Benjamin Godwin

Benjamin Godwin
from a photograph by his son
Born	10 October 1785 Bath
Died	20 February 1871 Bradford
Nationality	British
Spouse	Elizabeth

Reverend Benjamin Godwin (10 October 1785 – 20 February 1871) was a Baptist clergyman, abolitionist and activist. He was a pastor at Dartmouth, Great Missenden, Bradford, and Oxford as well as a teacher of classics. He became involved in debates on the ethics of slavery and a schism in the Baptist missionary community. Godwin's writing's are an interesting source as he wrote 58 letters to his son to record his autobiography. Godwin's son and his grandson were Mayors of Bradford.

Life

Godwin was born on 10 October in Bath in 1785. His mother was about forty, but he was given the biblical name Benjamin because his father was 70 and a keen Baptist. His father had been married before and Benjamin had two adult siblings. His family were poor but he was sent to a Dame school until his education and upkeep was undertaken by the charity that ran the Bluecoat School in Bath This school was free and included the supply of uniforms. When Godwin finished school he was apprenticed to a shoemaker.

Sailor

H.M.S. Généreux (before the ship joined the Royal Navy and Godwin was in the crew.)

Godwin was unhappy during his apprenticeship and this resulted in the fifteen-year-old running away with a friend on a ship bound for the Mediterranean. During the journey Godwin reported that he gained a close relationship with his god. Godwin jumped ship in Palermo and he was able to find work as a cabin boy bound for London. However, in Menorca the whole crew of his ship was press-ganged to crew HMS Le Généreux on Godwin's 16th birthday. Godwin became a Royal Navy sailor during the Napoleonic Wars until peace was declared. Godwin and the rest of crew were dismissed at Spithead on 27 July 1802.

Cobbler and evangelist

Godwin renewed his religious interests attending his family's Baptist Church with his, much older, half-sister. He also lodged with his half sister and her husband. He initially tried his hand at building with his brother-in-law before realising that his poor skills as a cobbler were superior to his ability to be a builder. In line with the Baptist faith, Godwin confirmed his faith when he was baptised with five other adults. Through the church he met Elizabeth Hall, but she refused to marry him until he could support her. "Betsy" Hall was unimpressed by Godwin delivering a sermon, until he had given three successful sermons in Bath. Others were also impressed and Godwin was offered a part-time position as an evangelist at Aylburton in Gloucestershire. Betsy was satisfied and they were married on 14 August 1806 and they were given the use of a cottage in Aylburton. Here they set up a home and they established church meetings. Godwin was inspired by his wife who he regarded as "the name of a powerful spell". However, despite Godwin's efforts they were reduced to eating potatoes and drinking water and their evangelical mission came under active opposition. They had to contend with merciless persecution including eggs being thrown. Hearing that he had been mischievously drafted into the militia, Godwin left Aylburton in 1807.

Godwin was sure now that he wanted to be a minister and he was given a probationary year looking after a Cornish congregation at Chacewater. Here he was mentored by the nearby minister at Redruth. Betsy had to remain in Bath as the money was poor, but Godwin's was helping at the local school and completing his own education. It was Godwin who decided to leave when the year was completed to join his wife; and to become a minister.

Minister

Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church

Godwin and Betsy spent a year at Chipping Sodbury, but he modestly refused an offer of becoming their pastor and took up another offer in Dartmouth where he could not only preach but also learn and teach. His ordination as a minister for Dartmouth was in 1812. Within his new congregation were Calvinistic Baptists who debated with Godwin and his Particular Baptist views. Godwin was a Baptist but gave his support to the evangelical ideas of Andrew Fuller and his Baptist Missionary Society. In Dartmouth, the Godwin's daughter, Mary, died of whooping cough, but they also had a son on 23 December 1814 who they named John Venimore Godwin. Godwin was ready to move.

Godwin became a minister at Great Missenden where he wrote the memoirs of the pastor he had replaced. He worked well with his Anglican counterpart raising money for missionary work, but he was disappointed to find that he was gaining some of his diminishing congregation. Godwin was paid well but the money failed to arrive on time.

Tutor in Bradford

Godwin arrived at his new position in Bradford in 1822. Here he was employed as a teacher of classics by William Steadman who led the Horton Academy in Bradford. The academy was training Baptist ministers and Godwin had initially turned down an offer to join the staff. Steadman had persevered as he was impressed by Godwin's first published sermon. Horton Academy was teaching adults and Godwin was concerned that his education was not sufficient. This proved not to be the case and he enthusiastically introduced new classes in maths, physics and geography. Godwin was however not preaching.

Minister and tutor in Bradford

In 1824 a new Sion Chapel was built in Bradford and Godwin became its minister on 31 October 1824 when he had the honour of Robert Hall giving a sermon. Godwin was pleased with the autonomy that this new position allowed him.

The Wool Exchange Building in Bradford

Godwin had now achieved his ambition. In 1830 Godwin launched himself on what he, and his wife, believed was their next challenge and that was to oppose slavery. After consulting the leading abolitionist James Stephen, he gave a series of well-attended talks at the newly built Bradford Exchange buildings. The lectures were given with an entrance fee of a shilling, but these were more than just a series of four plain lectures. Godwin had not only prepared transparencies he had also hired an artist to prepare large paintings that could illustrate the results of slavery. The young artist was called Thomas Richmond (and he may be this one). Godwin believed that the truth would make its own argument and he just needed to make sure that the information was presented and that it was accessible. Godwin wanted minds to be persuaded so he had Thomas Richmond prepare a second series of panels that illustrated the benefits of an egalitarian and multi-racial world that result from the abolition of slavery.

NO SLAVERY! ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF YORK You honourably distinguished yourselves In the ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE by your zealous support of WILLIAM WILBERFORCE Who can be more worthy of your choice as a REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE COUNTY the enlightened friend and champion of Negro Freedom HENRY BROUGHAM by returning him YOU WILL DO AN HONOUR TO THE COUNTY and A SERVICE TO HUMANITY

Godwin and his talks would have been just the right kind of activity needed for the planned Bradford Mechanics' Institute Library. The new building was encouraged by Godwin and the new facility was designed to assist in adult education. It opened in 1832. Meanwhile, Godwin's abolitionist talks attracted wider attention and Zachary Macaulay who edited the Anti-Slavery Reporter invited him to arrange a series of talks around the country. The proposal was too ambitious, but Godwin did deliver the four illustrated lectures in York and Scarborough and the texts were summarised in the local papers. They were also published as a 170-page booklet in London and in Boston, Massachusetts (in 1836). Godwin arranged for a grand petition to be assembled in Yorkshire to persuade the British Anti-Slavery movement to be more active. John Hustler helped with travel expenses in order that he could lobby the next meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in London. This was not successful but he did get to set forth his case with Zachary Macauley who led the organisation. Godwin also offered active assistance to Henry Brougham who was standing for parliament with an abolitionist agenda. Godwin wanted to help and he devised and funded posters that appealed to Yorkshire. Godwin knew that voters had supported the famous abolitionist William Wilberforce and he appealed to them to repeat their choice (and Godwin's) with the new candidate, Henry Brougham.

Godwin's four lectures had become a book that was rapidly out of print in London. Copies were sent to peers and members of parliament and speakers and agents for anti-slavery looked on Godwin's book as a standard work. Reader's included the international activists George Thompson and John Scoble. Scoble was the secretary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.

By 1833 parliament was more democratic following the Reform Bill and the abolitionists wanted to ensure that their elected Members of Parliament voted to outlaw slavery. Petitions were again organised across Bradford and Godwin was one of the delegates sent to Exeter Hall in London to attend a meeting to organise the lobbying of parliament. The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was passed and this made slavery illegal throughout the empire. On 24 April 1834 Godwin was awarded a testimonial dinner for his leadership during the anti-slavery campaign. He was given thanks and presents including tea sets and silver plate at a celebration that was attended by members from both houses of parliament.

In 1834 the Liberal Bradford Observer newspaper was formed by selling shares to ninety people. The idea for the newspaper had come from an informal book club that Godwin attended. Godwin was one of several people who led this initiative. He proposed that the newspaper needed to aim for a general appeal which meant that it should not exclusively champion the Liberal cause but should attempt to demonstrate the common interests of both employer and employees. The newspaper was a success and Godwin organised a local group to support parliamentary reform and another group against slavery. When Godwin became dissatisfied and he resigned his position in 1836 there was a campaign to raise money to keep him in Bradford. Godwin relented, but within a few months he again felt that he was not enjoying the support he deserved. He had given up his role at the Horton Academy to concentrate on his ministry but still he heard criticism. Godwin resigned again and despite having nowhere to go he did not give in to those who asked him to retract again.

Peacemaker in Liverpool

Godwin was at a loose end and he became involved in a schism between the Baptist Missionary Society and the missionaries in charge of the mission to Serampore in India. Godwin and his wife moved to Liverpool where he was given £150 a year to be secretary to the committee set up to solve the problem. The latter organisers were known as the "Serampore Three". The ten-year-long schism arose because the mission at Serampore had been set up with a degree of independence from the main society. Following the death of long-serving and successful missionary society secretary Andrew Fuller it was decided to formalise the ownership. The new missionary society secretary required everything to be explained and documented. By this time the elder missionaries had in their ownership a number of buildings which they held in safe-keeping. Some saw that this could be interpreted as personal profit although no one made this accusation. The problem arose because these missionaries saw the request to transfer the ownership as a slur on their character.

Godwin's role was employed in Liverpool to talk his way around Britain explaining the misunderstandings that were in circulation and to try to arrange a visit to the splintered missionaries in India. Godwin acted outside his remit and he organised a difficult two-day meeting in November 1836 which agreed a merger between the two splintered groups. With no schism Godwin had no job. With a feeling of great success he was again out of work.

Minister in Oxford

In 1838 Godwin became the Baptist minister in New Street Church in Oxford. In the March of that year he started the first of 58 autobiographical letters which he would continue to write until December 1855.

<imagemap> File:The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840 by Benjamin Robert Haydon.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Godwin is shown below the main speaker's raised shoulder in the painting of the 1840 Anti-Slavery Convention. Move your cursor to identify him or click the icon to enlarge

circle 2587 1076 58 Isaac Crewdson (Beaconite) writer circle 2766 1487 111 Samuel Jackman Prescod - Barbadian Journalist circle 1759 1499 91 William Morgan from Birmingham circle 1621 1494 95 William Forster - Quaker leader circle 1439 1521 99 George Stacey - Quaker leader circle 2038 1486 76 William Forster - Anti-Slavery ambassador circle 2117 1503 85 John Burnet -Abolitionist Speaker circle 2177 1536 80 William Knibb -Missionary to Jamaica circle 2535 1503 76 Joseph Ketley from Guyana circle 2630 1529 85 George Thompson - UK & US abolitionist circle 1266 1532 97 J. Harfield Tredgold - British South African (secretary) circle 722 1477 97 Josiah Forster - Quaker leader circle 573 1448 117 Samuel Gurney - the Banker's Banker circle 374 740 67 Sir John Eardley-Wilmot circle 263 772 82 Dr Stephen Lushington - MP and Judge circle 164 807 76 Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton circle 366 907 99 James Gillespie Birney - American circle 278 980 94 John Beaumont circle 114 962 126 George Bradburn - Massachusetts politician circle 143 1181 105 George William Alexander - Banker and Treasurer circle 1225 1173 58 Benjamin Godwin - Baptist activist circle 1298 1196 58 Vice Admiral Moorson circle 1228 1272 58 William Taylor circle 1263 1094 58 William Taylor circle 1377 1053 58 John Morrison circle 1334 1105 58 GK Prince circle 1459 1035 58 Josiah Conder circle 1570 1024 50 Joseph Soul circle 1527 1088 58 James Dean (abolitionist) circle 1503 1208 58 John Keep - Ohio fund raiser circle 1576 1202 58 Joseph Eaton circle 1421 1181 82 Joseph Sturge - Organiser from Birmingham circle 1684 1056 35 James Whitehorne circle 904 936 58 Joseph Marriage circle 1652 997 35 George Bennett circle 1620 1088 58 Richard Allen circle 766 769 58 Stafford Allen circle 854 1062 64 William Leatham, banker circle 833 784 58 William Beaumont circle 793 652 58 Sir Edward Baines - Journalist circle 684 635 58 Samuel Lucas circle 600 658 58 Francis Augustus Cox circle 681 749 70 Abraham Beaumont circle 389 570 73 Samuel Fox, Nottingham grocer circle 594 798 70 Louis Celeste Lecesne circle 503 719 88 Jonathan Backhouse circle 196 477 70 Samuel Bowly circle 290 602 61 William Dawes - Ohio fund raiser circle 123 567 79 Robert Kaye Greville - Botanist circle 816 918 58 Joseph Pease - reformer in India) circle 711 912 58 W.T.Blair circle 734 1059 73 M.M. Isambert (sic) circle 532 1111 129 Mary Clarkson -Thomas Clarkson's daughter in law circle 1816 1056 41 William Tatum circle 1749 1032 53 Saxe Bannister - Pamphleteer circle 1860 1097 58 Richard Davis Webb - Irish circle 1638 1190 58 Nathaniel Colver - American circle 1737 1158 88 not known circle 1652 1325 79 John Cropper - Most generous Liverpudlian circle 1828 1351 79 Thomas Scales circle 1907 1003 29 William James circle 1933 1050 35 William Wilson circle 2000 1062 29 Thomas Swan circle 2032 1120 29 Edward Steane from Camberwell circle 2070 1190 47 William Brock circle 1980 1184 58 Edward Baldwin circle 1872 1199 58 Jonathon Miller circle 1945 1313 58 Capt. Charles Stuart from Jamaica circle 2050 1298 64 Sir John Jeremie - Judge circle 2147 1304 58 Charles Stovel - Baptist circle 2313 1313 58 Richard Peek, ex-Sheriff of London circle 2214 1284 67 John Sturge circle 2275 1161 50 Elon Galusha rect 2225 1114 2252 1187 Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor circle 2132 1105 32 Rev. Isaac Bass circle 2176 1176 58 Henry Sterry circle 2512 1293 70 Peter Clare -; sec. of Literary & Phil. Soc. Manchester circle 2395 1298 61 J.H. Johnson circle 2106 1032 32 Thomas Price circle 2205 1070 35 Joseph Reynolds circle 2319 1050 35 Samuel Wheeler circle 2243 1029 35 William Boultbee circle 53 608 76 Daniel O'Connell - "The Liberator" circle 2375 1062 35 William Fairbank circle 2439 1050 44 John Woodmark circle 2515 1056 41 William Smeal from Glasgow circle 2345 1170 58 James Carlile - Irish Minister and educationalist circle 2436 1158 58 Rev. Dr. Thomas Binney circle 2497 1173 58 Edward Barrett - Freed slave circle 2559 1176 58 John Howard Hinton - Baptist minister circle 2623 1202 58 John Angell James - clergyman circle 2685 1313 64 Joseph Cooper circle 2685 1100 47 Dr. Richard Robert Madden - Irish circle 2749 1053 35 Thomas Bulley circle 2816 1067 35 Isaac Hodgson circle 2869 1053 35 Edward Smith circle 2819 1290 58 Sir John Bowring - diplomat and linguist circle 2854 1149 44 John Ellis circle 2904 1296 58 C. Edwards Lester - American writer circle 3041 1015 35 Tapper Cadbury - Businessman circle 2936 1170 58 not known circle 2968 1070 41 Thomas Pinches circle 3027 1155 47 David Turnbull - Cuban link circle 3000 1076 35 Edward Adey circle 3050 1237 58 Richard Barrett circle 3114 1164 47 John Steer circle 2974 1287 58 Henry Tuckett circle 3185 1164 58 James Mott - American on honeymoon rect 2872 1395 2959 1547 Robert Forster (brother of William and Josiah) circle 3103 1064 58 Richard Rathbone circle 3208 1064 58 John Birt circle 3021 1354 58 Wendell Phillips - American circle 3012 1491 88 Jean-Baptiste Symphor Linstant de Pradine from Haiti circle 3113 1489 111 Henry Stanton - American circle 3237 980 58 Prof William Adam circle 3398 950 58 Mrs Elizabeth Tredgold - British South African circle 3346 1035 58 T.M. McDonnell circle 3427 1047 58 Mrs John Beaumont circle 3473 1286 58 Anne Knight - Feminist circle 3565 1116 85 Elizabeth Pease - Suffragist circle 3138 1307 64 Jacob Post - Religious writer circle 3223 1296 58 Anne Isabella, Lady Byron - mathematician and estranged wife circle 3305 1291 76 Amelia Opie - Novelist and poet circle 3506 1278 105 Mrs Rawson - Sheffield campaigner circle 395 1208 58 Thomas Clarkson's grandson Thomas Clarkson circle 2778 1141 58 Thomas Morgan poly 839 1211 885 1108 916 1007 969 950 1031 918 1073 881 1051 861 1053 798 1105 751 1185 745 1240 792 1236 838 1212 890 1205 915 1217 933 1273 950 1339 934 1414 863 1471 776 1467 741 1472 701 1489 700 1496 661 1509 661 1511 719 1518 705 1556 736 1524 806 1528 814 1447 966 1407 1008 1356 1029 1263 1054 1238 1119 1214 1212 840 1212 840 1212 Thomas Clarkson - main speaker poly 2943 2001 2919 1901 2971 1823 3054 1807 3140 1827 3167 1743 3238 1636 3271 1601 3272 1572 3266 1559 3293 1530 3293 1498 3332 1440 3377 1435 3427 1453 3471 1484 3483 1541 3459 1612 3443 1626 3441 1672 3476 1712 3531 1745 3546 1776 3546 1850 3553 1923 3519 2005 3265 1918 3207 1942 3216 2008 2947 2008 2947 2008 George Head Head - Banker from Carlisle poly 924 2026 899 1933 850 1861 756 1820 726 1809 778 1696 833 1641 913 1582 908 1553 908 1524 958 1483 1017 1463 1063 1461 1135 1495 1144 1523 1127 1541 1122 1585 1131 1613 1133 1631 1114 1632 1117 1650 1108 1670 1101 1690 1080 1697 1109 1737 1177 1729 1285 1834 1299 1912 1268 1956 1256 1967 1227 2025 1217 2028 1192 2043 1197 2178 1226 2237 1208 2306 1152 2356 1091 2501 853 2440 830 2442 William Allen poly 2098 1965 2118 1919 2107 1882 2080 1852 2109 1756 2143 1718 2195 1707 2221 1682 2258 1632 2226 1631 2252 1621 2231 1606 2245 1585 2244 1576 2245 1550 2234 1535 2248 1522 2268 1503 2268 1480 2289 1451 2318 1435 2355 1420 2393 1423 2426 1442 2439 1462 2455 1514 2461 1545 2440 1598 2421 1615 2411 1639 2437 1699 2483 1731 2511 1746 2554 1830 2561 1855 2228 1860 2160 1979 2101 1984 2117 1939 2117 1939 John Scoble poly 1235 1783 1322 1777 1369 1786 1350 1810 1354 1816 1384 1831 1414 1820 1442 1812 1467 1791 1496 1789 1560 1746 1603 1734 1664 1685 1728 1652 1807 1631 1808 1625 1826 1617 1801 1601 1807 1580 1796 1563 1798 1547 1810 1538 1800 1521 1800 1516 1815 1509 1818 1497 1815 1484 1831 1454 1842 1425 1872 1396 1939 1395 1967 1410 1993 1433 2011 1487 2003 1541 1965 1594 1949 1607 1939 1627 2045 1712 2101 1754 2089 1823 2051 1849 1682 1844 1582 1874 1505 1894 1429 1898 1319 1852 1254 1791 Henry Beckford - emancipated slave and abolitionist rect 0 0 3600 2793 Use your cursor to explore (or Click "i" to enlarge) desc bottom-left </imagemap> During the 1840 World Anti-Slavery convention he prepared a paper on the ethics of slavery. The convention unanimously accepted his paper which condemned not only slavery but the religious leaders and communities who had failed to condemn the practise. The convention resolved to write to every religious leader to share this view. The convention called on every religious communities to eject any supporters of slavery from their midst.

Godwin was included in a large commemorative painting of the 1840 convention where he can just be seen behind the head of Joseph Sturge who organised the conference. The painting now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. Godwin was meeting and mixing with the international anti-slavery activists. He was invited to meet French abolitionists in Paris the following year.

Godwin resigned his Oxford position in 1845 due to his failing health and the following year he and his wife returned to Bradford. They lived in a house that his son had organised. In 1847 his son was married. Godwin continued to work for the Baptist Missionary Society as well as lecturing at Horton College again in 1850. One of his latter successes was to become President of Bradford's Ragged School which opened with seven pupils in 1854. Another late honour was to be president of a newly formed Bradford female Anti-Slavery Society with his wife as secretary in 1856 and a committee of 24 women.

On 23 December 1855, on his son's birthday, Godwin presented to his son 58 autobiographic letters which he had agreed to write nearly twenty years before. These letters have been evaluated academically and they are considered to be a good source on Godwin's life and the debates and affairs that he was involved with.

Godwin died in 1871.

Selected publications

• The Substance of a Course of Lectures on British Colonial Slavery: Delivered at Bradford, York and Scarborough, 1830
• Paper presented to the General Anti-Slavery Convention, 1840
• The Philosophy of Atheism Examined and Compared with Christianity. A course of popular lectures delivered at the Mechanics’ Institute, Bradford, on Sunday afternoons, in the winter of 1852-1853, 1853