William Turner (1761–1859) was a Unitarian minister and educator who advanced the anti-slavery movement in Northern England, contributed to the development of intellectual institutions in

Newcastle upon 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 ...

, and published sermons on a variety of topics.

Life

His father was William Turner (and another William Turner was his son). He was born at

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

on 20 September 1761. He was educated at

Warrington Academy Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the established Church of England. It was located in Warrington (then ...

(1777–81) and

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

(1781–2). On 25 September 1782 he was ordained pastor of the Hanover Square congregation,

. He ministered at Newcastle for fifty-nine years, retiring on 20 September 1841. He was a main founder (1793) of the Literary and Philosophical Society at Newcastle, and acted as secretary till 1833; a founder of the Natural Historical Society (1824); and a member of the Portico Library. He was a chief projector of the Newcastle branch of the

Bible Society A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credibi ...

, and one of its secretaries till 1831. From 1808 till his death he was visitor of Manchester College (then at York) and until 1840 he delivered the visitor's annual address. Among the subscribers to a volume of his sermons published in 1838 appeared the names of two bishops, who by their action incurred some censure (see

Edward Maltby Edward Maltby (6 April 1770 – 3 July 1859) was an English clergyman of the Church of England. He became Bishop of Durham, controversial for his liberal politics, for his ecumenism, and for the great personal wealth that he amassed. Early ...

). He died at Lloyd Street,

Greenheys, Manchester Greenheys is an inner-city area of south Manchester, England, lying between Hulme to the north and west, Chorlton-on-Medlock to the east and Moss Side to the south. Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, '' Mary Barton'', published in 1848, opens w ...

, on 24 April 1859, and was buried on 28 April in the graveyard of Upper Brook Street chapel. His portrait, by Morton, and his bust, by Bailey, were placed in the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle.

Works

A list of his publications is in the '' Christian Reformer'', 1859, p. 459. This does not include his contributions to periodicals, usually signed V. F. .e. Vigilii Filius with this signature he contributed to the '' Monthly Repository'', 1810 and 1811, a series of articles relating to Warrington Academy.

Family

He married, first, in 1784, Mary (d. 16 Jan. 1797), daughter of Thomas Holland of Manchester; secondly, on 8 June 1799, Jane (d. 1855), eldest daughter of William Willets, minister at Newcastle-under-Lyme. He survived all but one of his children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, William 1761 births 1859 deaths English Unitarians

Life

Works

Family

See also

References