Thomas Childs (1839–1906) was a Scottish minister of

The New Church The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Swedenborgian or ...

and writer.

Life

The son of John Child, a heckle-comb maker, and his wife Grace M'Kay, he was born at

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

on 10 December 1839, and brought up in the

Free Church of Scotland Free Church of Scotland may refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), seceded in 1843 from the Church of Scotland. The majority merged in 1900 into the United Free Church of Scotland; historical * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), rema ...

. He was put under a relative at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

to learn tanning, but ran away. After serving apprenticeship to a chemist, Child was employed by manufacturing chemists at Horncastle; there he joined the

Congregationalists Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

and, with a view to its ministry, studied at

Airedale College This is a list of dissenting academies in England and Wales, operating in the 19th century. Over this period the religious disabilities of English Dissenters were lifted within the educational system, and the rationale for the existence of a syst ...

(1862–7). As a congregational minister he was at

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(1867–8), and

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

in Kent (1870). Reading the ''Appeal'' by

Samuel Noble Samuel Noble (1779–1853) was an English engraver, and minister of the New Church (Swedenborgian). Life He was born in London on 4 March 1779, son of Edward Noble (died 1784), a bookseller and author of a work on perspective, and brother of ...

led Child to accept the doctrines of

Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758). Swedenborg had ...

. As a preacher of the New Church, he officiated at

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

(1872), moving to

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

(1874) and to

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

(1876), where he was ordained on 15 October 1878. In March 1886 Child became assistant at the chapel in Palace Gardens Terrace,

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 ...

, to Jonathan Bayley, who died on 12 May that year when Child became his successor. He died on 23 March 1906 and was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Works

Child wrote on New Church principles, with

Sir Isaac Pitman Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 22 January 1897) was a teacher of the :English language who developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in ''Stenographic Soundhand'' in 183 ...

supporting some publications. His major work was ''Root Principles in Rational and Spiritual Things'' (1905; 2nd edit. 1907), prompted by

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...

's treatment of the

world riddle The term "world riddle" or "world-riddle" has been associated, for over 100 years, with Friedrich Nietzsche (who mentioned ''Welträthsel'' in several of his writings) and with the biologist-philosopher Ernst Haeckel, who, as a professor of zool ...

, and commended by

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

. He also wrote: * ''Are New Churchmen Christians?'', 1882. * ''The Key of Life'', 1887 (sermons at Kensington, with forms of prayer). * ''Is there an Unseen World?'', 1888–9. * ''The Church and Science'', 1892. * ''The Glorification of the Lord's Humanity'', 1906; lectures delivered in 1894, with biographical sketch by William Alfred Presland and James Speirs (posthumous). * ''The Bible: its Rational Principle of Interpretation'', 1907 (posthumous).

Family

Child married Louisa Hadkinson in October 1870.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Thomas 1839 births 1906 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Scottish Congregationalist ministers Scottish Swedenborgians People from Arbroath