Edward Brotherton (1814–1866) was an English

Swedenborgian The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) can refer to any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed under the influence of the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). The Swedenborgian tradition is considered to ...

and a campaigner for educational reform.

Life

Brotherton was born at

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in 1814, and in early life was engaged in the silk trade, but, foreseeing that the commercial treaty with France was likely to bring to an end the prosperity of his business, he retired with a competence. After a year of continental travel he devoted himself to the work of popular education. The letters of "E.B." in the Manchester newspapers excited great attention, and led to the formation of the Education Aid Society, which gave aid to all parents too poor to pay for the education of their children. The experiment upon the voluntary system tended to prove the necessity of compulsion. This demonstration, which H.A. Bruce, afterwards Lord Aberdare, called "the thunderclap from Manchester", paved the way for the

Education Act Education Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ontario, the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to education. The Bill for an Act with this short ...

of 1870. Brotherton's zeal in the cause was unbounded; he had patience, a winning grace of manner, and a candour only too rare in controversy. In the course of his visitations among the poor he caught a fever, of which he died, after a few days' illness, at Cornbrook, Manchester, 23 March 1866, and was buried at the Wesleyan cemetery in

Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Cru ...

. There is a portrait of him in

Manchester Town Hall Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian era, Victorian, Gothic Revival architecture, Neo-gothic City and town halls, municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local ...

Writings

Besides many contributions to periodicals he wrote: * ''Mormonism ; its Rise and Progress, and the Prophet Joseph Smith'' (Manchester, 1846). Brotherton had taken part in 1840 in exposing a Mormon elder, James Malone, who claimed to possess the miraculous 'gift of tongues. * ''Spiritualism, Swedenborg, and the New Church'' (London, 1860). This pamphlet has reference to the claims of the Rev.

Thomas Lake Harris Thomas Lake Harris (May 15, 1823 – March 23, 1906) was an Anglo- American Universalist minister, spiritualistic prophet, poet, and vintner. Harris is best remembered as the leader of a series of communal religious experiments, culminating wit ...

to a seership similar to that of

Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (; ; born Emanuel Swedberg; (29 January 168829 March 1772) was a Swedish polymath; scientist, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, Christian theologian, philosopher, and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ...

, claims which were vehemently denied by many members of the 'New Church signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation,' as the Swedenborgian congregations are officially styled. Brotherton prints a letter from Dr. J.J. Garth Wilkinson as to identity of the phenomena of respiration in Swedenborg and Harris. From this tract it will be seen that Brotherton was a disciple of Swedenborg, with a tendency to belief in spiritualistic phenomena. * ''The Present State of Popular Education in Manchester and Salford, the substance of seven letters reprinted from the "Manchester Guardian," by E. B.; (Manchester, 1864).'' He was the editor and chief writer of the first volume of a monthly periodical, ''The Dawn'' (Manchester, 1861-2). He wrote frequently as "Libra" and as "Pilgrim" in Swedenborgian periodicals. His chief contributions were the "Outlines of my Mental History", which appeared in the ''Intellectual Repository'' for 1849.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brotherton, Edward 1814 births 1866 deaths Writers from Manchester 19th-century English people English Swedenborgians