Author: Swain, Joseph
Biography:
SWAIN, Joseph (1761-96: ODNB)
He was baptised at Deritend, Birmingham, on 22 May 1761, the son of Mary and Thomas Swain; but he was orphaned as a young child. He served an apprenticeship as an engraver, completing his training in London with his brother. In 1782 he had a conversion experience; in 1783 he was baptised as an adult at the Carter Lane Particular Baptist Church. On 8 July of the same year at Christ Church, Spitalfields, he married Susannah Buxton, with whom he had four children who were still alive at the time of his early death. Becoming active among evangelical Christians in the area, in 1792 he was ordained as the pastor of a Baptist congregation in Walworth. His Walworth Hymns, according to Benson, "contributed to the permanent body of Evangelical Hymnody" (215). The congregation grew under his inspiring care; he was able also to supplement the family income with evening lectures. He died on 14 Apr. 1796 after a short illness and was buried in the dissenters' burial ground in Bunhill Fields. John Upton, a friend who preached the funeral sermon in 1796, later published it for the benefit of Swain's widow and small children, together with an eight-page autobiographical poem about Swain's conversion, written during his last illness and entitled "A Letter to the Rev. Mr. P----, Birmingham." (ODNB 29 Oct. 2020; findmypast.com 29 Oct. 2020; Benson) HJ
Other Names:
- J. Swain