Henry Venn (2 March 1724 – 24 June 1797) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

clergyman and writer who co-founded the

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

, an influential

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 ...

group within the

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, ...

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 St Antholin, Budge Row, or St Antholin, Watling Street, was a church in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, following its destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The 17th-centur ...

in London. He was educated at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from 1742, studying at St John's and then Jesus College where he was a Rustat scholar. He graduated B.A. in 1745 and M.A. in 1749. He also played

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, for All England against Surrey. In 1749 Venn was ordained as a priest in the

and was elected fellow of

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

. 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 road, A246, and south of the M25 motorway, M25 and the A3 road, A3. Its civil parishes in England, civil parish ascends to an ancient ...

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

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

'' (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 A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

views of '' The Whole Duty of Man'' 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 district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

and was also elected lecturer of

St Swithin, London Stone St Swithin, London Stone, was an Anglican church in the City of London. It stood on the north side of Cannon Street, between Salters' Hall Court and St Swithin's Lane, which runs north from Cannon Street to King William Street and takes its name f ...

and

St Alban, Wood Street St Alban's was a church in Wood Street, City of London. It was dedicated to Saint Alban. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt in 1634, destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt, this time to a Gothic design by Sir Christopher Wr ...

. 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 Richard Conyers (1725–1786) was an English evangelical cleric, and the hymn-book compiler of a precursor to the ''Olney Hymns''. He became well known as the parish priest of Helmsley in the North Yorkshire Moors, a cure of scattered villages. ...

, William Grimshaw of Haworth, James Stillingfleet. In 1771 he exchanged to the living of

Yelling A scream is a loud/hard 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 i ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

where he drew as visitors William Faris,

Joseph Jowett Joseph Jowett (1752 – 13 November 1813) was an English Anglican cleric and jurist. He was Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge University from 1782 to 1813. He was the uncle of William Jo ...

, Thomas Robinson and

Charles Simeon Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English Evangelical Anglicanism, evangelical Anglican cleric and biblical commentator who led the evangelical 'Low Church' movement, in reaction to the liturgically and episcopally ...

. 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), insertion in one liturgy of portions of another *Memorialization *"Commemoration", a song by the 3rd a ...

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 '' The Whole Duty of Man'' from an evangelical perspective.

Family

He married (1757) a daughter of the Rev. Thomas Bishop, D.D., a divine of Ipswich. Henry Venn's descendants also came to prominence over the succeeding generations. His son

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 ...

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 Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

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

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

, writer of numerous hymns, most notably '"Just as I Am". Her brothers were clergymen

Edward Bishop Elliott Edward Bishop Elliott (24 July 1793, in Paddington – 30 June 1875) was an English clergyman, preacher and premillennarian writer. Elliott graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1816, and he was given the vicarage of Tuxford, Nottinghams ...

and Henry Venn Elliott, A grandson, also named Henry Venn (1796 - 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) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Christian missions A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and a ...

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

, famed for the

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venn, Henry 1724 births 1797 deaths 18th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century English Anglican priests 18th-century English male writers 18th-century English non-fiction writers 18th-century evangelicals Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Anglican saints Clapham Sect Clergy from Yorkshire People from Barnes, London English Evangelical writers English male non-fiction writers English religious writers Evangelical Anglicans Evangelical Anglican clergy Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge People from Huddersfield People from Yelling Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge