Samuel Medley (1738–1799) was an English

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister and hymn-writer. Samuel Medley 1800

Life

Samuel Medley was born on 23 June 1738 in Cheshunt,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. He was the second son of Guy Medley (died 25 October 1760), who had a school in Cheshunt. Guy Medley was married the youngest daughter of William Tonge, schoolmaster at Enfield; and was a close friend of James Hervey. He was educated by Tonge, his maternal grandfather, and at 14 was apprenticed to an oilman in the city of London. In 1755, however, he obtained his freedom on entering the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, from which he was discharged after being wounded in the Battle of Lagos on 18 August 1759. From 1762 to 1766, Medley kept a successful school in King Street,

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

, London, and became acquainted with Andrew Gifford. He joined Gifford's Particular Baptist church in Eagle Street,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, in December 1760, and Gifford then led him to enter the Baptist ministry. He began preaching on 29 August 1766, and on 6 June 1767 he accepted a call to a congregation at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, Hertfordshire, which had been without a minister since 1763. Here he was ordained on 13 July 1768. On 11 November 1771 he was invited to the Baptist church in Byrom Street,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, and began his ministry there on 15 April 1772. Medley's Liverpool meeting-house was enlarged in 1773, and in 1789 a new building was erected for him in the same street. His old meeting-house was consecrated in 1792 as St. Stephen's Church. Medley worked among the seamen of the port of Liverpool; his methods of preaching were disliked by

Gilbert Wakefield Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801) was an English scholar and controversialist. He moved from being a cleric and academic, into tutoring at dissenting academies, and finally became a professional writer and publicist. In a celebrated state trial ...

; but his daughter collected up some of his witticisms, and Robert Halley ranked him as a great preacher.

Adult baptism Believer's baptism or adult baptism (occasionally called credobaptism, from the Latin word meaning "I believe") is the practice of baptizing those who are able to make a conscious profession of faith, as contrasted to the practice of baptizing ...

was not an essential for membership in his church, which became practically Congregational. Medley visited London yearly, preaching at the Surrey Chapel, Southwark and Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road. After a painful illness he died on 17 July 1799.

Works

Two of Medley's sermons are printed with his ''Memoirs'' (1800), edited by his son Samuel; one was translated into Welsh. Medley wrote 230 hymns. His hymns, originally printed on single sheets, and in the '' Gospel Magazine'' and other publications, were collected in: * ''Hymns'', Bradford, 1785. * ''Hymns on Select Portions of Scripture'', Bristol, 1785 (this is called 2nd edit., but is a smaller and variant collection; it was enlarged 1787). * ''Hymns'', 1794. * ''The Public Worship and Private Devotion … Assisted … in Verse'', 1800. Robert Halley called Medley a "small poet", but William Rawson Stevenson wrote that 20 of his hymns had a vogue. Medley's daughter Sarah published a volume of ''Original and Miscellaneous Poems'', Liverpool, 1807, and other poems in Liverpool magazines; also a ''Memoir'', 1833, of her father, with appended hymns, ascribed to him; many were altered, and some of them were by Thomas Kelly (1769–1855).

Family

Medley married (17 April 1762) Mary, daughter of William Gill, a hosier of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. Their son was the painter Samuel Medley, whose grandson was the surgeon

Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet, (6 August 1820 – 18 April 1904) was a British surgeon and polymath. His interest was particularly in the surgery of the genito-urinary tract. Medical career Thompson was born at Framlingham, Suffolk. His f ...

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Medley, Samuel 1738 births 1799 deaths English Baptists English hymnwriters People from Cheshunt