Author: Proud, Joseph
Biography:
PROUD, Joseph (1745-1826: ODNB)
pseudonyms Philo; Philanthropos
He was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, the son of John Proud, a General Baptist minister, and his wife whose name has not been traced. He followed his father into the ministry, serving congregations in several counties. On 3 Feb. 1769 he married Elizabeth Brown, but she died in 1785 after bearing eleven children, only two of whom survived. By his second wife Susannah Turner, a widow whom he married on 28 Aug. 1785, he had three more children who died in childhood. The turning-point in Proud's career came when he was converted to Swedenborgianism. In 1790 he moved to Birmingham to establish a New Church congregation there and at the same time published the first Swedenborgian hymnbook. In 1791 he was expelled from the General Baptist conference and ordained in the New Church. Proud engaged tirelessly in pamphlet debate and published sermons and tracts to promote Swedenborgian ideas. When obliged to give up his "grand temple" in Birmingham, he preached in other places until called to serve a new congregation in London. His hymns were taken up in America in 1792 when they were reprinted for the use of a society newly founded in Baltimore. Proud retired to Birmingham in 1814 and died there on 3 Aug. 1826. His wife Susannah died on 21 Nov. 1826, and both were buried in the churchyard of St. George's, Birmingham. (ODNB 8 Jul. 2020; Benson; findmypast.co.uk 12 Oct. 2022; Rev. E. Madeley, "Memoir" in Joseph Proud The Antient Minister's Last Legacy [2nd edn. 1854]; information from AA)
Other Names:
- J. Proud