Life

Born in the parish of Wrangle, Lincolnshire, on 20 March 1779, he was son of a farmer who had come under the influence of John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

. After receiving some education at a nearby free school, he was apprenticed to a general shopkeeper at Burgh. On the expiration of his term he became assistant in a shop at East Retford, Nottinghamshire, of which he in time became proprietor. Here he began to associate with a group of Congregationalists, for whom he sometimes preached.

In 1806 he gave up business and entered Rotherham College. His college course finished, he became minister at Southend, Essex. After a residence of eighteen months there he was appointed classical tutor in Rotherham College. On 8 December 1818 he was ordained pastor of the Nether Chapel, Sheffield, still retaining the tutorship, spending the Sundays and Mondays in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 and the rest of the week at Rotherham

Rotherham

Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...

.

In July 1817 he became minister of Fish Street Chapel, Kingston-upon-Hull. In November 1825 he removed to James Street Chapel, Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

. A new meeting-house was built for him in April 1828 in Friar Lane, Nottingham, and in this he ministered from then on. His health giving way, he resigned his charge in November 1851, and he died on Sunday, 12 December 1852.

Works

In 1808, at the request of Dr. Edward Williams

Edward Williams (minister)

Edward Williams was a Welsh nonconformist minister, theological writer, and tutor.-Life:He was born at Glan Clwyd, near Denbigh, on 14 November 1750. His father, a farmer of good position, sent him to St. Asaph grammar school, and he was intended for the Church of England...

, Principal of Rotherham College, he published his first book, a reply to a work by the Rev. William Bennet, entitled ‘Remarks on a recent Hypothesis respecting the Origin of Moral Evil, in a Series of Letters to the Rev. Dr. Williams, the author of that Hypothesis.’ During his pastorate at Hull he published a ‘Life of Dr. Williams’ (1825).

In 1835 he delivered in London the course of Congregational lectures by which he was best known, entitled ‘The Christian Atonement, its Basis, Nature, and Bearings, or the Principle of Substitution illustrated as applied in the Redemption of Man’ (London, 1836).

He published also, during his Rotherham tutorship, a sermon on ‘The Power of God in the Soul of Man.’ After his death one of his sons issued ‘Recollections of Discourses’ which he preached in the years of 1848–50, with ‘A Biographical Sketch’ by his widow prefixed (1853).

Family

He was twice married, in May 1800 to Miss Sarah Chapman, daughter of a surgeon at Burgh

Burgh, Suffolk

Burgh is a village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk, England, about north-west of Woodbridge.St. Boltoph's church stands near the site of a Roman villa that stretches towards Clopton churchyard...

, and in December 1813 to Ann Taylor

Ann Taylor (poet)

Ann Taylor was an English poet and literary critic. In her youth she was a writer of verse for children, for which she achieved long-lasting popularity. In the years immediately preceding her marriage, she became an astringent literary critic of growing reputation...

, eldest daughter of the Rev. Isaac Taylor of Ongar. They had seven children, including the eldest son Josiah Gilbert (1814-1892) who became an artist, and Joseph Henry Gilbert

Joseph Henry Gilbert

Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert was an English chemist, noteworthy for his long career spent improving the methods of practical agriculture. He was a fellow of the Royal Society.-Life:...

.

External links

• Family history

Attribution