John Sargent (1780–1833) was an English clergyman, academic and biographer. Wealthy by background but a country pastor, he was a prominent

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

who came to be regarded by others on his wing 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 Britain ...

as an exemplary cleric. He was also centrally connected, by ties to other major Evangelicals of the time.

Life

He was the eldest son of John Sargent, M.P. for in 1790, and Charlotte (d. 1841), only daughter and heiress of Richard Bettesworth of

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, born on 8 October 1780. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

, where he was a king's scholar, and in 1799 in the sixth form. In 1799 he went to

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where he was elected to a fellowship and graduated B.A. 1804, M.A. 1807. At Cambridge Sargent fell under the influence of

Charles Simeon Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric. Life and career He was born at Reading, Berkshire, in 1759 and baptised at St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year. He was the ...

, who shaped his career. Sargent was also drawn into Simeon's evangelical network. In 1804 he was the intermediary who ensured that

Patrick Brontë Patrick Brontë (, commonly ; born Patrick Brunty; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish Anglican priest and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, and of ...

was able to continue study at Cambridge: Henry Thornton and

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

provided financial support. Intended for the law, Sargent was instead ordained deacon in 1805, and priest in 1806. On the presentation of his father he was instituted on 11 September 1805 to the family living of

Graffham Graffham is a village and civil parish in West Sussex, England, situated on the northern escarpment of the South Downs. The civil parish is made up of the village of Graffham, part of the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Selham, and South Ambersham. It ...

, and from 5 June 1813 he held with it a second family rectory, that of nearby

Woolavington Woolavington is a village and civil parish on the Somerset Levels in the English county of Somerset. It forms part of the District of Sedgemoor, and is north east of Bridgwater, south east of Burnham on Sea and west of Glastonbury. At the ...

. At Graffham Sargent rebuilt the rectory-house, and on these benefices he lived for the rest of his days, becoming on his father's death the squire of the district. He died at Woolavington on 3 May 1833, and was buried there.

Works

Sargent was the author of a ''Memoir'' of the Rev.

Henry Martyn Henry Martyn (18 February 1781 – 16 October 1812) was an Anglican priest and missionary to the peoples of India and Persia. Born in Truro, Cornwall, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. A chance encount ...

non. 1819, with a second edition in the same year, when the authorship was acknowledged; it was often reprinted. In 1833 he brought out ''The Life of the Rev. T. T. Thomason, late Chaplain to the Hon. E.I.C.'', dedicated to Simeon, by whom both these memoirs were prompted. Sargent's account of the last days of

William Hayley William Hayley (9 November 174512 November 1820) was an English writer, best known as the biographer of his friend William Cowper. Biography Born at Chichester, he was sent to Eton College, Eton in 1757, and to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 176 ...

was printed in Hayley's ''Memoirs''.

Family

Sargent married at Carlton Hall, Nottinghamshire, on 29 November 1804, Mary, only daughter of Abel Smith, niece to

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton, (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secret ...

, and a first cousin of William Wilberforce. She died on 6 July 1861, aged 82, having for many years presided over the house of her son-in-law, Bishop Wilberforce, and was buried at Woollavington. Their issue was two sons (who died early) and five daughters: * Elizabeth Charlotte Sargent (1805–1818) * Emily Sargent (1807–1841), married, on 11 June 1828,

Samuel Wilberforce Samuel Wilberforce, FRS (7 September 1805 – 19 July 1873) was an English bishop in the Church of England, and the third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his day.Natural Hi ...

^§ * John Garton Sargent (1808–1829) * Mary Sargent (died 1878), married, on 24 July 1834,

Henry William Wilberforce Henry William Wilberforce (22 September 1807 – 23 April 1873), was a Church of England clergyman, a Tractarian, a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and thereafter a newspaper proprietor, editor and journalist Life Henry Wilberforce was ...

^§ * Caroline Sargent (1812–1837), married, on 7 November 1833,

Henry Edward Manning Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of the Catholic church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but con ...

* Sophia Lucy Sargent (1814–1850), married, on 5 June 1834, George Dudley Ryder, second son of

Henry Ryder Henry Dudley Ryder (21 July 1777 – 31 March 1836) was a prominent English evangelical Anglican bishop in the early years of the nineteenth century. He was the first evangelical to be raised to the Anglican episcopate. Life Ryder was the ...

* Henry Martyn Sargent (1816–1836) ^§ ''Samuel Wilberforce and Henry William Wilberforce were brothers, sons of

. His younger brother, George Hanway Sargent was shot and killed in November 1807, aged 25, in the pursuit of the highwayman, Jim Allen.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Sargent, John 1780 births 1833 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests People educated at Eton College Fellows of King's College, Cambridge English biographers English male non-fiction writers