William Sullivan Barnes (June 16, 1841-April 2, 1912), an outstanding preacher, was for thirty years minister of the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian) in Montreal. A liberal Christian, his sermons reflected the most advanced thinking of his day. Yet his distinctive reputation is best conveyed by the word “saintly”.…
Dorothy Livesay (October 12, 1909-December 29, 1996) was one of the leading Canadian poets of the twentieth century. Her free verse poetry probes the mysteries of existence—life and death, waking and dreaming, love and hate, male and female, being and doing—rejoicing that “small miracles / shatter the facts— / explode!”
Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802-July 18, 1887), in her early career a teacher and author of children’s books, was, in her unique and international role as an advocate for improvements in the treatment of patients suffering from mental and emotional disorders, the most visible humanitarian reformer of the 19th century.
James Martineau (April 21, 1805-January 11, 1900) was a Unitarian minister and educator, and a widely influential theologian and philosopher. As lecturer and Principal at Manchester New College, he was for many years responsible for training ministerial students. As a leading intellectual of 19th century England, he was an admired friend of poets and philosophers who testified to their debt to thought and work.
John Haynes Holmes (November 29, 1879-April 3, 1964), a Unitarian minister and social activist, was prominent the Unitarian movement throughout much of the first half of the 20th century, even though he withdrew from fellowship with the American Unitarian Association (AUA) in 1918.
Charles Wellbeloved (1769-1858), a dissenting liberal minister and educator, greatly influenced British Unitarians. Noted for his wide scholarship and for his well-known defenses of liberal Christianity, he trained many celebrated Unitarian ministers at Manchester College, York.
Born in London, Charles was the only child of John and Elizabeth Plaw Wellbeloved.
Eleanor Elizabeth Gordon (October 10, 1852-January 6, 1942) was part of an informal network known as the “Iowa Sisterhood” of Unitarian women ministers and often a partner in ministry with Mary Safford. She was an advocate of education for women and a leader in the movement for suffrage in Iowa.
James Freeman Clarke (April 8, 1810-June 8, 1888), an influential Unitarian minister, social reformer, popular author, scholar, and institutionalist, founded and ministered to a new kind of Unitarian church and helped to expand the identity, scope, and influence of nineteenth-century Unitarianism.
Mary White Ovington (April 11, 1865-July 15, 1951), a descendent of New England abolitionists, devoted her adult life to combating racial discrimination and to enfranchising, improving material conditions and providing equal opportunities for African-Americans. A founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), she worked tirelessly for the organization for decades, promoting, fund-raising, serving in leadership and mediatorial roles through its stormy organizational period, and helping to set its agenda.…
Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson Gaskell (September 29, 1810-November 12, 1865), a lifelong Unitarian and the wife of an eminent Unitarian minister, was the author of a half-dozen novels, numerous short stories, and a biography of Charlotte Brontë. In her fiction she examined some of the the social issues of her time, particularly those associated with industrialization in mid-19th century England, the rise of the middle class, and the status of women.
William Gaskell (July 24, 1805-1884), minister of Cross Street Chapel in Manchester, England for more than fifty years, was a pioneer in the education of the working-class and women. He helped to train men without previous academic background for the Unitarian ministry.…
Sir John Bowring (October 17, 1792-November 23, 1872), a man of amazing energy and a polymath, was a linguist, political economist, reformer, hymnist, writer and editor, Member of Parliament, and controversial Governor of Hong Kong. He was among the most famous Unitarians of his time.…