1817) was an English academic, known as a Unitarian.
Edward William Grinfield (1785–1864) was an English biblical scholar.
William Hawes M.D. (1736–1808) was an English physician and philanthropist, founder of the Royal Humane Society. As well as his work to spread the practice of resuscitation, he was concerned to relieve poverty in east London.
The Evangelical Magazine was a monthly magazine published in London from 1793 to 1904, and aimed at Calvinist Christians. It was supported by evangelical members of the Church of England, and by nonconformists with similar beliefs. Its editorial line included a strong interest in missionary work.
James Gifford, the elder (c.1739–1813) was a British Army officer and Unitarian writer.