William Bengo' Collyer (1782–1854) was an English Congregational minister and religious writer,

Life

He was the only surviving child of Thomas Collyer, a builder of Deptford, where he was born on 14 April 1782. After education at the Leathersellers' Company's school in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

, he entered

Independent College, Homerton Independent College, later Homerton Academy, was a dissenting academy in Homerton just outside London, England, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Background In 1695 the Congregational Fund was set up in London to provide for the education of C ...

as a scholar in 1798. In 1800 Collyer began his ministry in a small congregation at

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

, over which he was ordained in December 1801. Under his ministry the congregation increased, and the chapel was several times enlarged. Previous to this, he had in 1813 received an invitation to succeed to the pulpit at Salters' Hall Chapel, which, with the consent of the congregation at Peckham, he accepted, an arrangement being made that he should occupy both pulpits. The Peckham chapel was in 1816 rebuilt and reopened under the name of Hanover Chapel. Royal Methodists in Kent and Sussex George Cruikshank

Royal Methodists in Kent and Sussex George Cruikshank

The

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

awarded Collyer the degree of D.D. in 1808. In 1812 he succeeded Joseph Fox as joint secretary of the

London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews The Church's Ministry Among Jewish People (CMJ) (formerly the London Jews' Society and the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews) is an Anglican missionary society founded in 1809. History The society began in the early 19th ...

, retiring with his Anglican colleague Thomas Fry in 1814. Collyer and Fry's translations into Hebrew of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, carried out with the help of Judah D'Allemand, were published in 1813 and 1815 respectively. From 1820 to 1824 Collyer edited, with

James Baldwin Brown the elder James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and

Thomas Raffles Thomas Raffles (1788–1863) was an English Congregational minister, known as a dominant nonconformist figure at the Great George Street Congregational Church in Liverpool, and as an abolitionist and historian. Early life The only son of Willi ...

, ''The Investigator'', a quarterly. It attacked

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

and

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

as immoral. The article "Licentious Publications in High Life" of 1822, after Shelley's death, received a reply "Canting Slander: To the Reverend William Bengo Collyer" over a number of issues of '' The Examiner'', attributed to William Hazlitt. In 1823 Collyer rode out a scandal around his examination of young men, in the

Addington Square Addington Square is a Georgian and Regency garden square in Camberwell in the London Borough of Southwark which is named after the early 19th century prime minister Henry Addington. History Addington Square is an unusually well-preserved cons ...

baths, that was brought up in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

''. That same year, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. Collyer died aged 71 in 1854. A funeral sermon was preached at Hanover Chapel by John Morison, on 16 January.

Works

Collyer was the author of: * ''Fugitive Pieces for the use of Schools'', 1803 * ''Hymns designed as a Supplement to Dr. Watts'', 1812 * ''Services suited to the Solemnisation of Matrimony, administration of Baptism, &c., with Original Hymns'', 1837. He published sermons,and several series of popular lectures on scriptural subjects, including: * ''Lectures on Scripture Facts'', 1807 * ''Scripture Prophecy'', 1809 * ''Scripture Miracles'', 1812 * ''Scripture Parables'', 1815 * ''Scripture Doctrines'', 1818 * ''Scripture Duties'', 1819, and * ''Scripture Comparison'', 1823. From 1802, Collyer published numerous hymns.

Family

With his wife Mary, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Hawkes of

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...

, Collyer left one daughter, Mary Anne Hawkes Collyer. She married the physician Philip Lovell Phillips.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Collyer, William Bengo' 1782 births 1854 deaths English Congregationalist ministers English hymnwriters People from Deptford