Robert Pinkerton

Last updated

Robert Pinkerton (born 1780 at Foulshiels near Selkirk, Scotland [1] - died 7 April 1859 at Reigate, Surrey, England [2] ) was a Principal Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). He was a respected missionary, linguist, translator and author of several books including, most notably, The Present State of the Greek Church in Russia (1816) and Russia or Miscellaneous Observations on the past and present state of that country and its inhabitants (1833). Pinkerton travelled widely, especially in Russia, Europe (Germany in particular) and Greece encouraging the setting up of Bible societies, writing copiously about his travels and translating other authors' works from Russian, Greek and other languages.

Contents

Biography

In 1813 Pinkerton helped found the Russian Bible Society in St Petersburg; he then toured Germany (including Dresden especially) returning to Russia for three years before making a two-year missionary tour of Europe including Greece. [3] Between 1823 and 1830 he lived in London with some of his family after which he moved to Frankfurt to take the post of Sole Agent for the BFBS in the German-speaking countries in Europe. [1]

In the 1820s Pinkerton found himself having to resolve his opinions of the conflicting views of the BFBS and those of Robert Haldane that came to be known as the Apocrypha Controversy and which resulted in a split and the formation of the Scottish Bible Society. [4] [5]

Pinkerton married Dorothea, née possibly Theakston, about 1807 at her home town of Sarepta, Volgograd, Russia and had at least nine children. [6] Pinkerton is not found on a British census record but his wife Dorothea and those children who chose to live in Britain are found. [7] [8]

Pinkerton was the grandfather of linguist and translator Percy Edward Pinkerton and the architect Godfrey Pinkerton. [7] [9]

Related Research Articles

Surrey County of England

Surrey is a county in South East England which borders Kent to the east, East Sussex to the southeast, West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west, Berkshire to the northwest, and Greater London to the northeast. With about 1.2 million people, Surrey is the 12th-most populous English county, the third-most populous home county, after Kent and Essex, and the third-most populous in the Southeast, after Hampshire and Kent.

Robert Haldane was a religious writer and Scottish theologian. Author of Commentaire sur l'Épître aux Romains, On the Inspiration of Scripture and Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.

Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington

The Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington was a metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965 when it became part of the London Borough of Hackney.

Pinkerton may refer to:

British and Foreign Bible Society

The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world.

Ebenezer Henderson

Ebenezer Henderson was a Scottish minister and missionary. He spent the early part of his life in Scandinavia, was an accomplished linguist and translator.

Stoke Newington Church Street Street in the London Borough of Hackney

Stoke Newington Church Street is a road in north London of the borough of Hackney. The road links Green Lanes (A105) in the west to Stoke Newington High Street, in the east. Stoke Newington is one of the villages swallowed by the growth of London in the 19th century, and Church Street retains some of this neighbourhood feel, with many restaurants, pubs, and independent (non-chain) shops.

St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington Church in London , United Kingdom

'St Matthias Church' is a Grade-1 listed Anglican church in Stoke Newington, north London, England. Since it opened it has been known for its distinctly ‘High Church’ forms of worship.The church also holds concerts for popular musicians.

Dorothea Primrose Campbell was a poet, novelist and teacher from the Shetland islands of Scotland. She wrote a novel, Harley Radington: A Tale (1821), and had poems and short fiction printed in London periodicals. Campbell continued to write in the face of family trauma, poverty, and ethnic and gender discrimination. Her melodic, whimsical poetry and her works of fiction are seen as revealing works that cover historical and societal barriers which Campbell herself was facing.

Percy Edward Pinkerton English translator and poet, 1855–1946

Percy Edward Pinkerton was an English translator and poet. His translations included two novels by Émile Zola and a Puccini libretto.

Dr. Henry Thomas Pringuer DMus(Oxon), BMus(Oxon), FCO was an English composer, organist, and one of the first examiners for Trinity College, London.

Godfrey Pinkerton was a London-based British architect.

Vangjel Meksi (1770–1823) was an Albanian physician, writer, and translator. One-time personal physician to Ali Pasha, the 19th-century Albanian ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, Meksi produced the first translation of the New Testament into Albanian with the help and sponsorship of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). Meksi did not live to see his work's publication however, which was supervised by Gregory IV of Athens. As a member of Filiki Etaireia, a secret society whose purpose was to establish an independent Greek state, Meksi joined the Greeks in the Siege of Tripolitsa during their war of independence against the Ottoman Empire and died shortly afterwards.

Edward Stallybrass

Edward Stallybrass was a British Congregational missionary to the Buryat people of Siberia. He translated the Bible into Mongolian.

Newington Academy for Girls

The Newington Academy for Girls, also known as Newington College for Girls, was a Quaker school established in 1824 in Stoke Newington, then north of London. In a time when girls' educational opportunities were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects "on a plan in degree differing from any hitherto adopted", according to the prospectus. It was also innovative in commissioning the world's first school bus. One of its founders was William Allen, a scientist and businessman active with the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

John Manship (1726–1816) was an English businessman in the City of London and landowner in Surrey, who for over 50 years was a director of the East India Company.

West Hackney Human settlement in England

West Hackney is a district in the London Borough of Hackney, situated on the eastern side of Ermine Street, the major Roman Road better known as the A10.

Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei

The Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei was a nondenominational Christian organisation committed to translating and distributing the Bible in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. It was the successor organisation to the Bible Society of Malaya, a branch of the National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS). The Bible Society of Malaya prior to 1948 was a branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS).

Susanna Corder

Susanna Corder was an educationist and Quaker biographer.

John Owen (1766–1822)

John Owen (1766–1822) was an English Anglican priest, a secretary on its foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

References

  1. 1 2 Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions (edited by Gerald H. Anderson)
  2. ↑ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 about Reverend Robert Pinkerton - 1859 Page 158
  3. ↑ From "An Analysis of the System of the Bible Society: Throughout Its Various Parts By Charles Stokes Dudley".
  4. ↑ Mr. J. J. Gurney's Defence of union with Socinians in the British and Foreign Bible Society and The Omission of Prayer by that society, Proved to be Untenable; by Robert Haldane Esq. Published Edinburgh 1833.
  5. ↑ Good News for the World: 200 Years of Making the Bible Heard; By Roger Steer (Pages 158-163)
  6. ↑ Millicent Pinkerton b1825; IGI Source 0597093 (RG4 4499) Parish of St Dunstan's - parents given as Robert & Dorothy AND Robert Pinkerton born 1827; England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 - Piece 4392: Fetter Lane (Moravian), 1778-1838 - parent given as Robert “Foreign Secretary to the B. & F. B. Soc.” - Both actually Baptised at home in Barretts Grove, Stoke Newington, Middlesex. [These are sample references for Millicent & Robert the final issue, born in Newington, Middlesex]
  7. 1 2 1861 England Census, Surrey, Reigate Foreign, District 3, Page 33.
  8. ↑ 1871 England Census for daughter's Euphemia & Millicent and grandchildren Eustace, Godfrey & Mary - Surrey, Kingston on Thames, District 9, page 40.
  9. ↑ Marriage of Percy & Godfrey's parents George Pinkerton & Mary Easum showing Robert Pinkerton D.D. as father - London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921, Tower Hamlets, Stepney St Dunstan and All Saints, 1851, Page 159
  1. ↑ This page contains an image of Pinkerton that is courtesy of the BFBS Collection, Cambridge University Library and may be subject to copyright.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.