Life

The son of Henry Winder (d. 1733), farmer, by a daughter of Adam Bird of Penruddock

Penruddock

Penruddock is a small village in Cumbria, England, a few miles to the west of Penrith. It forms part of the civil parish of Hutton.-History:The name Penruddock is Cumbric. With both red soil and red sandstone in the area to the south, the word Penruddock is likely derived from the word Pen and a...

, he was born at Hutton John, parish of Greystoke

Greystoke

Greystoke may refer to:* Greystoke, Cumbria, a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England** Greystoke Castle in this village* Greystoke Park, an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England* Greystoke Park, a modern housing development in Penrith, England...

, Cumberland, on 15 May 1693. His grandfather, Henry Winder, farmer, who lived to be over a hundred (he was living in 1714), was falsely charged with murdering his first-born son. Henry Winder, the grandson, after passing through the Penruddock grammar school under John Atkinson, entered (1708) the Whitehaven Academy under Thomas Dixon

Thomas Dixon (nonconformist)

Thomas Dixon, M.D. was an English nonconformist minister and tutor.-Life:Dixon was probably the son of Thomas Dixon, ‘Anglus e Northumbria,’ who graduated M.A. at Edinburgh on 19 July 1660, and was ejected from the vicarage of Kelloe, County Durham, as a nonconformist. Dixon studied at Manchester...

, where Caleb Rotheram

Caleb Rotheram

-Life:He was born on 7 March 1694 at Great Salkeld, Cumberland. He was educated at the grammar school of Great Blencow, Cumberland, under Anthony Ireland, and prepared for the Presbyterian ministry in the academy of Thomas Dixon at Whitehaven...

 and John Taylor were among his fellow students. For two years (1712–14) he studied at Dublin under Joseph Boyse

Joseph Boyse

Joseph Boyse was an English presbyterian minister in Ireland, and controversialist.-Early life:Boyse was born at Leeds, England on 14 January 1660, one of sixteen children of Matthew Boyse, a Puritan, formerly elder of the church at Rowley, New England, and afterwards a resident for about eighteen...

 In Dublin he was licensed to preach.

In 1714 he succeeded Edward Rothwell as minister of the independent congregation at Tunley, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, and was ordained at St. Helen's on 11 September 1716, Christopher Bassnett

Christopher Bassnett

-Life:He entered Richard Frankland's Rathmell Academy as student for the Presbyterian ministry on 1 April 1696. He was an intimate friend of Matthew Henry, who says in a manuscript diary, 20 July 1709, ‘recommended Mr...

 preaching on the occasion. In 1718 (his first sacrament was 16 November) he was appointed minister of Castle Hey congregation, Liverpool. The first entry in the extant minutes of the Warrington

Warrington

Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

 classis (22 April 1719) records his admission to that body, ‘upon his making an acknowledgment of his breaking in upon the rules of it, in the way & manner of his coming to Liverpoole.’ A strong advocate of non-subscription in the controversy then active both in England and in Ireland, he brought round his congregation to that view. His ministry was successful; a new chapel was built for him in Benn's Garden, Red Cross Street, and opened in July 1727. From 1732 he corresponded with the London dissenters, with a view to the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts.

He married the widow of William Shawe of Liverpool, and educated her son William Shawe, afterwards of Preston. On taking him in 1740 to study at Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, he received the diploma of D.D.

In September 1746 he had a stroke of paralysis, and never again entered the pulpit, though he preached twice from the reading-desk in January 1747, and occasionally assisted at the sacrament in that year. John Henderson (d. 4 July 1779), who took Anglican orders in 1763, and was the first incumbent of St. Paul's, Liverpool, became his assistant and successor. Winder's faculties failed, and he died on Sunday 9 August 1752. He was buried on the south side of the churchyard of St. Peter's, Liverpool (now the cathedral); the memorial stone was earthed over when the churchyard was laid out as a garden. Henderson preached his funeral sermon. He outlived his wife, and left no issue.

His library (a remarkable one, with a valuable collection of tracts) and manuscripts were bequeathed to his congregation. The library was transferred to Renshaw Street chapel, to which the congregation moved in 1811. A important letter (now lost) giving an account (6 August 1723) of the non-subscription debates in the Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 sub-synod, which Winder had attended as a visitor, was printed in the Christian Moderator, October 1827 (p. 274), from a copy by John Scott Porter, then minister at Toxteth Park chapel, Liverpool.

Works

For young Shawe's use he had drawn up (about 1733), but did not publish, ‘a short general system of chronology’ on ‘the Newtonian plan.’ This was the germ of his bulky work, the result of twelve years' labour, ‘A Critical and Chronological History of the Rise, Progress, Declension, and Revival of Knowledge, chiefly Religious. In two Periods. I. … Tradition, from Adam to Moses. II. … Letters, from Moses to Christ,’ 1745, 2 vols. (dedication to William Shawe). He prefers Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 to all secular historians, as earlier and more authentic. In vol. ii. chap. xxi. § 3, is a eulogy of British liberties, with evident reference to the events of 1745, during which Winder had helped to raise a regiment for the defence of Liverpool. The work did not sell, and was reissued as a second edition in 1756, with new title-page, and ‘Memoirs’ of the author by George Benson

George Benson (theologian)

George Benson was an English Presbyterian minister and theologian. According to Alexander Balloch Grosart, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, his views were "Socinian" though at this period the term is often confused with Arian....

.