Author: Gambold, John
Biography:
GAMBOLD, John (1711-71: ODNB)
He was born in Puncheston, Pembrokeshire, to William and Elizabeth Gambold; his father, a clergyman, supervised his education. He entered Christ Church, Oxford, (matric 10 Oct. 1726. BA 1730, MA 1734). Gambold fell into a religious melancholy after the death of his father in Sept. 1728. He was associated first with the Wesleyans, being ordained in 1733, and then with the Moravians, with whom he remained. His dramatic poem The Martyrdom of Ignatius was composed in 1740 though not published in his lifetime. In 1742 Gambold resigned his living and moved to London as one of the founder members of the Moravian congregation there; after some experience as a teacher and occasional preacher in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, he served as the regular preacher at the Fetter Lane Chapel in London from 1744 to 1768. He became a leader in the Moravian community, active as an advocate, translator, hymn-writer, and editor on their behalf. In 1754 he was consecrated as the first Moravian bishop in England. On 14 May 1743 in the Moravian church, Fetter Lane, London he had married Elizabeth Walker; of their five children, only two lived to adulthood. When his health began to fail, Gambold returned to Haverfordwest as the minister of the Moravian congregation, and spent his last days there. He died on 13 Sept. 1771.(ODNB 26 Dec. 2018; ancestry.co.uk 14 Jan. 2025; Alumni Oxonienses) SR