488:
480:
228:
468:. Timmins began to gather materials, but "it was a long time before any part of his manuscript was sent to the printer's"; and, when it was, it was destroyed in a fire. Timmins lost enthusiasm – "all the eagerness with which he undertook the task had oozed away" – and the work remained unfinished at his death in 1902. The task and materials passed to Wright Wilson (son of Joseph Wilson, another of Dawson's friends) and was eventually published in 1905, including the contributions from Johnson, Morell and Chamberlain, another from
369:
259:. He called upon his congregation to join him in the struggle "to improve conditions in the town and the quality of life enjoyed by its citizens". His sermons were unconventional for the time, it was said that Dawson "preached not as a dying man to dying men – that was the old idea of preaching – but as a living man to living men who found life no simple or easy matter". His sermons electrified the Birmingham public and influential members of his Church included
186:
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is a solemn organism through which should flow, and in which should be shaped, all the highest, loftiest, and truest ends of man's intellectual and moral nature... We are a
Corporation, who have undertaken the highest duty that is possible to us; we have made provision for our people – for all our people – and we have made a provision of God's greatest and best gifts unto Man.
443:
Dawson married Susan Fanny
Crompton (1820–1878) in 1846. They had two children, Rachel Annie (1846–1873) and Bernard (1851–1900). Rachel, "from some inexplicable arrest in the bones of her skull at an early age ... was almost an imbecile". Her early death in May 1873 sent Dawson into a temporary fit
407:
The opening of this glorious library, the first fruits of a clear understanding that a great town exists to discharge towards the people of that town the duties that a great nation exists to discharge towards the people of that nation – that a town exists here by the grace of God, that a great town
40:
320:. Both Dawson and Dale were disqualified as ministers from seats on the town council, but both served on the Birmingham school board. Dawson strongly advocated to the worshippers in his Church and in Birmingham the idea of service in politics as a civic duty and as service to God.
329:
in 1847 described him as a person "whose views and proceedings are calculated to produce considerable mischief"; and as "a young man who ... has prided and plumed himself upon more than he possesses and has consequently fallen into great and grievous errors".
360:"True Religion", Dawson believed, was "social, unitive, and brotherly in its spirit: it produces the church as its social development". For him, Christianity was "a set of fruitful principles", not a code of laws or a theological dogma.
379:
Dawson was famous during his lifetime for lecturing on a wide range of subjects from
Shakespeare to German poetry, Italian history to good etiquette. He became a national figure, in demand as a lecturer throughout the country.
243:
church erected for him by his supporters, where "no pledge was required, of minister or congregation; no form of belief was implied by membership; no difference in creed was allowed to bar union in practical
Christian work".
224:. He moved to the rapidly expanding industrial town of Birmingham in 1844 to become minister of the Mount Zion Baptist Chapel where the eloquence and beliefs that the young man expressed soon attracted a large following.
291:, and the Kenrick family, all of whom played an important part in local affairs and took on his ideals. Between 1847 and 1867, 17 members of his congregation were elected to the Town Council, six of whom were elected
392:
and did a great deal to popularize their teachings, especially in his demand for a high ethical standard in everyday life and his insistence that citizenship needed a specifically
Christian approach.
247:
The key doctrine preached there was inscribed on a marble tablet above the entrance: "There is but one law – thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself."
298:
From his pulpit and in public lectures and articles, Dawson advised
Christians (particularly people experienced in business) to become councillors and help transform the City, a call which
622:
235:
However, Dawson's views did not fit the orthodoxy of the
Baptist church, so in 1845 he left, followed by much of his congregation, to become minister of the theologically liberal
353:, although modern Unitarians count him as one of their own (he is listed by the Midland Unitarian Union as a great nineteenth-century Unitarian). He left the
861:
975:
955:
696:
914:
990:
980:
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1000:
709:
Records: Church of the
Saviour Founded and built 1847–95; Library of Birmingham (258925; 259532; 260167 George Dawson Collection; 264036).
701:
487:
985:
965:
740:
The Memory of George Dawson: a discourse delivered in the Church of the
Messiah, Birmingham, on the 3rd December, 1876, etc
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306:. His idea of the civic gospel and his advocacy of free education was strongly supported by the Congregational spokesman
284:
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preacher, lecturer and activist. He was an influential voice in the calls for radical political and social reform in
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217:, for centuries up to 1828 only Anglicans were allowed to matriculate (Oxford) or graduate (Cambridge).
400:
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and helped to found the
Shakespeare Memorial Library in Birmingham. His address at the opening of the
960:
836:
303:
456:
was asked to write his biography, with additional contributions to be provided by G. J. Johnson,
832:"Ye are all one in Christ Jesus: aspects of Unitarianism and feminism in Birmingham, c. 1869–90"
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gives a flavour of what the civic gospel meant to the Victorian municipal activists:
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Dawson's radicalism did not meet with universal approval. A correspondent writing to
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Fit and Proper Persons: ideal and reality in nineteenth-century urban government
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491:
The statue of Dawson now in storage at the Birmingham Museum Collections Centre
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answered in his work first as Councillor, then as a visionary social reforming
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The Unitarian Church of the Saviour in Edward Street, Birmingham (1847–1895)
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described him as "the greatest talker in England". Dawson was a friend of
573:
Now Mr Editor! Letters to the newspapers of nineteenth-century Birmingham
220:
In 1843 Dawson accepted a call to the pastorate of the Baptist church at
713:
705:. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 874.
170:
146:
90:
185:
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761:(August 1877). "George Dawson: politician, lecturer, and preacher".
214:
206:
139:
686:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
255:
In the Church of the Saviour, Dawson developed the concept of the
16:
19th-century English nonconformist preacher, lecturer and activist
198:
69:
39:
512:'s Museum Collections Centre, awaiting restoration and repair.
65:
213:. Oxford and Cambridge seemed not an option as, owing to the
162:(24 February 1821 – 30 November 1876) was an
804:
Building Jerusalem: the rise and fall of the Victorian city
747:
Dale, A. W. W.; Fairbairn, A. M.; Rogers, J. G. (1899).
357:
to be free of any definite creed or doctrinal rigidity.
806:. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 232–265.
859:
Sellers, Ian (2013) . "Dawson, George (1821–1876)".
746:
263:(who took Sunday School and oversaw the accounts),
777:
515:A bust of Dawson is now on the ninth floor of the
395:Dawson also lectured on English literature at the
197:, London, in 1821. His father was headmaster of a
483:The statue of George Dawson when in Edmund Street
932:
889:(1983). "George Dawson and the Civic Gospel".
452:Following Dawson's death in 1876, his friend
865:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
823:Joseph Chamberlain: entrepreneur in politics
926:(2nd ed.). Birmingham: Percival Jones.
913:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
38:
19:For other people named George Dawson, see
976:Christianity in Birmingham, West Midlands
849:
825:. New Haven, Mass: Yale University Press.
575:. Birmingham Biographies. pp. 57–8.
201:school. He was educated at home, then at
956:Activists from Birmingham, West Midlands
734:
691:
486:
478:
367:
349:Dawson did not consider himself to be a
337:
226:
184:
173:, a philosophy that became known as the
924:The Life of George Dawson, M.A. Glasgow
862:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
858:
775:
720:(3rd ed.). London: Penguin Books.
570:
472:, and a reprinted newspaper article by
933:
921:
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623:"The first Birmingham Central Library"
524:The Birmingham & Midland Institute
508:, nearby. It is currently in store at
447:
416:on 30 November 1876 and was buried in
885:
829:
820:
750:The Life of R. W. Dale, of Birmingham
500:A statue of Dawson formerly stood in
991:History of Birmingham, West Midlands
981:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
798:
757:
1001:Alumni of the University of Glasgow
13:
891:The Making of Victorian Birmingham
560:
363:
14:
1012:
510:Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
460:(a contemporary of Dawson at the
679:
647:Wilson 1905, Genealogical Table.
495:
438:
435:were published after his death.
397:Birmingham and Midland Institute
922:Wilson, William Wright (1905).
753:. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
672:
250:
665:Wilson 1905, "Prefatory note".
659:
650:
641:
615:
589:
554:
545:
536:
189:An engraving of Dawson, c.1852
21:George Dawson (disambiguation)
1:
597:"Midland Union - Our History"
529:
522:A room is named after him at
986:Burials at Key Hill Cemetery
879:UK public library membership
742:. Birmingham: E. C. Osborne.
401:Birmingham Reference Library
314:, influential editor of the
7:
966:English Unitarian ministers
893:. Yardley. pp. 153–8.
502:Victoria Square, Birmingham
180:
10:
1017:
18:
851:10.1080/09612020000200533
784:. London: Edward Arnold.
571:Roberts, Stephen (2015).
564:Aris's Birmingham Gazette
561:D. (4 October 1847). "".
423:Four volumes of Dawson's
326:Aris's Birmingham Gazette
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37:
30:
412:Dawson died suddenly at
333:
776:Hennock, E. P. (1973).
736:Crosskey, Henry William
702:Encyclopædia Britannica
951:People from Bloomsbury
837:Women's History Review
764:The Nineteenth Century
492:
484:
410:
376:
346:
342:Bust of Dawson in the
232:
190:
996:19th-century Baptists
871:10.1093/ref:odnb/7347
830:Plant, Helen (2000).
821:Marsh, Peter (1994).
517:Library of Birmingham
490:
482:
474:David Christie Murray
462:University of Glasgow
433:Biographical Lectures
405:
372:Dawson's memorial in
371:
344:Library of Birmingham
341:
317:Birmingham Daily Post
237:Church of the Saviour
230:
211:University of Glasgow
188:
152:University of Glasgow
656:Wilson 1905, p. 130.
603:on 30 September 2007
551:Wilson 1905, p. 152.
542:Wilson 1905, p. 61.
448:Published biography
193:Dawson was born in
971:Christian radicals
493:
485:
377:
347:
300:Joseph Chamberlain
261:Joseph Chamberlain
233:
191:
877:(Subscription or
466:J. H. Chamberlain
418:Key Hill Cemetery
374:Key Hill Cemetery
203:Marischal College
157:
156:
136:Marischal College
102:Key Hill Cemetery
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961:English Baptists
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718:Victorian Cities
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625:. Archived from
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382:Charles Kingsley
277:Robert Martineau
195:Brunswick Square
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80:30 November 1876
62:24 February 1821
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47:Personal details
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629:on 30 June 2007
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693:Chisholm, Hugh
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355:Baptist Church
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308:Dr. R. W. Dale
285:William Harris
281:Samuel Timmins
273:J. A. Langford
265:Jesse Collings
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844:(4): 721–42.
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631:. Retrieved
627:the original
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605:. Retrieved
601:the original
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458:J. D. Morell
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414:Kings Norton
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269:George Dixon
257:Civic Gospel
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251:Civic Gospel
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175:Civic Gospel
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158:
119:Denomination
104:, Birmingham
87:Kings Norton
82:(1876-11-30)
25:
946:1876 deaths
941:1821 births
759:Dale, R. W.
714:Briggs, Asa
454:Sam Timmins
431:and two of
312:J. T. Bunce
289:A. F. Osler
109:Nationality
935:Categories
881:required.)
813:0297607677
727:0140135820
569:Quoted in
530:References
209:, and the
171:Birmingham
147:Alma mater
91:Birmingham
58:1821-02-24
909:cite book
716:(1990) .
427:, two of
351:Unitarian
310:, and by
241:Unitarian
132:Education
126:Christian
93:, England
802:(2004).
771:: 44–61.
738:(1876).
215:Test Act
207:Aberdeen
181:Ministry
140:Aberdeen
690::
633:1 April
607:1 April
429:Prayers
425:Sermons
390:Emerson
386:Carlyle
199:Baptist
164:English
113:English
70:England
897:
875:
810:
788:
724:
684:
579:
464:) and
98:Buried
66:London
334:Views
304:Mayor
293:mayor
915:link
895:ISBN
808:ISBN
786:ISBN
722:ISBN
635:2007
609:2007
577:ISBN
388:and
239:, a
77:Died
52:Born
867:doi
846:doi
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
