The British and Foreign Unitarian Association was the major Unitarian body in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

from 1825. The BFUA was founded as an amalgamation of three older societies: the Unitarian Book Society for literature (1791), The Unitarian Fund for mission work (1806), and the Unitarian Association for civil rights (1818 or 1819). Its offices were shared with the Sunday School Association at Essex Street, on the site of England's first Unitarian church. In 1928 the BFUA became part of the

General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC or colloquially British Unitarians) is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians, and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Irelan ...

, still the

umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for British Unitarianism, which has its headquarters,

Essex Hall Essex Street Chapel, also known as Essex Church, is a Unitarian place of worship in London. It was the first church in England set up with this doctrine, and was established when Dissenters still faced legal threat. As the birthplace of British ...

, in the same place in

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

Dates

The British and Foreign Unitarian Association was founded on 26 May 1825, at a meeting chaired by Thomas Gibson, father of Thomas Field Gibson. This was the same day as the

American Unitarian Association The American Unitarian Association (AUA) was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it consolidated with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Uni ...

was formed. (The AUA is one of two bodies that merged in 1961 to form the

Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both ...

.) ''The History of Essex Hall'', written in 1959 by Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary (i.e. chief executive) of the General Assembly for its first twenty years, claims this was entirely coincidental.

Publishing

Under the impetus of

Theophilus Lindsey Theophilus Lindsey (20 June 1723 O.S.3 November 1808) was an English theologian and clergyman who founded the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in the country, at Essex Street Chapel. Early life Lindsey was born in Middlewich, Cheshire, ...

, the first minister of the

Essex Street Chapel Essex Street Chapel, also known as Essex Church, is a Unitarian place of worship in London. It was the first church in England set up with this doctrine, and was established when Dissenters still faced legal threat. As the birthplace of British ...

, and his colleague John Disney, in 1791 the "first organized denominational Unitarian society" was formed, with the cumbersome name of The Unitarian Society for promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books. The earliest notable publication was

Thomas Belsham Thomas Belsham (26 April 175011 November 1829) was an English Unitarian minister Life Belsham was born in Bedford, England, and was the elder brother of William Belsham, the English political writer and historian. He was educated at the disse ...

's ''The New Testament in an Improved Version Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation'' (1808), which was continued by the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. At the end of 1826 the Association acquired the ''

Monthly Repository The ''Monthly Repository'' was a British monthly Unitarian periodical which ran between 1806 and 1838. In terms of editorial policy on theology, the ''Repository'' was largely concerned with rational dissent. Considered as a political journal, i ...

'' magazine, formerly edited by

Robert Aspland Robert Aspland (13 January 1782 – 30 December 1845) was an English Unitarian minister, editor and activist. To be distinguished from his son Robert Brook Aspland (1805-1869). Life Aspland was the son of Robert Aspland and his second wife, Han ...

. The Association contracted the French historian

Gaston Bonet-Maury Amy Gaston Charles Auguste Bonet-Maury (2 January 1842, Paris – 20 June 1919, Paris) was a French Protestant historian. He studied at the University of Strasbourg, graduating 1867, then was a Protestant pastor at Dordrecht, 1869–1872; followe ...

to write a history of French radical Protestantism. In March 1876 Robert Spears resigned from the Association in objection to proposals to publish the works of

Theodore Parker Theodore Parker (August 24, 1810 – May 10, 1860) was an American transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church. A reformer and abolitionist, his words and popular quotations would later inspire speeches by Abraham Linco ...

. Spears started the ''Christian Life'' as a rival magazine to the London ''Inquirer'', becoming the voice of conservative late

Biblical Unitarianism Biblical unitarianism (also capitalized as biblical Unitarianism, BU) encompasses the key doctrines of nontrinitarian Christians who affirm the Bible as their sole authority, and from it base their beliefs that God the Father is one singular bein ...

with Samuel Sharpe, till the two publications were merged in July 1929, and ran for a short time as ''The Inquirer and Christian Life''. Another magazine, the Unitarian Herald, ran from 1861 to 1889.

Mission work

The Unitarian Fund "for the Promotion of Unitarianism by means of Popular Preaching" was founded in 1806, largely by laypeople. It gave money to congregations that needed it and employed Richard Wright as an itinerant missionary. Foreign Secretaries of the Association included Sir

John Bowring Sir John Bowring , or Phraya Siamanukulkij Siammitrmahayot, , , group=note (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. He was a ...

, till 1832, then Edward Tagart.

Civil rights

It took about 150 years from the

Great Ejection The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England, following The Restoration of Charles II. It was a consequence (not necessarily ...

of 1662 to the passage of the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813, which granted toleration for Unitarian worship; the so-called

Act of Toleration 1689 The Toleration Act 1688 (1 Will & Mary c 18), also referred to as the Act of Toleration, was an Act of the Parliament of England. Passed in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, it received royal assent on 24 May 1689. The Act allowed for ...

had only worked to the favour of those Protestant dissenters who accepted the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

. This victory for Unitarians—largely pushed forward in Parliament by William Smith, and thus known sometimes under his name, or as the ''Unitarian Relief Act (Trinity Act)'' or ''The Unitarian Toleration Bill''—did not grant them full

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

while the oppressive

Corporation Act The Corporation Act of 1661 was an Act of the Parliament of England (13 Cha. II. St. 2 c. 1). It belonged to the general category of test acts, designed for the express purpose of restricting public offices in England to members of the Church ...

and

Test Act The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion in ...

remained. The Association for the Protection of the Civil Rights of Unitarians was established in 1819.

People associated with it

Presidents and Chairmen of Annual Meeting

* 1829 Thomas Gibson, father of Thomas Field Gibson (also 1844 and 1845) * John Ashton Yates, also 1856 * 1850 Thomas Field Gibson * 1869–70 Samuel Sharpe * 1898-99 Herford Brook (1830–1903) * 1918

Richard Durning Holt Sir Richard Durning Holt, Baronet, JP (13 November 1868 – 22 March 1941) was a British Liberal Party politician and businessman with interests in shipping. Background and education Holt was born on 13 November 1868 at Edge Lane, in West Der ...

* 1921 Charles Sydney Jones

Secretaries

* 1834 James Yates (1789–1871) * 1835-1842

* 1842-1858 Edward Tagart (1804–1858) * 1859-1868 Robert Brook Aspland, son of

* 1869-1876 Robert Spears * 1892-1921 William Copeland Bowie (1855–1936)

Notable members

* Samuel Bache

References

Bibliography

External links

UK Parliamentary Papers, The Unitarian Association Marriage Law Petitioning Papers