William Aldridge

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William Aldridge, 1791 engraving

William Aldridge (1737 โ€“ 28 February 1797) was an English nonconformist minister.[1]

Biography

Aldridge was born at

Trevecca College in South Wales. There he completed a theological course. He received a license, and for a number of years preached in the chapels of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.[2]

In September 1771 Aldridge was sent by

Lady Huntingdon, with Joseph Cook, another Trevecca student, to Margate, in the Isle of Thanet.[1] They began by preaching in the open air. The numbers increased from month to month. About this time occurred in Dover a schism among the Wesleyan Methodists, and Aldridge and Cook were invited there. Aldridge preached for the first time in the market-place on a Sunday, meeting hostility. But Aldridge went to Dover to live in a former Presbyterian meeting-house, and held services. Later, the two preachers supplied Margate and Dover alternately.[2]

The Countess then appointed Aldridge as "supply" to the Mulberry Garden chapel in Wapping. The congregation petitioned her to make him a permanent minister; after her refusal, Aldridge left the Connexion, in 1776.[1][2]

Aldridge was called to the vacant Jewry Street Chapel (

Calvinistic Methodist) in London. He remained there as minister, for over 20 years.[3] He had Richard Povah there as assistant, in his last years.[4]

Death

Aldridge died on 28 February 1797, and was buried in Bunhill Fields.[2] At Bunhill Fields the sermon was given by George Gould. The following Sunday, Anthony Crole and Thomas Bryson, both fellow Trevecca students, preached sermons for Aldridge at the Jewry Street Chapel.[1][4]

Works

Aldridge wrote:[2]

  • Doctrine of the Trinity, Stated, Proved, and Defended
  • A funeral sermon on the death of the Countess of Huntingdon.

He also edited (1776) A New Collection of Hymns, Particularly Designed for the Use of the Congregation at the Chapel, in Jewry-Street, Aldgate, London.[5][6]

A narrative of the Lord's wonderful dealings with J. Marrant, a black

Aldridge also edited John Marrant's account of his life, A narrative of the Lord's wonderful dealings with J. Marrant, a black.[7] The circumstances were that Marrant was ordained in the Huntingdon Connexion in 1785, and related his experiences to Aldridge.[8] More content was added later, in the 4th edition, and Elrod assumes that its source is the ordination sermon given by Marrant to the Countess of Huntingdon.[9]

The work is an

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. comments that the work, first published in 1785, is inaccurately described as a slave narrative. It had seen 20 editions by 1835.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Mercer, M. J. "Aldridge, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c d e Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Aldridge, William" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  3. ^ Wilson, Walter (1808). The History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches and Meeting Houses, in London, Westminster, and Southwark. London: Published by the author. pp. 129โ€“130. William Aldridge minister.
  4. ^ a b Aaron Crossley Hobart Seymour (1839). The Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. William Edward Painter. p. 137.
  5. John Julian
    (1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology. Vol. 1. John Murray. p. 38.
  6. ^ William Aldridge (1794). A New Collection of Hymns, Particularly Designed for the Use of the Congregation at the Chapel, in Jewry-Street, Aldgate, London. The Fifth Edition, Revised and Corrected. London.
  7. ^ John Marrant; William Aldridge (1788). A narrative of the Lord's wonderful dealings with J. Marrant, a black, ... taken down from his own relation ... by the Rev. Mr. Aldridge. Second edition.
  8. ISBN 978-1-55849-629-3
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1-55849-629-3
    .
  10. ISBN 0-8223-3724-X
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-19-987451-4
    .

External links
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