Reverend Jabez Tunnicliff (7 February 1809 – 15 June 1865) was a minister of the General Baptist Church in England. He was the founder of the

Band of Hope Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

temperance movement.

Life and family

Jabez Tunnicliff was born on 7 February 1809, the second surviving son of John Tunnicliff. Of 22 children, only Jabez, his older brother William, and six of their sisters survived to adulthood. His father was a boot and shoe maker in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. He was apprenticed at age 13 to learn

japanning Japanning is a type of Surface finishing, finish that originated as a European imitation of East Asian lacquerware#East Asia, lacquerwork. It was first used on furniture, but was later much used on small items in metal. The word originated in th ...

, and used this skill to support himself as a painter and decorator in some pastoral situations. While still apprenticed, he secretly married Mary Ann, a young lady in the church he attended. Theirs was a good marriage, but their youth made it financially difficult, and this hindered his church work. Jabez Tunnicliff died at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, 15 June 1865, aged 56. His funeral was the following Sunday at

Burmantofts Burmantofts is an area of 1960s high-rise housing blocks in inner-city east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England adjacent to the city centre and St. James's Hospital. It is a racially diverse area, with sizable Afro-Caribbean and Irish communities, b ...

Cemetery,

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, with an estimated 15,000 people present. The ''Leeds Express'' for 25 June 1865 reports that about 1,100 temperance supporters walked through the town following the coffin.

Church work

In 1832, Jabez Tunnicliff was invited to become the minister of Cradley Baptist Church. However, in February 1833 he began to question the Calvinistic teaching, and left in November 1833. In December 1833 he and about 30 others began meeting and formed Cradley Heath Baptist Church. While fundraising for the new building at Cradley Heath, he was asked to become the minister of Longford Baptist Church (between

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

and

Bedworth Bedworth ( or locally ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwickshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It is situated between Coventry, 6 miles (9.5 km) to the south, and Nuneaton, to th ...

, Warwickshire), where he had a successful ministry until 1842. He resigned that pastorate with a view to working in America, but was employed by the Baptist Home Mission department in Leeds.

Band of Hope

During his time at Leeds, Jabez Tunnicliff became an advocate for temperance, and spoke out for this alongside his regular church work. In 1847, after the death of a young man "through intemperance" and in discussion with several other temperance supporters, he proposed a new organisation to promote temperance amongst younger people. There is some dispute as to whether the name given to this organisation; the "

" was coined by him or by Anne Jane Carlisle.

References

Sources

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External links

''The Life and Labours of the Rev. Jabez Tunnicliff, Minister of the Gospel at Call Lane Chapel, Leeds, and Founder of the Band of Hope, obtained from authentic documents, chiefly records made by himself'' by Rev. H. Marles, LRCP, 1865
on Google Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Tunnicliffe, Jabez 1809 births 1865 deaths English Baptist ministers English temperance activists