BCUIM

D. #OTD 1958 Frances Jane Mansbridge (née Pringle), British educationist who co-founded the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) with her husband, Albert Mansbridge. They had met as Sunday School Teachers.

D. #OTD 1912 Emma Cons, social reformer, campaigner for women's suffrage & educational opportunities for the working class. First woman alderman of London County Council in 1889 & founder of Old Vic Theatre in 1880.

D. #OTD 1896 aged 29, Caroline Martyn, Trades Union organiser & Christian socialist. Fabian Society member, her devout faith tempered her socialism, though Keir Hardie saw her as the leading socialist of her day.

D. #OTD 1742 Susanna Wesley, "The Mother of Methodism". As mother of John & Charles Wesley, she began their education.  They carried her example & teaching forward in their lives and ministries.

Baptized #OTD 1591 in Lincolnshire UK, Anne Hutchinson, key figure in history of religious freedom in the American colonies & history of women in ministry.  Her Massachusetts State House monument calls her a "courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration".

B. #OTD 1769 Sir Charles Wolseley, 7th Baronet. He has present at fall of Bastille & helped revolutionaries. An ardent reformer, elected to take grievances of Birmingham folk to government, he helped victims & accused after #Peterloo & was himself imprisoned.

D. #OTD 1950 Evangeline Cory Booth, daughter of William Booth, 4th General of the Salvation Army, relief worker after 1906 San Francisco earthquake, cared for American troops in WW1 leading 250 Salvationists, bringing their cheerful brand of ‘seven-days-a-week’ Christianity.

D. #OTD 1808 John “Iron Mad” Wilkinson who made this iron pulpit for Bradley Methodist Church, from which John Wesley & I have both preached.

B. #OTD 1750 William Savery, an American Quaker, active preacher, abolitionist & defender of the rights of Native Americans. On a visit to England, he inspired Elizabeth Fry to press ahead with her welfare and prison reform work.

D. #OTD 1908 Phoebe Palmer Knapp, known for aiding the poor & fostering reform, "cared more for active movements of the world & society than for spiritual abstraction", composer of "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine" music.

#OTD 1878 Francis Grimké ordained Presbyterian minister. A noted opponent of racism: "Race prejudice can't be talked down, it must be lived down” "Another great principle of the religion of Jesus Christ is that all Christians are one in him-together they constitute one family.”

B. #OTD 1871 Seebohm Rowntree, Industrialist, sociological researcher & social reformer, known particularly for 3 York studies of poverty in 1899 1935 & ‘51. His Quaker ethos impacted his business practices & he implemented wage increases, 8 hour day, pension scheme & company Dr.