Percy Francis Hall

Percy Francis Hall (born March 20, 1801 in Oxford , † October 11, 1884 in Weston-super-Mare ) was a British naval officer who turned into a Christian pacifist and preacher of the Brethren movement .

Life

Percy Francis Hall was the fifth of ten children of the Anglican clergyman Charles Henry Hall (1763–1827) and his wife Anna Maria Bridget nee. Byng (1771-1852), daughter of the 5th Viscount Torrington . Four of his siblings died in infancy; one of his brothers was the officer and writer Herbert Byng Hall (1805-1883).

After Percy attended Westminster School in London from 1811 to 1813 , he probably joined the Royal Navy as a First Class Volunteer in the usual way at the time . In 1815 he was promoted to midshipman , in 1821 to lieutenant . In 1821/22 he had to interrupt his career for several months because of a life-threatening illness that he contracted in Trincomalee (Ceylon) ; In 1825 he fell ill again so seriously in Port Royal (Jamaica) that he had to be transported home and stayed on land for two full years. Thanks to his father's good relations with the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, Lord Melville , he was appointed Commander in 1827 ; until at least 1830 he worked for the Coast Guard in Plymouth .

Through his friendship with the family of Navy Captain George Wolfe in Plymouth Hall came up with evangelical Christians such as William Wilberforce , Hannah More and William Jay in contact and experienced in the summer of 1827 a conversion . In September of the same year he married the eldest daughter of George Wolfe, Amelia Ourry (1800-1890). Their only child, daughter Emmeline Georgiana, was born in Exmouth in 1828 .

Hall soon began preaching in the Plymouth area and was involved in the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews and the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge on the Continent . In 1830 at the latest he met Benjamin Wills Newton and John Nelson Darby , who supported him in his work at times. In 1831 the wealthy George Vicesimus Wigram (1805-1879) joined the circle and acquired the vacant Providence Chapel in Plymouth. A Brethren Congregation was founded here in January 1832 , which soon developed into the largest of the whole movement (in 1845 about 700–800 members). Hall, initially influenced by Edward Irving , was one of the most valued preachers in the community.

In 1833 Hall submitted his resignation from the Royal Navy because he had come to the conclusion that as a Christian he should no longer do military service. He set out his reasons in the publication Discipleship , which reached three editions by 1848 and was recognized by American pacifist circles. He also contributed several articles to the first journal of the Brethren movement, The Christian Witness .

In 1836 Hall visited Alexandre Vinet and the Basel Mission House . A year later, he and his family accepted an invitation to Hereford to begin building a brotherhood there as well. In early 1839 he published a defense against attacks from the Anglican side.

With the separation between “closed” and “open brothers” in 1848, the parish in Hereford initially remained neutral; At the end of 1849, however, due to minor differences of opinion, there was also a split here, whereupon Hall sided with Darby. In 1851, in his book Unity , he subjected the entire Brethren movement to sharp criticism: The "brothers" had become just as "stiff and rigid" as the other churches, and their services were just as "imperfect and imperfect". Nevertheless, he remained connected to the movement and maintained close contact with Darby. It was not until 1866 that the break occurred because of Darby's speculative teachings about the sufferings of Christ ; Hall switched to the "open brothers" and moved to Weston-super-Mare , where a new congregation was just being established. He was also active as a travel preacher.

Hall's daughter Emmeline had married the officer George Vincent Fosbery (1832-1907, inventor of the Webley-Fosbery revolver ) stationed in India in 1858 . The couple had ten children, who often lived with their grandparents during their parents' stays in India. Percy Francis Hall died in Weston-super-Mare at the age of 83.

Publications

brochures

• Discipleship! or, Reasons for Resigning his Naval Rank and Pay (1833, ²1835, ³1848)
• To the Christians who Heard, or may have Read Mr Venn's Sermon, Preached at Hereford, December 9th, 1838 (1839)
• Unity. A Fragment and a Dialogue (1851)
• Grief upon Grief: A Dialogue (1866, ²1866, ³1868)
• Appendix to the Third Edition of “Grief upon Grief” (1868)

items

• Review of Mr. Burgh's Letter. In: The Christian Witness 1 (1834), pp. 55-79.
• On Acts vii. In: The Christian Witness 1 (1834), pp. 99-124.
• The Vision of the Glory of God. In: The Christian Witness 1 (1834), pp. 217-251.
• The Warning of the Lord. In: The Christian Witness 1 (1834), pp. 287-300.
• The Waters of Bethlehem. In: The Christian Witness 2 (1835), pp. 58-68; Reprinted in The Bible Treasury NS 10, No. 217 (1914), pp. 4–8.
• Types. In: The Christian Witness 2 (1835), pp. 249-263; 3 (1836), pp. 87-104.
• St. Paul's Companions and Yoke-fellows. In: The Christian Witness 4 (1837), pp. 62-86, 167-180, 372-393; 5 (1838), pp. 63-83.

literature

• Henry Pickering (Ed.): Chief Men among the Brethren . 2nd Edition. Pickering & Inglis, London 1931, pp. 19-21 (also online ).
• Harold H. Rowdon: "Hall, (Captain) Percy (Francis)". In: Donald M. Lewis (Ed.): The Blackwell Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, 1730-1860. Blackwell, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-631-17384-6 , Volume 1, p. 505.
• Michael Schneider: Uncompromisingly independent. On the 125th anniversary of Percy Francis Hall's death . In: Zeit & Schrift , 12, 2009, issue 5, pp. 20–26 (also online ; PDF; 240 kB).
• Michael Schneider: 'The extravagant side of Brethrenism': The Life of Percy Francis Hall (1801-84) . In: Tim Grass (Ed.): Witness in Many Lands: Leadership and Outreach among the Brethren (= Studies in Brethren History). Brethren Archivists and Historians Network, Troon, UK 2013, ISBN 978-0-9570177-3-3 , pp. 17-44.