Richard Cecil (8 November 1748 – 15 August 1810) was a leading Evangelical Anglican priest of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Life

Cecil was born in London. His father (died 1779) and grandfather were scarlet dyers to the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. His mother (died 1777) was the sister of

Benjamin Grosvenor Benjamin Grosvenor (born 8 July 1992) is a British classical pianist. Education Grosvenor was born and brought up in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. He is the youngest of five brothers. His father is an English and Drama teacher, a ...

; his father was an Anglican while his mother was a Dissenter, whose family had been devout Christians for generations. He entered

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, in 1773, was ordained deacon in 1776 on the title of a priest named Pugh, of Rauceby, Lincolnshire, and was admitted to priest's orders in 1777. Shortly thereafter he went to serve three Leicestershire churches: Thornton, Bagworth, and

Markfield Markfield is a large village in both the National Forest, England, National Forest and Charnwood Forest and in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The settlement dates back to at least the time of the Norman conques ...

. His evangelical preaching produced many conversions and flourishing congregations here. He later became minister of two small livings in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

, Sussex. After the death of his parents, he moved, because of bad health, to

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London and preached at different churches and chapels there. In March 1780 he became minister of St John's Chapel, Bedford Row,Josiah Pratt, The Life and Remains of Richard Cecil (London, 1876), p.xiii which became a major Evangelical Anglican venue continuing into the mid 19th century. For some years he preached a lecture at

Lothbury Lothbury is a short street in the City of London. It runs east–west with traffic flow in both directions, between Gresham Street's junction with Old Jewry and Coleman Street to the west, and Bartholomew Lane's junction with Throgmorton Stree ...

at 6 o'clock on a Sabbath morning, and later an evening lecture in Orange Street, followed by the chapel in

Long Acre Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its Coach_(carriage), co ...

. From 1787 he preached the evening lecture at

Christ Church, Spitalfields Christ Church Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. On Commercial Street (London), Commercial Street in the East End and in today's Central London it is in the London Borough of Tower H ...

. He alternated with a Foster in these two last lectureships during the period 1784 to 1801, though he had help from a Pratt in the last few years there. He became ill again in 1798, and later (1808–9) visited Bath, Clifton, and Tunbridge Wells for health reasons before relinquishing the lease of the chapel, moving in April 1810 to Hampstead, where he died four months later. He was associated with 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 ...

whose best known member was

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

, and was a founding member and leader of the Eclectic Society, an evangelical Anglican society which was started along with

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery Abolitionism, abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Nav ...

and Henry Foster in the upstairs room of a pub in 1783, but later moved to the vestry at Bedford Row in 1784.

References

External links

* 1748 births 1810 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests 18th-century evangelicals 19th-century English Anglican priests 19th-century evangelicals Anglican clergy from London English evangelicals Evangelical Anglicans {{UK-Christian-clergy-stub