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People & Stories - Paper 4
Extending the Community
FROM ‘THE CONGREGATIONAL TWO HUNDRED 1530-1948’
Building
business and professional connections
Building-related
philanthropy and public service
Church
and church-related building projects
The purpose
of this paper is to extend the concept of ‘Building – a community’
opened up in Papers 4, 4A, 4B and 4C by looking into Congregationalism in
the period up to1948.
The source
of material is:
Peel,
Albert (1948) The Congregational Two Hundred 1530-1948 London: The
Independent Press Limited
Peel’s
text is a fore-runner of
The
most interesting difference between the compilations is that Peel, unlike
Taylor and Binfield, includes Scottish and American Congregationalism as
well as that of
Reflecting
on his own compilation, Peel says:
Congregationalism,
these biographies make clear, has gripped men of every type and calling.
Preachers and teachers..... men of action..... men of business...... social
reformers. A denomination which can give the world, at the same time, a
President of the
(Peel
p21)
In
this Paper I have drawn out from Peel’s work some of the details of
contributions made in the particular field of building and built
environment, categorising them under the following headings:
-
Building business and professional connections 4
-
Building-related philanthropy and public service 9
- Church and church-related building projects 17
- America 10
- Overseas missions 1
Some
general observations follow the detailed sections.
Building
business and professional connections
Peel
gives information on three people – Williams, Martin and Parker – all of
whom had a family background and went on to become Congregational
ministers. One hopes they did not forget their early experiences. The fourth
in this group is Sir Halley Stewart who became head of the London Brick
Company and Forder’s brickmakers.
William
Williams
1781-1840
Son
of small farmer and carpenter; abandoned his trade for preaching.
Samuel
Martin
1817-1878
Trained
as an architect; became the minister for whom Westminster Chapel was built
Joseph
Parker
1830-1902
Father
a stonemason;
the minister for whom the
Halley
Stewart
1838-1937
Chairman
of London Brick Company and Forders; lay pastor in
Building-related
philanthropy and public service
This
group contains nine names. While Salt and Lever were concerned with major
town development, others were associated with a range of more specific
public and community buildings.
Titus
Salt
1803-1876
Developed
the new model manufacturing town of
William
H Lever 1851-1925
Developed
Port Sunlight and bought many houses, taking great interest in their
adaptation and in the laying out of their gardens
Philip
Dodderidge 1702-1751
Helped
found a county infirmary in
John
Howard
1726-1790
Was
instrumental in prison and sanitation reform, and hospitals
Andrew
Reed
1787-1862
Was
associated with the London Orphan Asylum and Infant Orphan Asylum
John
Rylands
1801-1888
Created
orphanages, almshouses etc plus most notably the John Rylands Library
building in
Francis
Crossley 1817-1872
Associated
with almshouses, the public park, and an orphanage in
George
Williams 1821-1905
Was
associated with the YMCA, Exeter Hall and, after his death, the new
Tottenham Court Road building
J
Henry Whitley 1866-1934
Built
a gymnasium and boys camp in Filey and became Speaker of the Commons
Church
and church-related building projects
The
first two names in this group – Brewster and Bunyan – remind us that
Congregational churches originated in houses and barns. The main sub-group
of eleven are concerned with church developments, either singly or in
substantial groups. The third sub-group - Williams, Jowett and Hardie –
are included because of their association with significant events.
William
Brewster 1560?-1644
Hosted
a congregation at Scrooby Manor House
John
Bunyan
1628-1688
Preached
to a church meeting in a barn in
Rowland
Hill
1744-1833
Two
chapels were built for him to preach in, Wotton, Glos and Surrey Chapel,
Thomas
Wilson 1764-1843
Involved
in Chapel building and
Believed
that ‘The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it’
Joshua
Wilson 1795-1874
Involved
in building Congregational Memorial Hall in London, and the Tunbridge Wells church
William
Roby
1766-1830
New
chapel at
John
A James
1785-1859
Re-built
Carr’s Lane Birmingham
Thomas
Raffles 1788-1863
Samuel
Morley 1809-1886
‘Erected
benevolence into a business’, contributing to cost of Memorial Hall and
various chapels
James
B Brown 1820-1884
New
and larger church building in
Robert
F Horton 1855-1934
Iron
church in Hampstead, new building in
Arthur
A Haworth 1865-1944
For
Manchester Board, down-town churches modernised, two great institutional
churches started in
John
C Williams 1821-1907
1898
Marriages Act allowing nonconformists to appoint registrars for their own
buildings
John
H Jowett
1863-1923
First
Nonconformist since the Commonwealth to preach in a cathedral
J
Keir Hardie
1856-1915
Believed
that the burning of all church buildings would be ‘an act of sweet savour
in the sight of Him whose name is supposed to be worshipped within their
walls’.
The
first in this group – Hillis – although not a professional town planner,
was a lay pioneer of town planning. The next five – Eliot, Whitman,
Gladden, Armstrong and Jane Addams – were concerned with community
building of various kinds. The next sub-group of three – Carver, Hopkins
and Finney – represent the early house church and subsequent formal
churches. Finally, Coolidge’s life journey is seen as one from the log
cabin to the White House.
Newell
D Hillis
1858-1929
‘An
early town planner with ideas about the city beautiful’. Added
stained glass windows at Plymouth Church Institute, NY
John
Eliot
1604-1690
Settlements
and townships for Indians
Marcus
Whitman 1802-1847
Instruction
to Indians in irrigation, provision of houses
Washington
Gladden 1836-1918
Civic
matters including government ownership of public utilities
Samuel
C Armstrong1839-1893
Hampton
National and Industrial Institute first buildings
Jane
Addams
1860-1935
Developed
‘the finest aggregation of buildings devoted to working class education
and recreation in the
John
Carver
1576?-1621
Hosted
a congregation at the Great House,
Samuel
Hopkins 1721-1803
Parsonage
burned and church in ruins in
Charles
G Finney 1792-1875
Broadway
Chapel NY built for him
Calvin
Coolidge 1872-1933
His
career was of the ‘log cabin to White House’ type
There
is just one name in this group.
Robert
A Hume 1847-1929
India
– many schools and churches built
This
small survey illustrates the general point that wherever human beings go and
whatever they do, if it is for any length of time, they will usually build.
Sometimes their structures are simply for protection, sometimes to be
symbols, and sometimes to enable community service of various kinds to take
place. Congregationalists are simply part of this human activity.
But
it does run deeper. These are people whose motivations and interests were,
given their times and places, very much the same as our own. They are our
fellow church members, involved in our part of the world church’s
‘communion of saints’. That is encouraging and gives a specific,
concrete (sometimes literally) nuance to our Christian identity in the world
of building and buildings.
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