Henry Venn (1725 in Barnes, Surrey, England – 1797), was an English

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

minister and one of the founders of the

Clapham Sect The Clapham Sect, or Clapham Saints, were a group of social reformers associated with Clapham in the period from the 1780s to the 1840s. Despite the label "sect", most members remained in the established (and dominant) Church of England, which ...

, an influential evangelical group within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Life

He was the third son of

Richard Venn Sir Richard Venn or Fenn (died 18 August 1639) was an English merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1637. Life Venn was a city of London merchant and a member of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. He was a member of the committee of the ...

, vicar of St Antholin, Budge Row in London. He was educated at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

from 1742, studying at St John's and

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

colleges; he graduated B.A. in 1745 and M.A. in 1749. He also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

, for All England against Surrey. Venn took orders in 1747, and was elected fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1749. After holding a curacy at

Barton, Cambridgeshire Barton is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is about south-west of Cambridge, near junction 12 of the M11 motorway. History The Roman road Akeman Street may have passed through ...

, he became curate of both St Matthew, Friday Street, in the City of London, and of

West Horsley West Horsley is a semi-rural village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, England. It lies on the A246, and south of the M25 and the A3. Its civil parish ascends to an ancient woodland Sheepleas Woods which are on the northern downsl ...

, Surrey, in 1750. Local clergy already considered him a ''

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

'' (in later terms, an

), since he taught Scripture in his home and the number of communicants at West Horsley increased from twelve to sixty. However, it was only at this time that his beliefs moved from the

High Church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

views of ''

The Whole Duty of Man ''The Whole Duty of Man'' is an English high-church 'Protestant' devotional work, first published anonymously in 1658, with an introduction by Henry Hammond (1605-1660). It was both popular and influential for two centuries within the Anglica ...

'' to the more evangelical position of '' A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life''. In 1754 he became curate of

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

and was also elected lecturer of St Swithin's, London Stone and St Alban's Wood Street. From 1759 to 1771, Venn was vicar of

Huddersfield Parish Church St Peter's Church, also known as Huddersfield Parish Church, is a Church of England parish church in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. There has been a church on the site since the 11th century, but the current building dates from 1836. It is ...

. He found a small group of like-minded Yorkshire clergy: Richard Conyers, William Grimshaw of Haworth, James Stillingfleet (1741–1826). In 1771 he exchanged to the living of

Yelling A scream is a loud vocalization in which air is passed through the vocal cords with greater force than is used in regular or close-distance vocalisation. This can be performed by any creature possessing lungs, including humans. A scream is of ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

where he drew as visitors

William Faris William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, Joseph Jowett, Thomas Robinson and

Charles Simeon Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric. Life and career He was born at Reading, Berkshire, in 1759 and baptised at St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year. He was the ...

. He died in the rectory, and is commemorated by a plaque over the pulpit of the parish church. Henry is remembered in the

with a

commemoration Commemoration may refer to: *Commemoration (Anglicanism), a religious observance in Churches of the Anglican Communion *Commemoration (liturgy) In the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, a commemoration is the recital, within the Li ...

on 1 July.

Works

Venn was well known as the author of ''The Compleat Duty of Man'' (London, 1763), a work in which he intended to supplement the teaching embodied in the anonymous '' Whole Duty of Man'' from an evangelical perspective.

Family

Henry Venn's descendants also came to prominence over the succeeding generations. His son

John Venn (priest) John Venn (9 March 1759 – 1 July 1813) was a priest of the Church of England who was a central figure of the group of religious philanthropists known as the Clapham Sect. Life He was born at Clapham to the south-west of central London, while hi ...

was one of the founders of the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

(CMS). His granddaughter, by his daughter Eling, was

Charlotte Elliott Charlotte Elliott (18 March 1789 – 22 September 1871) was an English poet, hymn writer, and editor. She is best known by two hymns, "Just As I Am" and "Thy will be done". Elliott edited ''Christian Remembrancer Pocket Book'' (1834–59) and ...

, writer of numerous hymns, most notably the well-loved ''Just as I Am.'' His grandson, also named Henry Venn (10 February 1796 - 13 January 1873), was honorary secretary of the Church Missionary Society from 1841 to 1873. He expounded the basic principles of

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Christian missions A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...

later addressed and made widespread by the Lausanne Congress of 1974. His great-grandson was the logician and philosopher

John Venn John Venn, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in l ...

, famed for the

Venn diagram A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between sets, popularized by John Venn (1834–1923) in the 1880s. The diagrams are used to teach elementary set theory, and to illustrate simple set relationships ...

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Venn, Henry 1725 births 1797 deaths People from Barnes, London Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge British evangelicals English evangelicals Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge Clapham Sect Evangelical Anglicans Evangelical Anglican clergy 18th-century English Anglican priests People from Huddersfield People from Yelling Clergy from Yorkshire Anglican saints