William Harris Murch (1784 – 12 July 1859) was a Baptist minister who served as a joint secretary of the

Baptist Union Baptists Together (officially The Baptist Union of Great Britain) is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot. H ...

and the Theological head and President of the Stepney Academy.

Life

Murch was born in Honiton in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in 1784 and took to the church early, being known as a "boy preacher". He is said to have been inspired by reading a biography of

Samuel Pearce Samuel Pearce (1766– 10 October 1799) was an English Baptist minister, known as a hymn-writer. Life The son of a silversmith, Pearce was born at Plymouth, Devon, on 20 July 1766. He studied at the Baptist College, Bristol, and in 1790 was app ...

, by Andrew Fuller. He attended

Wymondley College Wymondley College was a dissenting academy at Wymondley House in Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, England. Intended for the education of future nonconformist ministers of religion, it was in operation from 1799 to 1833, when it relocated to Byn ...

, a

dissenting academy The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...

that often moved location. He was baptised in 1802 as a young adult, in the Baptist style. After completing his training, he accepted an offer from the Sheppards Barton Meeting House at Frome only after he considered he was mature enough. After a long ministry there he was appointed the President and Theological Tutor of Stepney Academy in 1827 and he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

.Honorary Degrees
Brown University, accessed February 2013 Murch became one of the joint secretaries of the

in 1834 which was a post he was to retain for twelve years. It may be a coincidence but

John Howard Hinton John Howard Hinton (23 March 1791 – 11 December 1873) was an English author and Baptist minister who published, along with many other works, ''The History and Topography of the United States of North America'' together with his brother Isaac ...

was later to say that although Baptists had been meeting for many years it was not until 1834 that the real Baptist Union was formed. In 1840, Murch attended the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London and he was one of the notable delegates recorded in the picture. After stepping down at Stepney Academy in 1843 and from his other formal positions Murch served for seven years with a Church in

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and t ...

before helping to form a church in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. Murch died in 1859.

Legacy

Murch is in a painting in the National Portrait Gallery in London. He was also painted by

George Frederick Clarke George Frederick Clarke (1883–1974) was a New Brunswick author, historian and amateur archaeologist. Biography He was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, in 1883. He started writing from an early age. His first published story appeared in ''Cana ...

and this painting is now at the Regent's Park College in Oxford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murch, William Harris 1784 births 1859 deaths 19th-century English Baptist ministers Baptist abolitionists English abolitionists People from Honiton