Author: Raffles, Thomas
Biography:
RAFFLES, Thomas (1788-1863: ODNB)
The preface to Poems by Three Friends states that the authors had long composed verse but expected their other work would no longer allow for such pleasures. It is Raffles’s only book of poetry but, as a Congregational minister, he did later write and publish hymns. He was born at Spitalfields, London, to Rachel (Dunsby) and William Raffles, a Baptist and a solicitor. His sister, Mary, was to marry James Baldwin Brown (q.v.), one of the three friends. From 1800 he attended a boarding school run by a Baptist before studying at Homerton College (1805-9). He was ordained in June 1809 and served at George Yard Chapel, Hammersmith, before moving to Newington Chapel in Liverpool. A growing congregation soon led to larger premises at Great George St. Chapel and Raffles became well-known in Lancashire as a Congregationalist (he was secretary of the Lancashire Congregational Union 1826-43) and supporter of the Liverpool Slavery Abolition Society and numerous other groups. In 1815 he married Mary Catherine Hargreaves, and they were to have a daughter and three sons. He was made LLD by Aberdeen in 1820 and DD by Union College, Connecticut, in 1830. He collected manuscripts relating to the history of Non-Conformity in Lancashire and wrote numerous religious books and a biography of Thomas Spencer (1815). He died at home and was buried at the Liverpool Necropolis. (ODNB 27 Aug. 2020; ancestry.co.uk 27 Aug. 2020)