James Pierrepont Greaves (1 February 1777 – 11 March 1842), was an English mystic, educational reformer,

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and progressive thinker who founded Alcott House, a short-lived

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

community and free school in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. He described himself as a "sacred socialist" and was an advocate of

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianis ...

and other health practices.

Life and work

Pierrepont Greaves was born in Merton in

, the son of Charles Greaves, a draper, and Ann Pierrepont, and spent his early life engaged as a merchant and draper 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 ...

. According to one account the firm in which he was a partner became bankrupt in 1806 owing to the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

decrees of Napoleon which blocked trade between Britain and the continent; another source says that "after getting rich in commerce he lost his fortune by imprudent speculations". At any rate, he surrendered all his property to his creditors, and lived for some time on the income allowed him for winding up the affairs of his establishment. He eventually rebuilt his business.Trahair, 1999, p161. In 1817, Greaves experienced "some strong interior visitations" which led him to a belief in the "divine in man" and convinced him that he had a spiritual mission in life to share his commitment to the love of God with others.Richard Aldric
Review of Search for a New Eden: James Pierrepont Greaves (1777-1842): The Sacred Socialist and His Followers by J. E. M. Latham
(History of Education quarterly, volume 41, no. 4 - 2001). In 1818, he joined

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (, ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking ...

, the Swiss educational reformer, then established at

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , was ...

, where he taught English. There he met fellow socialist

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh people, Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditio ...

. Returning to England in 1825 he founded the ''London Infant School Society'' and became its secretary. In 1832 he was settled in the village of Randwick,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

, and engaged in an industrial scheme for the benefit of agricultural labourers with his sister Mary Ann Greaves. From the 1830s onwards he referred to himself as a "sacred socialist". Resuming his residence in London, he drew around him many friends. A philosophical society founded by him in 1836, and known as the "Aesthetic Society", met for some time at a house in Burton Street in Camden. His educational experiences gradually led him to his unconventional philosophical views. "As Being is before knowing and doing, I affirm that education can never repair the defects of Birth". Hence the necessity of "the divine existence being developed and associated with man and woman prior to marriage". He was a follower of

Jacob Boehme Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Jacob in Islam, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel (name), Israel, is regarded as a Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religi ...

and influenced by German

transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...

. He was also influenced by Thomas Taylor,

William Law William Law (16869 April 1761) was a Church of England priest who lost his position at Emmanuel College, Cambridge when his conscience would not allow him to take the required oath of allegiance to the first Hanoverian monarch, King George I. P ...

and the philosophy of

neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ...

. Greaves worked with Charles and

Elizabeth Mayo Elizabeth Mayo (18 June 1793 – 1 September 1865) was a British teacher and educational reformer. She was credited in the Hadow Reports with being one of the founders of the formal education of infant teachers in Britain. She was the first wom ...

to found the

Home and Colonial School Society The Home and Colonial School Society was a school founded in 1836 by Elizabeth Mayo, Charles Mayo, James Pierrepont Greaves and John S. Reynolds for the education of children and the training of teachers especially by then novel methods proposed ...

Gray's Inn Road Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...

in 1836. This teaching institution was dedicated to

Pestalozzi Pestalozzi is the surname of an Italian family originally based in Gravedona and Chiavenna who settled in Switzerland during the Counter-Reformation. Members of this family include: * Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), Swiss pedagogue an ...

whose educational ideas ignored the idea of rote-learning. The new organization included a model infant school where these ideas could be developed.Home and Colonial School Society
UCL, retrieved 1 January 2014. Greaves and his followers founded Alcott House, in

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

(now in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

), a

spiritual community and progressive school which lasted from 1838 to 1848. It was named after

Amos Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and ...

, the American transcendentalist, with whom Greaves had a long correspondence, and who visited the community in 1842. Religious writer Francis Foster Barham (1808–1871), a member of Greaves' Aesthetic Society, considered him as essentially a superior man to

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

, and with much higher spiritual attainments and experience. He wrote, "his numerous acquaintances regarded him as a moral phenomenon, as a unique specimen of human character, as a study, as a curiosity, and an absolute undefinable". An acquaintance whom Greaves frequently visited observed that he was often in financial distress, as he did not attach great importance to conventional notions of earning a living. In his lifetime, he published none of his writings separately, but printed a few of them in obscure periodicals. His last years were spent at Alcott House, where he died on 11 March 1842, aged 65. Two volumes were afterwards published from his manuscripts.Vol I. "Concordium", Ham Common, Surrey, 1843; Vol II, Chapman, 1845. Some minor publications, also posthumous, appeared in the British Museum catalogue.

Vegetarianism

Greaves was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

and advocated

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The term ...

, drinking water and a life of

celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, th ...

. Greaves opposed the consumption of

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

and proposed daily cold showers and bathing in spring water.Brown, P. S. (1988)
''Nineteenth-Century American Health Reformers and the Early Nature Cure Movement in Britain''
''

Medical History The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

'' 32: 174-194. His recommended diet was uncooked fruit, nuts and vegetables.

References

;Attributions *

Bibliography

Biography: *Charles Lane. ''James Pierrepont Greaves'' (J. Munroe, 1842). *J. E. M. Latham.
Search for a new Eden: James Pierrepont Greaves (1777–1842)
' (Associated University presses, 1999). Other books: *Pestalozzi, J. H.
Letters on early education. Addressed to J. P. Greaves, esq.
' (London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper etc., 1827). *F. B. Sanborn.
Bronson Alcott at Alcott house, England, and Fruitlands, New England (1842-1844)
' (The Torch Press, 1908). *R. C. S. Trahair. ''Utopias and Utopians: an historical dictionary'' (Greenwood Press, 1999), pp. 161–162. Articles:
James Pierrepoint Greaves
("The Dial", volume 3, 1843 - pub. by Weeks, Jordan, and Co.) pp. 247–255, 281–296. *
The New Age, and Concordium Gazette
' (pub. W. Strange, 1845) - the journal of the "Ham Common Concordium". *Julia Twigg

(LSE doctoral thesis, 1981)

External links

*
Catalogue of Works by Greaves in the British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greaves, James Pierrepont 1777 births 1842 deaths British vegetarianism activists English educational theorists English socialists Founders of utopian communities Mystics People from the London Borough of Merton