Alexander Gordon

“ His philanthropic work began in 1849, when he acted as a visitor for the District Provident Society; in later life he said that in the House of Commons he was 'often far more tempted to take a low and sordid view of human nature than he had ever been in the slums.' His first experiment in district nursing was made in 1859, by the engagement for this work of Mary Robinson, who had attended his first wife in her fatal illness. He consulted Florence Nightingale [q. v. Suppl. II] about a supply of nurses, who suggested that Liverpool should form a school to train nurses for itself. ”

“ His friends throughout the country, in conjunction with the Sunday School Union, raised a sum which enabled the bankruptcy to be annulled and provided an annuity for Midlane and his wife. He was a man of wide sympathies; his hymns, with little claim to genius, are marked by a winsome religious emotion, and a passionate love of children. ”

“ In July 1875 Smith left York for the ministry of Upper chapel, Sheffield, but in September 1876 he was promoted to the principalship of the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, an office which he held till 1888, combining with it from 1877 the charge of Park-y-velvet chapel, Carmarthen, Retiring from the active ministry, he resided first at Bath, and latterly at Bowdon, Cheshire. Among unitarians his position was that of a mild conservatism; hence he was more at home in Carmarthen College than he had been in the atmosphere of the Manchester College. ”

“ Nothing contributed more to the expulsion of Davidson from his chair in the Lancashire Independent College than a bitter pamphlet, 'Dr. Davidson: His Heresies, Contradictions, and Plagiarisms. By Two Graduates' [namely, Mellor and Rogers] (1867) . Long after, Rogers wrote of Davidson: 'The controversies of later years separated us, but they never led me to forget or underrate the benefit I derived from his patient, painstaking, and most valuable labours' (Autobiog. 1903, p. 70) ; this contradicts the tone of the, pamphlet, but Rogers was a man who mellowed in many respects as time went on. ”

“ Hence, in 1859, he was appointed missionary tutor to the Unitarian Home Missionary Board (now College) in Manchester, and added this engagement to his Sheffield work. In 1861 he was one of the founders and editors of the 'Unitarian Herald,' and in 1862 he began the publication of 'Home Pages,' a popular series of religious tracts. Economy of time combined with sagacious method enabled him to get through an enormous amount of strenuous labour. The success of his Sheffield ministry was largely based upon his intelligent sympathy with the working classes ”

“ After a royal commission which reported that 'the Free Church are unable to carry out all the trusts of the property,' the Churches (Scotland) Act (11 Aug. 1905) appointed an executive commission for the allocation of the property between the two bodies. The 'Wee Frees' got a sufficient equipment; the United Free Church raised a further sum of 150,000l. to supplement the property recovered. Rainy did not live to re-enter the recovered college building. He had been operated upon for an internal disorder, and left Edinburgh on 24 Oct. ”

“ In 1861 Cavendish College, Manchester, was started for the training of candidates for the congregational ministry; Paton went weekly from Sheffield to take part in its professorial work. In 1863 the institution was transferred to Nottingham as the Congregational Institute, with Paton as its first principal. Temporary premises were exchanged for a permanent building (1868) , and the institute gained increasing reputation during the thirty-five years of Paton's headship. In his management of young men he was an ideal head ”

“ Robert Rainy was a man of fascinating personality and infinite tact, amounting to skilled diplomacy, being 'a rare manager of men,' regarded by his students with 'peculiar veneration and affection,' and, in spite of a certain aloofness, winning by his earnestness and goodwill the warm attachment of men in all parties. In general politics he took little part, but he followed Gladstone on the home rule question. His writings were not numerous but weighty. He published : 1. 'Three Lectures on the Church of Scotland,' Edinburgh 1872 (in reply to Dean Stanley) . 2. ”

“ His first place of ministry was the congregational church at Alma, near Adelaide, whence he soon moved to the charge of Manly church, Sydney, New South Wales, and later to a church at Newton, a suburb of Sydney. At this period he was prominent as a social reformer, a temperance advocate, and a pleader for free, compulsory, and undenominational education. ”

“ Paton's beneficent activity took other than denominational directions. A visit to Kaiserswerth had impressed him with the idea of the co-operation of all creeds to bring the influence of religion to the regeneration of society. In conjunction with Canon Morse, vicar of St. Mary's, Nottingham, he promoted a series of university lectures which led the way to the establishment of the Nottingham University College in 1880. ”

“ In July and August 1888 he conducted a 'rural mission' in Scotland; in May 1894 he addressed the general assembly of the Free Church in Edinburgh, against some phases of the 'higher criticism.' In the following November he protested against the reporting of sermons as a form of literary piracy. 'The Times' of 18 May 1896 contains his letter in favour of 'education, free, compulsory and secular.' In March 1902 he was made president of the National Free Church council. ”

“ In 1874 he published anonymously two volumes entitled 'Supernatural Religion; an Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation,' in which he impugned the credibility of miracles and the authenticity of the New Testament. ”

“ Herford visited the United States in 1875, and removed thither later in the same year on a call to the Church of the Messiah, Chicago, where he ministered from January 1876 to July 1882. He had declined in 1881 a call to Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now accepted one to Arlington Street church, Boston (the scene of Channing's labours) ; here he remained till January 1892. In America his powerful and genial personality found scope for abundant activities. ”

“ Books which helped her were the 'Life of Joseph Blanco White ' [q. v.] , 'The Soul,' by Francis William Newman [q. v.] , with whom she corresponded, and works by Theodore Parker, of Boston, Massachusetts, who sent her his sermon on the immortal life. One New Year's day she ventured to the Unitarian meeting-house in Eustace Street, Dublin, but got no refreshment from a learned discourse on the theological force of the Greek article. As a distraction from ill-health (bronchitis) she resolved to write. Kant's 'Metaphysic of Ethics,' put in her way by a friend, Felicia Skene, suggested a theme ”

“ Finding the conditions too trying, for Mary Carpenter had no idea of creature comforts, she removed in 1859 to Durdham Down, and engaged in workhouse philanthropy and the care of sick and workless girls, in conjunction with Miss Elliot, daughter of the dean of Bristol. To this mission she devoted her first money earned by magazine work, 14l. for sketches in 'Macmillan's Magazine.' Her love of travel continued ; by 1879 she had paid six visits to Italy, spending several seasons in Rome and in Florence, and a winter at Pisa. ”

“ An early friendship with the Quaker philanthropist Peter Bedford (1780–1864) determined his career. In 1863 he became secretary to the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, exchanging this in 1866 for the secretariate of the Howard Association, which he held till 31 Dec. 1901. In pursuit of his duties as an agent in the cause of penal reform he visited not only the Continent, but Egypt, Australia, Tasmania, Canada, and the United States. ”

“ After serving apprenticeship to a chemist he was employed by manufacturing chemists at Horncastle; here, as there was no presbyterian congregation, he joined the congregational body and, with a view to its ministry, studied at Airedale College (1862-7) . ”

“ To the end of his days Parker's popularity never waned, nor did his resources fail. At his Thursday services clergymen irrespective of denomination were constantly seen. William Henry Fremantle (dean of Ripon) and Hugh Reginald Haweis [q. v. Suppl. II] would have preached at these services but were inhibited; a notable address on preaching was given by Gladstone (22 March 1877) after Parker's discourse. In 1880 Parker came forward as parliamentary candidate for the City of London, with a programme which included disestablishment and the suppression of the liquor traffic ”

“ His nursing reforms were extended to Birmingham and Manchester, and to London in 1874, when the National Association for providing Trained Nurses was formed, with Rathbone as chairman of its sub-committee for organising district nursing. In 1888-9 he was honorary secretary and subsequently vice-president of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, to which the Queen had devoted 70,000l. out of the Women's Offering. Meanwhile, during the cotton famine of 1862-3, caused by the civil war in the United States, he did much, in conjunction with his cousin, Charles Melly, to raise to 100,000l. ”

“ ROBERTS, ALEXANDER (1826–1901) , classical and biblical scholar, born at Marykirk, Kincardineshire, on 12 May 1826, was son of Alexander Roberts, a flax-spinner. He was educated at the grammar school and King's College, Old Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. in March 1847, being the Simpson Greek prizeman. He was presbyterian minister (1852–71) in Scotland and London. ”

“ Perry, who had great charm of manner, was a mountaineer, an excellent horseman, a sportsman with rod and gun, and a good amateur actor. He retained his eyesight and hearing to the last. On 21 June 1904, anticipating his ninetieth birthday, he entertained at dinner a number of his pupils. He lived over seven years longer, dying at his residence, 25 Manchester Square, London, W., on 28 Dec. ”

“ He resigned his chair to devote himself to literary work, a purpose hampered by failing health. For some time he lived at Musselburgh. He delivered the Gifford lectures in 1908-9. He died, unmarried, at his residence, 3 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, on 25 Nov. 1910.
Flint was in person spare but well knit; his pale features wore an expression of self-command; his dark moustache gave distinction to his clerical garb. He had few intimates, and lived much of his life apart, devoted to his studies, always a hard reader, of extraordinary diligence in research and facile power of mastery. ”

“ Through the kindness of his relative, Arthur Guinness (1768–1855) , grandfather of Baron Ardilaun and of Viscount Iveagh, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he was a contemporary of William Digby Seymour [q. v.] , and latterly was engaged as teacher in an English school. After graduating B.A. in 1843 he entered the Lancashire Independent College, Manchester, where he had as contemporaries Robert Alfred Vaughan [q. v.] ”

“ The family returned to Congregationalism in 1852, and Parker, having obtained a preaching engagement from John Campbell (1794–1867) [q. v.] , of the Moorfields Tabernacle, left for London on 8 April 1852. While in London, Campbell gave him nine months' sermon drill, and he attended the lectures of John Hoppus [q. v.] at University College. Soon becoming known as a preacher of original gifts, he was called to Banbury (salary 120l.) ”

“ Roberts co-operated with Sir James Donaldson as editor and part translator of the English versions of ecclesiastical writers published as the 'Ante-Nicene Christian Library' (1867–72, 24 vols.) ; he translated also the 'Works of Sulpitius Severus' (1895) in the 'Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.' He is best known for the series of works in which he maintains that Greek was the habitual speech of our Lord, a conclusion which has not met with general favour, despite the ability with which Roberts managed his case. ”

“ WILLIAMS, HUGH (1843–1911) , ecclesiastical historian, son of Hugh Williams (d. 1905, aged ninety-two) , carrier and small freeholder, of Menai Bridge, Anglesey, by his wife Jane, was born at Porthaethwy in Anglesey on 17 Sept. 1843. He got his schooling in his native village and at Bangor, and for some years worked as a mason, at the same time continuing his studies. In 1864 he entered at the Calvinistic Methodist College, Bala, where he acted (1867–9) as one of the tutors. ”

“ Rainy achieved the union of the reformed presbyterian synod with the Free Church ; the original secession synod had been incorporated with the free Church in 1852. In 1881 Rainy was made convener of the 'highland committee' of his church, a post which he ; held till death. He was hampered by unacquaintance with Gaelic, but succeeded in winning over a section of the minority opposed to the policy of union. The opposition was not so much to disestablishment as to union with a body which imperfect knowledge led them to distrust (Simpson, i. i 446) . As convener. ”

“ The Manchester congregation cleared off this, along with a debt (200l.) on their own chapel. Parker accepted their call in a letter (10 June 1858) stipulating for 'the most perfect freedom of action,' and maintaining that ’the office of deacon is purely secular.' He began his Manchester ministry on 25 July 1858, and for eleven years made himself as a preacher a power in that city, while exercising a wider influence through his literary labours. ”

“ As a member of the Irish Temperance League he supported the Sunday Closing Act. His personal adhesion to the temperance cause was extreme: urged to take stimulant in his last illness, his answer was 'I would die first.' On 9 July 1902 he left London to open an Orange bazaar at Lurgan on the 10th, and to speak at a demonstration on the 12th at Ballynahinch ”

“ Her kindly nature was shown in her love of animals, her philanthropy in her constant visits to the Bristol prisons and her interest in the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society. Her friendships were few and deep. With an habitually grave demeanour she combined a 'merry, quiet humour.' She died unmarried on 10 May 1910 at Clifton, Bristol. ”

“ His students were stimulated to the exercise of their own minds and to the attainment of a high intellectual standard. In church matters he kept aloof from many current controversies, but on occasion (1882) arguing strongly for the maintenance of the national church on a basis of 'mutual understanding, conciliation and peace.' In connection with the Edinburgh University tercentenary in 1884, in a series of professorial portraits by William Hole, Flint is etched in knightly armour as champion of the common faith. ”