John Vine Hall (1774–1860) was an English bookseller, known as a religious writer.

Life

Hall was born on 14 March 1774 in Diss,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, where his father had come down in the world. At 11 he was apprenticed to a schoolmaster who taught him the legal lands, then hired him out. In January 1786 he became errand-boy to a bookseller in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

, and rose to be the chief assistant. In 1801 Hall became clerk and traveller to a Maidstone wine merchant. He drank, and read Constantin Volney's ''Law of Nature'' and

Tom Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

's ''

The Age of Reason ''The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology'' is a work by English and American political activist Thomas Paine, arguing for the philosophical position of deism. It follows in the tradition of 18th-century Briti ...

''. In 1802 a friend lent him

Beilby Porteus Beilby Porteus (or Porteous; 8 May 1731 – 13 May 1809), successively Bishop of Chester and of London, was a Church of England reformer and a leading abolitionist in England. He was the first Anglican in a position of authority to seriously c ...

's ''Evidences of Christianity'', and his views changed. In February 1804 he bought a bookseller's shop at

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

, and moved there. In 1812 he became the subject of strong religious convictions. In April 1814 Hall returned to Maidstone as proprietor of the bookshop where he had been errand-boy 28 years before. He became a total abstainer from 1818 and an advocate of

teetotalism Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

, and visited prisoners in the county gaol. Hall retired from business in 1850, and in 1854 went to reside at Heath Cottage,

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...

, taking up religious and temperance work. He died on 22 September 1860, and his remains were interred in Abney Park cemetery.

Works

In 1821 Hall conceived the idea for ''The Sinner's Friend''. The first edition consisted of a series of selections from

Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky ( Jankowe, Lower Silesia 7 September 1690 – 15 June 1774) was a German hymn writer. Life At first a page at the ducal court of Saxe-Weissenfels, he next studied law and theology at Jena and Halle; but ill health pre ...

's ''Golden Treasury'', with a short introduction by Hall. It appeared on 29 May 1821. In subsequent editions he gradually substituted pages from his own for those taken from Bogatzky, until in the end the short work was his own with the exception of one extract. It quickly became an evangelical classic. It was translated into 30 languages, and sold nearly three million of copies.

Family

Hall married, at Worcester, in August 1806, Mary Teverill. He became an elder in

Surrey Chapel, Southwark The Surrey Chapel (1783–1881) was an independent Methodist and Congregational church established in Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London on 8 June 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill. His work was continued in 1833 by the Congregational pastor R ...

, where his son

Newman Hall Christopher Newman Hall (22 May 1816 – 18 February 1902), born at Maidstone and known in later life as a 'Dissenter's Bishop', was one of the most celebrated nineteenth century English Nonconformist divines. He was active in social causes; supp ...

was minister.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, John Vine 1774 births 1860 deaths English evangelicals English businesspeople People from Diss, Norfolk