Modern British Heresy

 ( Narrative here ) James Cranbrook Source, unless stated otherwise: Kathleen Chater, The Congregational History Society Magazine, Volume 7, No. 4 Autumn 2014. Here 181      Grandfather: William Gregory Cranbrook, (who worked for Bank of England in 1812) m. Rebecca                    They had three children: 1) John, m. Jane Sprott.   2) William 3) ) James: bap Clapham 1793, m. Jemima Piper 1817. d. 1821 aged 28, F ather to our James & Jemima, baptised 1820 James 1819 Baptised                He was of black Caribbean descent. Chater says “Nowhere in the newspaper reports or other sources that document his career is his ancestry mentioned.” I found a single reference. 1836-1840 Trained for ministry at Highbury College, London, 1840-1842 First post in Wickham Market, Suffolk Mar. Charlotte Frost. They had two boys & girl November 1843 Second post in Soham, Cambridgeshire 1847 to Ireland, where “he was not attached to any particular church. Here he seems to have made

Congregationalists are grounded in local churches. The congregation is the source of the authority of such minimal central and co-ordinating structures as are necessary to sustain the denomination. A proper balance between local and central bodies is not always easy to maintain. (A history of Scottish Congregationalism is here (pdf).) Early ministry   ( timeline and bibliography here. Biographical background is largely taken from Kathleen Chator, James Cranbrook , in The Congregational History Society Magazine, Volume 7 No 4 Autumn 2014, pp.161-167 ( pdf ) Her particular focus is “the role of black people in the religious life of the United kingdom in past centuries.” p.161. ) James Cranbrook was baptised in 1819 and trained for the ministry at Highbury College, London (1836-1840), a highly regarded dissenting academy ( wiki ). He followed a meandering ministerial career. His first post (1840-42) was in Wickham Market, Suffolk, where he married Charlotte Frost. They were to have five