Search Results

The Emergence of Clapham 1795–1799

Anne Stott

in Hannah More: The First Victorian

This chapter links Hannah More to her friends in the Evangelical Clapham Sect, notably William Wilberforce, Henry Thornton, Zachary Macaulay, and James Stephen. The foundation of the Church ... More

This chapter links Hannah More to her friends in the Evangelical Clapham Sect, notably William Wilberforce, Henry Thornton, Zachary Macaulay, and James Stephen. The foundation of the Church Missionary Society shows how the Clapham sect was involving itself in the spread of Christianity overseas. More was friendly with one of the Clapham sect wives, Marianne Thornton, née Sykes, but never became close to Barbara Wilberforce, née Spooner. She was for a while greatly distressed when her protégée, the Bristol schoolteacher, Selina Mills, became engaged to Zachary Macaulay, the governor of Sierra Leone. In 1798 the Cheap Repository was wound up, but not until William Cobbett had circulated them in Philadelphia.Less

‘Our Clapham system’

Anne Stott

in Wilberforce: Family and Friends

Making extensive use of the correspondence of Marianne Sykes and the diary of William Wilberforce, this chapter details the origins of the Clapham Sect between 1790 and 1793. It shows how Wilberforce ... More

Making extensive use of the correspondence of Marianne Sykes and the diary of William Wilberforce, this chapter details the origins of the Clapham Sect between 1790 and 1793. It shows how Wilberforce became ever more closely connected with the Midlands Evangelicals, Thomas Babington and Thomas Gisborne. The abolition bills of 1791 and 1792 are discussed. There is a short analysis of the relationship of Henry Thornton and Marianne Sykes. Wilberforce’s move to Clapham is described and there is a brief discussion of John Venn and Charles Grant. The founding of the Sierra Leone Company and the Clapham sect’s relationships with the Temne ruler, Naimbaba and his son are analysed. This public discussion is interwoven with a study of Wilberforce’s personal life, in particular his reaction to his sister’s marriage.Less

Family Background: Clapham and After

Jane de Gay

in Virginia Woolf and Christian Culture

This chapter demonstrates that, although Woolf’s own parents, Leslie and Julia Stephen, were famously agnostic, her wider family was rooted in the Evangelicalism of the Clapham Sect. The chapter ... More

This chapter demonstrates that, although Woolf’s own parents, Leslie and Julia Stephen, were famously agnostic, her wider family was rooted in the Evangelicalism of the Clapham Sect. The chapter presents a detailed history of the involvement of Woolf’s family in the evolution of the Sect, starting with the influential theologies of her great-great-grandfather Rev Henry Venn, and continuing with the anti-slavery activities of her great-grandfather and grandfather, James and Sir James Stephen. Concentrating on her feminist-pacifist essay, Three Guineas, the chapter shows that although Woolf was critical of her ancestors for their religious, patriarchal and imperialist agendas, she also appropriated some of their values. The chapter then explores how conservative values – about women’s roles in particular – persisted, even as later generations of Stephens parted with the faith. It concludes by considering the important role played by Woolf’s Quaker aunt, Caroline Emelia Stephen, in the development of both her spirituality and her feminism.Less

Zachary Macaulay: The Making of an Abolitionist

Catherine Hall

in Macaulay and Son

This chapter focuses on the life of Zachary Macaulay, following him from his childhood in the Highlands to Glasgow, Jamaica, and Sierra Leone. It discusses how the younger son of the manse was in ... More

This chapter focuses on the life of Zachary Macaulay, following him from his childhood in the Highlands to Glasgow, Jamaica, and Sierra Leone. It discusses how the younger son of the manse was in some respects an archetypal figure of the late eighteenth century, a Scot who made a name for himself in the colonies, then settled in London, one of the extensive diaspora of those whose education had enabled them to move south, to the heart of the empire, with its web of patronage and promise. But Zachary was formed too by his encounter with Evangelicalism, a life-changing experience that determined the routes he would take. Chosen by his mentors in the Clapham Sect to play a leading part in the construction of a religious colony in Sierra Leone, he found himself locked in struggle with unruly black Nova Scotians, defending an authoritarian vision of empire.Less

The Church Missionary Society, 1799–1810

Bob Tennant

in Corporate Holiness: Pulpit Preaching and the Church of England Missionary Societies, 1760-1870

This chapter describes how the CMS was founded as part of the Evangelical Clapham Sect’s project of transforming English Christianity. The uneven pace of development of its membership and committee ... More

This chapter describes how the CMS was founded as part of the Evangelical Clapham Sect’s project of transforming English Christianity. The uneven pace of development of its membership and committee structure is linked to the missiological questions discussed in its anniversary sermons and the concept of the Evangelical preacher and missionary as Hero is seen to emerge. It is shown that after initial failures the CMS gradually tackled the problems of missionary recruitment and pre-service training, while in Claudius Buchanan it found a figure who combined powerful preaching with the marshalling of statistical evidence for setting operational policy and priorities. The CMS is contrasted with the SPG, which in the same period pursued existing policies to good effect in Canada.Less

Clapham, Family and Friends

in Zachary Macaulay 1768–1838: The Steadfast Scot in the British Anti-Slavery Movement

This chapter examines Zachary Macaulay's relationship with his family and friends. It explains that Macaulay was often separated from his family because of his public duty and his work for the ... More

This chapter examines Zachary Macaulay's relationship with his family and friends. It explains that Macaulay was often separated from his family because of his public duty and his work for the abolition of the slave trade, and mentions his family's relocation to Clapham Common in 1802, which would lead to his involvement in the Clapham Sect. The chapter suggests that because of his busy schedule, most of the people Macaulay considered friends were his colleagues in the abolition movement, who include Hannah More, Thomas Babington and Henry Thornton.Less

William Wilberforce and ‘the Saints’

Roshan Allpress

in Making and Remaking Saints in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Historians have frequently noted the twin propensities of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century evangelicals for writing hagiographical and historical narratives. This chapter argues that the ... More

Historians have frequently noted the twin propensities of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century evangelicals for writing hagiographical and historical narratives. This chapter argues that the interaction of these traditions led to the emergence of a new, distinctively evangelical form of hagiography: that of the ‘practical’ or ‘useful’ saint. This chapter moves beyond the well-worn territory of filial piety to consider how the Clapham ‘saints’ came to be regarded as such. Exploring parallel shifts in the evangelical historiographical tradition and in published funeral sermons, it outlines a set of changing ideals, from the ‘pious philanthropy’ of the 1780s through the middle ground of ‘moral celebrity’ to posthumous ‘practical sainthood’ by the 1830s and 40s. New definitions of sanctity gave rise to new narratives of mediation. The ‘practical saint’ represented the Gospel’s immanent improving power as an historical force, differentiated from the eighteenth-century emphasis on unchanging doctrine. He or she mediated between Providence and the nation, between the domestic and the global, and between industrialising mass society and the individual worker in piety. As Sir James Stephen wrote, concluding his ‘ecclesiastical biography’ of William Wilberforce, recording such a life was an exercise in ‘mémoires pour servir, in the composition of an historical picture’ – an intertwining of hagiography and historiography.Less

Anglican Evangelicalism

Gareth Atkins

in The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume II: Establishment and Empire, 1662 -1829

This chapter traces the emergence and development of Anglican Evangelicalism from the early eighteenth century onwards. It argues that while Evangelicals have always harked back to the first, ... More

This chapter traces the emergence and development of Anglican Evangelicalism from the early eighteenth century onwards. It argues that while Evangelicals have always harked back to the first, formative generations of their movement, this has tended to obscure the theological diversity, practical pragmatism, and fluid organization that characterized the new piety. What follows, then, examines the beginnings of an enduring movement, but it also outlines a distinct phase in its existence. The first section considers the gradual emergence of Evangelicalism as a distinct identity in the Church of England; the second, its ramification in clerical associations and among groups of prosperous laypeople; the third, its infiltration of metropolitan officialdom and provincial society via organized philanthropy and patronage. As well as mapping the networks that spread Evangelical influence, it explores the lasting tensions thus generated: above all, what did it mean to be both Anglican and Evangelical?Less

Introduction

in Zachary Macaulay 1768–1838: The Steadfast Scot in the British Anti-Slavery Movement

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about the contribution of evangelist, campaigner, journalist and administrator Zachary Macaulay to the abolition movement in Great ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about the contribution of evangelist, campaigner, journalist and administrator Zachary Macaulay to the abolition movement in Great Britain. The book explores the role of Macaulay as first editor of the Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter, his exposure to slavery and anti-slavery work in Sierra Leone, and his membership in the Clapham Sect. It also examines his family life and his involvement in different societies that sought religious or social improvement, including the Society for the Suppression of Vice, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the Church Missionary Society.Less