27 Facts About Beilby Porteus

Beilby Porteus, successively Bishop of Chester and of London, was a Church of England reformer and a leading abolitionist in England.

Beilby Porteus was the first Anglican in a position of authority to seriously challenge the Church's position on slavery.

Beilby Porteus was ordained as a priest in 1757, and in 1762 was appointed as domestic chaplain to Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury, acting as his personal assistant at Lambeth Palace for six years.

Beilby Porteus corresponded with clergy and missionaries, receiving reports on the appalling conditions facing the slaves from Revd James Ramsay in the West Indies and from Granville Sharp, the English lawyer who had supported the cases of freed slaves in England.

In 1769 Beilby Porteus was appointed as chaplain to King George III.

Beilby Porteus is listed as one of the lenten preachers at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall in 1771,1773 and 1774.

Beilby Porteus was Rector of Lambeth from 1767 to 1777, and later Master of St Cross, Winchester.

Beilby Porteus was concerned about trends within the Church of England towards what he regarded as the watering-down of the truth of Scripture and stood for doctrinal purity and opposed the anti-subscription movement, composed of theologians and scholars who, as he saw it, would have watered down cardinal Christian doctrines and beliefs and were in favour of allowing clergy the option of subscribing to the Thirty-Nine Articles.

In 1776, Beilby Porteus was nominated as Bishop of Chester, taking up the appointment in 1777.

Beilby Porteus lost no time in getting to grips with the problems of a diocese which had a vastly growing population within the many new centres of the Industrial Revolution, most of which were in the north-west of England, but where there were the fewest parishes.

Beilby Porteus continued to take a deep interest in the plight of West Indian slaves, preaching and campaigning actively against the slave trade and taking part in many debates in the House of Lords, becoming known as a noted abolitionist.

Beilby Porteus took a particular interest in the affairs of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, especially regarding the Church of England's role in the administration of the Codrington Plantations in Barbados, where around 300 slaves were owned by the Society.

Beilby Porteus used the opportunity afforded by the invitation to preach the 1783 Anniversary Sermon of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to criticise the Church of England's role in ignoring the plight of the 350 slaves on its Codrington Plantations in Barbados and to recommend means by which the lot of slaves there could be improved.

When this largely fell upon deaf ears, Beilby Porteus next began work on his Plan for the Effectual Conversion of the Slaves of the Codrington Estate, which he presented to the SPG committee in 1784 and, when it was turned down, again in 1789.

Beilby Porteus made a huge contribution and eventually turned to other means of achieving his aims, including writing, encouraging political initiatives, and supporting the sending of mission workers to Barbados and Jamaica.

Deeply concerned about the lot of the slaves as a result of the reports he received, Beilby Porteus became a committed and passionate abolitionist, the most senior cleric of his day to take an active part in the campaign against slavery.

Beilby Porteus became involved with the group of abolitionists at Teston in Kent, led by Sir Charles Middleton, and soon became acquainted with William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Henry Thornton, Zachary Macaulay and other committed activists.

Many of this group were members of the so-called Clapham Sect of evangelical social reformers and Beilby Porteus willingly lent his support to them and their campaigns.

In 1787, Beilby Porteus was translated to the bishopric of London on the advice of Prime Minister William Pitt, a position he held until his death in 1809.

Beilby Porteus was responsible for missions to the West Indies, as well as to India, and towards the end of his life personally funded the sending of scriptures in the language of many peoples as far apart as Greenland and India.

Beilby Porteus enlisted the support of his friend Hannah More, former dramatist and bluestocking, to write tracts against the wickedness of the immorality and licentious behaviour which were common at these events.

Beilby Porteus vigorously opposed the spread of the principles of the French Revolution as well as what he regarded as the ungodly and dangerous doctrines of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason.

Beilby Porteus was appointed as one of the members of the Board for Encouragement of Agriculture and internal Improvement in 1793.

Beilby Porteus was active in the establishment of Sunday Schools in every parish, an early patron of the Church Missionary Society and one of the founder members of the British and Foreign Bible Society, of which he became vice-president.

Beilby Porteus was a well-known and passionate advocate of personal Bible-reading and even gave his name to a system of daily devotions using the Porteusian Bible, published after his death, highlighting the most important and useful passages; and was responsible for the new innovation of the use of tracts by church organisations.

Always a Church of England man, Beilby Porteus was happy to work with Methodists and dissenters and recognised their major contributions in evangelism and education.

Beilby Porteus was one of the most significant, albeit under-rated church figures of the 18th century.