Marlow Ancestors: Revd John Briggs

Revd John Briggs came to the Congregational Church in Quoiting Square Marlow (now called Christ Church URC) from a previous post in Preston Lancashire late in 1866. The Independent Chapel in Whitby also wanted John but he turned them down.

John originated from the wonderfully named village of Idle near Bradford in Yorkshire. His father was a clothier and by the time he was 13 John was working as a cloth weaver for him. However a change of direction occurred at some point and John graduated from Airedale College, a specialist training college for Congregational ministers, located then at Undercliffe near Bradford. His was a Congregational family like many others in the village of Idle.

The Grimshaw Street Independent Chapel, Preston seems to have been John's first post, from 1861 onwards.

Prior to being appointed there John visited the chapel multiple times as a guest preacher. As was often the case when a man was seen as talented in that way, his future congregation had him pencilled as their preferred new minister when the time came that they had a vacancy, long before that vacancy occurred.

The attraction of John was obvious from reportage on his work, the Preston Chronicle calling him a man "in the first rank of our local orators" to give one example of praise for his sermons.

As well as the usual extra sermons given in aid of Sunday Schools, missionaries and the like the local Preston paper in 1865 advertised a sermon he was to preach on the life and death of Richard Cobden, a politician who had campaigned for the repeal of the Corn Laws, pacifism and the establishment of free non - denominational schools for children. John himself was outspoken in drumming up support for free education for children.

His other big passion was his opposition to the system of Easter Dues exacted by Church of England clergy. He was the secretary of the Preston Anti-Easter Dues Association and something of a firebrand speaker anywhere and everywhere in that respect. In 1865 he and his associates managed to persuade the local vicar to publicly hand back to two men who had refused on principle to pay their dues some goods seized from them in lieu of cash - two hams and a barometer!

John was also a big supporter of the Young Men's Christian Association in Preston but does not seem to have been involved with that organisation in Marlow. In fact compared to other ministers of the Congregational Church at Marlow in the 1800s, John was very quiet. Whereas others were often to be found at major events in the town and were actively involved in hot local discussions about issues such as tax, the system of education and temperance John seldom appears as a speaker or organiser of events other than those directly related to his work at his own church. That doesn't mean he didn't attend other events, perhaps he preferred to attend in a quieter, less "up on stage"capacity. It was a marked change in his behaviour though between Preston and Marlow, which is puzzling.

John and his wife Sara / Sarah (nee Burrows married at the Grimshaw Street chapel August 1865) lived in the Congregational minister's house in Chapel Street Marlow. There on March 16th 1867 a daughter Mabel Sara was born to them. Sadly she died after just a few weeks as did another child, John Burrows, born to them the next year.

On a happier note John received 26 new members into his church in 1867. That would average out at one a fortnight across the year. Impressive! Keeping members as active church members apparently wasn't as easy. In The Story of Christ Church, Quoiting Square 1693-1986 Arthur Macurthur writes that in February 1867 it was decided that those who had not attended the Lord's Supper for six months forfeited their church membership.

John resigned in Spring 1868, with the intention of entering the Church of England as a clergyman. This he did indeed do, becoming the curate of St John's Church in the suburb of Tuebrook, Liverpool when it opened in 1870. He served under vicar J.C Reade whose wealthy wife paid for the church to be built. Like many a curate John performed a large amount of the marriages and other ceremonies at the church. Though obviously dedicated to Tuebrook, the Reades did not actually live there.

John never lost contact with his old home of Preston. His entry to the Church of England did not go down well at all with some of his old associates there however. In fact a fair amount of venom was directed at him for perceived hypocrisy particularly by those still opposing Easter Dues. A later secretary of the Preston Anti Easter Dues Association was particularly scathing, to the point of publicly insinuating John had never been to University and was falsely claiming to have been sufficiently clever and hardworking to earn a degree. Ouch. There was no substance to this allegation by the way. John was an M.A.

He did not lose contact with Marlow either, returning in 1873 for the funeral of William Wright a prominent worshipper at his old Congregational Church in Quoiting Square. He was considered one of the guests of honour at the funeral so there was no obvious resentment in Marlow stemming from his removing to the Church Of England.

John resigned as a curate of St John's in 1871 to become Honorary Secretary of the Colonial and Continental Church Society. He was credited with being a highly successful fundraiser for that organisation. He remained based in Liverpool though he traveled widely in his role.

He and Sarah lived at 43 Victoria Road in the suburb of Tuebrook where daughters were born to them in 1873 and 1875.

He died in 1877.

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Sunday, December 12, 2021

Revd John Briggs