James Brandwood (1739–1826) was an English Quakerminister.
Life
Brandwood was born at New House in Entwistle, near
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
, Lancashire, England, on 11 November 1739; his parents were of
yeoman
Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...
stock. After a visit to the Friends' meeting at
Crawshawbooth
Crawshawbooth is a small village on the edge of the Pennine hills in England just north of the market town of Rawtenstall, Lancashire, and just south of Loveclough. It is part of the valley of Rossendale, an ancient royal hunting ground. The ...
, Brandwood ceased to attend the services at Turton chapel. He never married, and practised as a
land surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...
and
conveyancer
In most Commonwealth countries, a conveyancer is a specialist lawyer who specialises in the legal aspects of buying and selling real property, or conveyancing. A conveyancer can also be (but need not be) a solicitor, licensed conveyancer, or a f ...
, and is also said to have acted as the steward of the Turton estate. He had the character of a plain, conscientious countryman, and after his death a selection from his letters on religious subjects was published.
Brandwood joined the Quakers in 1761, and a meeting was shortly afterwards settled at
Edgworth
Edgworth is a small village within the borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is north east of North Turton between Broadhead Brook on the west (expanded artificially to form the Wayoh Reservoir) and Quarlton Brook in the sou ...
, where he lived for many years. His religious views deprived him of his fair share in the patrimonial inheritance, and he received only an annuity of £25. As a recognised minister of the Society of Friends he visited various parts of England, and in 1787 went to
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
in company with James Birch. In the 'testimony' respecting him we are told: "About the sixtieth year of his age, this, our dear friend, through a combination of circumstances, appeared to be in some degree under a cloud; he became less diligent in attending meetings, and in 1813 was discontinued as an acknowledged minister". In 1824, when he settled at
Westhoughton
Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.John Bradshaw of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, and deal with matters of religious experience, ranging in date from 1782 to 1823. The earliest is an essay ''On War, Oaths, and Gospel Ministry,'' and the latest is a letter to a clergyman of the
church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
, written when the author was in his eighty-fourth year. They were published in 1828, two years after Brandwood's death.