George John Stevenson (1818–1888) was an English bookseller, editor, headmaster, author, historian and hymnologist.

Life

Born in Princes Yard,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

on 7 July 1818 and baptised at Saltergate Methodist Chapel 26 July 1818 as 'George Stephenson', then later at St Mary and All Saints

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Church, 20 Feb 1824, as 'John Stevenson', eldest child of Jane Aldred, (1794–1855) and John Stevenson,

Cordwainer A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is ...

(1792–1866) of Chesterfield. He was educated at Duttoris Free Grammar school, Chesterfield. Stevenson was employed in the printing and bookselling business until 1844 when he entered

St John's College, Battersea Sir Walter St John's was founded in 1700 for twenty boys of the village of Battersea. As the population and the English educational system changed, so did the school. The school was colloquially known as "Sinjuns" and was finally closed in 1986-7. ...

to be trained for an organising mastership under the National Society. In 1846 a

reformatory school A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concerns ...

was established in the Philanthropic Institute, Southwark, to take selected criminals from prisons, and Stevenson was appointed as its first headmaster. In 1848 he became headmaster of the endowed parochial school at Lambeth Green. In July 1850 he was married to Sarah Thomas, of Partington, at St Marys Church, Bury. They settled in Lambeth, which was then part of Surrey. Stevenson resigned his school post in 1855, and established himself in

Paternoster Row Paternoster Row was a street in the City of London that was a centre of the London publishing trade, with booksellers operating from the street. Paternoster Row was described as "almost synonymous" with the book trade. It was part of an area cal ...

as bookseller and publisher, a business which he continued until a few years before his death. From 1861 to 1867 he was editor and proprietor of the ''Wesleyan Times'', and in 1882 he edited the ''Union Review''. He had joined the Methodists in 1831, becoming very interested in their history, and published several books containing his research, including the acclaimed 'Methodist Hymn Book and its Associations', in 1869.https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4993602.George_J_Stevenson Stevenson died in Hackney, London on 16 August 1888, survived by wife Sarah, and several of their children.

Works

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

from 1831, Stevenson wrote on the denomination's history and literature. His ''Methodist Hymn Book and its Associations'' (1869) was published in enlarged form as ''The Methodist Hymn Book, illustrated with Biography, Incident, and Anecdote'' (1883). He wrote also: * ''The Origin of Alphabetical Characters'', London, 1853. * ''Sketch of the Life of C. H. Spurgeon'', London, 1857; new edition 1887. * ''The American Evangelist'', London, 1860. * ''The Prince of Preachers, C. H. Spurgeon'', London. * ''City Road Chapel, London, and its Associations'', Edinburgh, 1872. * ''Memorials of the Wesley Family'', London, 1876; new edition 1883. * ''Sir Charles Reed: a Life Sketch'', London, 1884. * ''Historical Records of the Young Men's Christian Association'', London, 1884. * ''Methodist Worthies'', London, 1884. * ''Memorial Sketch of May Stevenson'', London, 1886. Stevenson also edited ''A Historical Sketch of the Christian Community, 1818–1826'' (1868) and ''Samuel Wesley's Memorials of Elizabeth Ann Wesley'', London, 1887.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, George John 1818 births 1888 deaths English booksellers Schoolteachers from Derbyshire English writers Heads of schools in England 19th-century English businesspeople