James Yates (minister)

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James Yates F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. (30 April 1789 – 7 May 1871) was an English

antiquary
.

Life

He was the fourth son of

Paradise Street
(1791), was a noted preacher.

Receiving early training from

Edinburgh University (1810), and Glasgow University again (1811). Before graduating M.A. at Glasgow (1812), he became unordained minister (October 1811) of a Unitarian congregation, for which a new chapel was opened (15 November 1812) in Union Place; he create a stable church out of previously discordant elements. With Thomas Southwood Smith
, he founded (28 July 1813) the Scottish Unitarian Association.

On 6 April 1817 he succeeded

University of Berlin
, as a student of classical philology.

In 1819 Yates was elected a fellow of the

British Association. In the same year he was elected a trustee of Dr. Williams's foundations (resigned 26 June 1861). In 1832 he succeeded John Scott Porter as minister of Carter Lane Chapel, Doctors' Commons, London. His congregation was increased by a secession (September 1834) from the ministry of William Johnson Fox at South Place Chapel, Finsbury
. Yates resigned early in the following year. He remained a member of the Presbyterian section of the "general body" of ministers of the three denominations, and when other unitarians seceded in 1836, Yates retained his connection with the "general body".

Shortly Yates left the ministry, and, being unordained, took the style of a layman. He worked for Dr. Williams's trust, introducing the system of competitive examinations for scholarships. His later years were spent in learned leisure at Lauderdale House, Highgate where he had a library and a collection of works of art. He was probably the first to see the antiquarian value of the book Sketches at Carnac (Brittany) in 1834[1] authored by his friend Alexander Blair and Francis Ronalds and ensured it was preserved in the Royal Archaeological Institute's collection.[2] He also helped examine the important fossil Cycadeoidea gibsoniana found by Ronalds’ cousin Thomas Field Gibson.[3]

Grave of James Yates in Highgate Cemetery

Yates died at Lauderdale House on 7 May 1871, and was buried on the eastern side of

University College, London
, but his property did not realise the estimated amount.

Works

In 1814

Socinians could unite. His biblical conservatism, which he maintained, was criticised in the Prospective Review
, 1851, p. 50.

Yates issued (1833) proposals for an organisation of the Unitarian congregations of Great Britain on the presbyterian model; the plan was abortive, though it obtained the support of

Sir Lancelot Shadwell had condemned the Improved Version of the New Testament, issued (1808) by Unitarians. Yates wrote A Letter to the Vice-chancellor, 1834, defending the version, which produced a reply by Robert Halley
.

Apart from

Archæological Journal); Some Account of a Volume containing Portions of "Ptolemy's Geography," 1864 (from Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature). He became a strong advocate of the decimal system
; among many tracts on this subject, he published a Narrative of the … Formation of the International Association for … a Uniform Decimal System, 1856 (two editions); What is the Best Unit of Length, Hackney, 1858; Handbook to … Synoptic Table … of the Metric System, Edinburgh, 1864.

Among Yates's other publications were:

A quarto manuscript containing 186 biographies of students at Glasgow on Dr. Williams's foundation, compiled by Yates, was presented to Dr. Williams's Library by his widow.

References

  1. ^ Blair and Ronalds (1836). "Sketches at Carnac (Brittany) in 1834". Google Books. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  2. ISBN 978-1-78326-917-4
    .
  3. ^ "Thomas Gibson & Thomas Field Gibson". Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Yates, James (1789-1871)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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