Abraham Rees

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Abraham Rees, c. 1802.

Abraham Rees (1743 – 9 June 1825) was a Welsh nonconformist minister, and compiler of Rees's Cyclopædia (in 45 volumes).

Life

He was the second son of Esther, daughter of Abraham Penry, and her husband Lewis Rees, and was born in

David Jennings, entering in 1759. In 1762 he was appointed assistant tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy; on the move of the academy to Hoxton after Jennings's death in 1762 he became resident tutor, a position which he held till 1785, his colleagues being Andrew Kippis and Samuel Morton Savage; subsequently he was tutor in Hebrew and mathematics in the New College at Hackney
(1786–96).

His first ministerial engagement was in the independent congregation at

regium donum. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1813.[2]

When he presented the address of the body of ministers of the 'three denominations' (Presbyterians, Independents and Baptists) in 1820 on the accession of George IV, it was noted that, as a student, he had attended the similar deputation to George III sixty years before. According to

Arian type, and inclining to those of Richard Price
, and he held the tenet of a universal restoration. He was the last of the London dissenting ministers who officiated in a wig.

He died at his residence in Artillery Place,

Thomas Rees, and the funeral sermon, on 19 June, by Robert Aspland. Rees survived his wife and all his children, but left several grandchildren. His son, Nathaniel Penry Rees, died 8 July 1802, on a voyage from Bengal to St Helena. His only daughter Joanna Rees born 17 April 1769 in Hoxton Town, Shoreditch married John Jones
.

Abraham married on 3 July 1764 to Joanna Goldney. Children were: Charles Goldney Rees Nathaniel Penry Rees Joanna Rees Philip Lewis Rees, born 12 Oct 1772 in Hoxton Town ,died 25 Feb 1798, buried in Dissenting Chapel Yard. Rivington, Lancs

Works

Rees's work as a cyclopædist began as an improver of the

John Evans (1767–1827)
, Rees wrote in reply: 'I thank you, but I feel more grateful that I have been spared to publish my four volumes of sermons.' The Cyclopædia; ... is commonly known as Rees's Cyclopædia.

Besides single sermons (1770–1813), Rees published 'Practical Sermons,' 1809, 2 vols.; 2nd ed. 1812, with two additional volumes, 1821. In conjunction with Kippis, Thomas Jervis, and Thomas Morgan, LLD, he brought out 'A Collection of Hymns and Psalms,' &c., 1795, (the ninth edition, 1823, is revised by Rees and Jervis). This collection, generally known as Kippis's, was the first attempt to supply, for general use among liberal dissenters, a hymnal to take the place of Isaac Watts's. It was supplemented in 1807, and again in 1852.

The standard author abbreviation Rees is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]

References

  1. ^ David Williams; Llewelyn Gwyn Chambers (1959). "Rees, Abraham (1743-1825), encyclopaedist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter R" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  3. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Rees.
Attribution

External links

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