John Leifchild (1780–1862) was an English Congregational minister and writer.

Life

The son of John Leifchild by his wife Sarah Bockman, he was born at

Barnet, Hertfordshire Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing Cr ...

, 15 February 1780. He was educated at Barnet grammar school, and from 1795 to 1797 worked with a

cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...

. From 1804 to 1808 he was a student at Hoxton Academy. From 1808 to 1824 Leifchild was minister of the Independent chapel in

Hornton Street Hornton Street is a street in Kensington, London W8. It runs north to south from Sheffield Terrace to Kensington High Street. History Some of the road, at least, was originally called Campden House Road. A chapel on the corner of Hornton Str ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London; from 1824 to 1830 minister of the church in Bridge Street,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

; and from 1831 to 1854 at Craven Chapel,

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

, London, where he was a successful preacher. He formally retired from the ministry in 1854; but for a little more than one year, 1854-6, he preached at Queen's Square Chapel,

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. He died at 4 Fitzroy Terrace, Gloucester Road North,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

, London, on 29 June 1862.

Works

Leifchild was author of: * ''The Case of Children of Religious Parents considered, and the Duties of Parents and Children enforced'', 1827. * ''A Christian Antidote to Unreasonable Fears at the present, in reply to the Speech of W. Thorp against Catholic Emancipation'', 1829. * ''A Help to the Private and Domestic Reading of the Holy Scriptures'', an arrangement of the books of the Old and New Testament in chronological order, 1829. * ''Abbreviated Discourses on Various Subjects'', 1833. * ''Memoir of the late Rev. J. Hughes, M.A.'', 1835; on Joseph Hughes. * ''Sermons'', being a second edition of Abbreviated Discourses on Various Subjects, 1835. * ''Observations on Providence in relation to the World and the Church'', 1836. * ''The Plain Christian guarded against some popular Errors respecting the Scriptures'', 1841. * ''Original Hymns, edited by J. L.'', 1842; another edit. 1843. * ''Directions for the right and profitable Reading of the Scriptures'', 1842. * ''Christian Union, or Suggestions for Promoting Brotherly Love among the various Denominations of Evangelical Protestants'', 1844. * ''The Sabbath-day Book, or Scriptural Meditations for every Lord's Day in the Year'', 1846. * ''Hymns appropriated to Christian Union, selected and original'', 1846. * ''The Christian Emigrant, containing Observations on different Countries, with Essays, Discourses, Meditations, and Prayers'', 1849. * ''Christian Experience, in its several Parts and Stages'', 1852. * ''Remarkable Facts, illustrative and confirmatory of different portions of Scripture'', 1867. The sixth edition was entitled ''Brief Expositions of Scripture illustrated by Remarkable Facts''. 1879. Leifchild also printed addresses, lectures, and single sermons, and with the Rev. George Redford edited ''The Evangelist'', a monthly magazine, from May 1837 to June 1839.

Family

Leifchild's first wife died in 1804, and he married secondly, 4 June 1811, Elizabeth, daughter of John Stormonth, a surgeon in India; she died at Brighton 28 December 1855, aged 78. The sculptor Henry Stormonth Leifchild was his nephew.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Leifchild, John 1780 births 1862 deaths English Congregationalist ministers English writers People from Chipping Barnet English male writers