William Johnson Fox (1 March 1786 – 3 June 1864) was an English Unitarian minister,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and political

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

Early life

Fox was born at Uggeshall Farm, Wrentham, near

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is a ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

on 1 March 1786. His parents were strict

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

s. When he was still young, his father quit farming. After time at a chapel school, Fox became a weaver's boy, an errand-boy, and in 1799, a bank clerk. An autodidact, he entered prize competitions. From September 1806 Fox trained for the Independent ministry, at

Homerton College Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the c ...

. His tutor there was John Pye Smith, the

Congregational 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 it ...

theologian. Early in 1810 he took charge of a congregation at

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...

in Hampshire. Failing to make a small seceding congregation there viable, he left within two years to become minister of the Unitarian chapel at Chichester.

South Place Chapel circle

In 1817 Fox moved to London, becoming minister of Parliament Court Chapel. In 1824 he moved the congregation to South Place Chapel, in Finsbury on the edge of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, which had been built specifically for him. Around Fox and the chapel there gathered a group of progressive thinkers, including feminists and, through William Lovett, some adherents of

Chartism Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...

. The circle included

Sophia Dobson Collet Sophia Dobson Collet (1 February 1822 – 27 March 1894) was a 19th-century English feminist freethinker. She wrote under the pen name ''Panthea'' in George Holyoake's ''Reasoner'', wrote for ''The Spectator'' and was a friend of the leading ...

, who saw some of Fox's sermons into print; Mary Leman Gillies, who wrote on women's rights; and Caroline Ashurst Stansfeld, whose marriage to James Stansfeld was conducted by Fox. Fox's position as a leading Unitarian minister was jeopardized in 1834 when he left his wife for one of his wards, and became an advocate of freer divorce. The Chapel's committee, led by

Thomas Field Gibson Thomas Field Gibson FGS (3 March 1803 – 12 December 1889) was a Unitarian silk manufacturer and philanthropist. He supported several novel initiatives to enhance British manufacturing quality and international trade while improving life for ...

's father Thomas Gibson, accepted Fox's resignation, which led to Fox's removal from the British Unitarian ministry and a secession of fifty families from the Chapel. He set up a new household in the Craven Hill area of

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 ...

and re-established himself as a preacher of

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

. Charles Hardwick grouped Fox with Theodore Parker and

Robert William Mackay Robert William Mackay (1803–1882) was a British philosophical and religious author. He is best known for ''The Progress of the Intellect'' (1850). Charles Hardwick in his ''Christ and other Masters'' grouped Mackay's religious views, with those of ...

as proponents of "absolute religion". Fox's public presence became increasingly that of a commentator on social and political matters. The South Place chapel itself eventually lost its identification with Unitarianism, becoming the

South Place Ethical Society The Conway Hall Ethical Society, formerly the South Place Ethical Society, based in London at Conway Hall, is thought to be the oldest surviving freethought organisation in the world and is the only remaining ethical society in the United Kin ...

Politician

As a supporter of the Anti- Corn-Law movement, Fox won celebrity as an impassioned orator and journalist, and from 1847 to 1862 he intermittently represented Oldham in Parliament as a Liberal.

Death

Fox died 3 June 1864, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Works

He was editor of the '' Monthly Repository'', and a frequent contributor to the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal u ...

'', and published works on political and religious topics. An edition of his ''Works'' was edited by

William Ballantyne Hodgson William Ballantyne Hodgson (6 October 1815 – 24 August 1880) was a Scottish educational reformer and political economist. Life The son of William Hodgson, a printer, he was born in Edinburgh on 6 October 1815. In 1820 the family were living ...

and

Henry James Slack Henry James Slack (1818–1896) was an English journalist, activist and science writer. Life The son of Joseph Slack, a cloth merchant, and Grace Slack, he was born in London on 23 October 1818, and educated at North End, Hampstead. He gave up ...

, and appeared from 1865.

Family

Fox was a friend of radical journalist Benjamin Flower. On Flower's death in 1829, his two daughters, Eliza Flower and

Sarah Fuller Flower Adams Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams) (22 February 1805 – 14 August 1848) was an English poet and hymnwriter. A selection of hymns she wrote, published by William Johnson Fox, included her best-known one, " Nearer, My God, to Thee", rep ...

, became Fox's wards. Fox separated from his wife in the 1830s, and, causing much scandal, apparently set up home with Eliza Flower and his children. Following the separation from his wife, Fox brought up his ward himself, living first in

Stamford Hill Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about 5.5 miles north-east of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a sub-district of Hackney, the major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the ...

and later

.Frederick Lee Bridell 1830-63, C Aitchison Hull - One of Fox's daughters, also named

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between humans and machines ...

, married

Frederick Lee Bridell Frederick Lee Bridell (baptised 5 December 1830 – 20 August 1863) was a popular painter of 19th century Britain, initially as a portrait artist. He gained favour with Elizabeth Barrett Browning who entertained him and his wife ( Eliza Bri ...

. Both were accomplished artists.

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, William Johnson 1786 births 1864 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society English Unitarian ministers People from Wrentham, Suffolk