Theophilus Browne was a Unitarian clergyman who was born in 1763 in Derby, England.
12 Facts About Theophilus Browne
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Theophilus Browne had a varied career, with a congregation once paying him to leave a chapel.
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Theophilus Browne proposed that church funds could be improved using state lotteries.
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Theophilus Browne took holy orders after achieving the degrees of both a Bachelor and Master of Arts at Christ's College, Cambridge.
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Theophilus Browne resigned after adopting the positions of the Priestley school of Unitarians.
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At midsummer, 1809, Theophilus Browne left York to become minister of the Octagon Chapel, Norwich.
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Theophilus Browne took his stand upon his vested right to a small endowment, and was paid for his resignation at the end of 1810.
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Theophilus Browne was minister at Congleton from 1812 to 1814.
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Theophilus Browne established a fellowship fund at Gloucester on 1 November 1818, and a year or two afterward created some consternation by proposing that church funds should be invested in state lotteries, with a view to gaining windfalls for denominational purposes.
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Theophilus Browne remained at Gloucester till the close of 1823.
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Theophilus Browne took great interest in education, and was president of the Mechanics Institute in Bath.
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Theophilus Browne died, after a short illness, on 20 May 1835 and was buried at Lyncomb Vale, near Bath.