Algernon Sydney Thelwall (1795 in

Newchurch, Isle of Wight Newchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. It is located between Sandown and Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport in the southeast of the island. History Anthony Dillington, owner of the Knighton Gorges Manor in Newchurch wrote to ...

– 1863, in

St Giles, London St Giles is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Camden. It is in Central London and part of the West End of London, West End. The area gets its name from the parish church of St Giles in the Fields. The combined p ...

) was an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman and teacher of

elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compel ...

Life

Algernon Sydney Thelwall was the eldest son of the poet, radical and orator

John Thelwall John Thelwall (27 July 1764 – 17 February 1834) was a radical British orator, writer, political reformer, journalist, poet, elocutionist and speech therapist.

. He was named after the 17th-century republican

Algernon Sydney Algernon Sidney or Sydney (15 January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of Englan ...

showing his father's political leanings. He was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, graduating 18th Wrangler in 1818. Ordained in 1819, he was English chaplain and missionary to the Jews in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

from 1819 to 1826. In 1828 he married Georgiana Anne Tahourdin, and in 1829 became curate of Blackford, near

Wedmore Wedmore is a large village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on raised ground, in the Somerset Levels between the River Axe and River Brue, often called the Isle of Wedmore. The parish consists of three main v ...

, Somerset. He was a founder of the

Trinitarian Bible Society The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 "to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the Holy Scriptures, which are given by inspiration of God and a ...

in 1831, and the Society's secretary from 1836 to 1847. An

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...

, he was active on behalf of the Protestant committee opposing the

Maynooth Grant The Maynooth Grant was a cash grant from the British government to a Catholic seminary in Ireland. In 1845, the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, sought to improve the relationship between Catholic Ireland and Protestant Britain by i ...

in 1845. In 1850 Thelwall was appointed Lecturer on Elocution and Public Reading within the theology department of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. He died on 30 November 1863 and is buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

. His grave (no.12742) no longer has a headstone or any memorial. The clergyman and scholar

Sydney Thelwall Sydney Thelwall (born 18 December 1834 — 28 August 1922) was an English clergyman and Christian scholar. Life The son of Algernon Sydney Thelwall, Sydney Thelwall was educated at King's College London. He was admitted as a pensioner to Chris ...

was a son of Algernon Thelwall.

Works

*''Sermons'', 1833 *''The iniquities of the opium trade with China'', 1839. In Internet Archive. *''The idolatry of the church of Rome'', 1844. In Internet Archive. *''Proceedings of the Anti-Maynooth Conference of 1845 : with a historical introduction and an appendix'', 1845. In Internet Archive. *''The Reading Desk and the Pulpit'', 1861

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thelwall, Algernon Sydney 1795 births 1863 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 19th-century English Anglican priests Protestant missionaries in the Netherlands Evangelical Anglican clergy Academics of King's College London English Anglican missionaries Anglican missionaries in Europe