Christopher Newman Hall, Rev.

Christopher Newman Hall (1816-1906), congregational minister. He was ordained in 1842. After the Civil War, in America, he made two extensive tours of the USA. In 1876 his congregation moved to a new church in Westminister Bridge Road, London that had been partly paid for by donations from the USA. His tract "Come to Jesus" was widely published in over 20 languages.

Extracts from Pen portrait by John Barker

Christopher Newman Hall (born 1816) was a big media star in his day - in an age without radio or television or telephone. There was only the printed word and the power of speech in a Victorian world dominated by religion. So Christopher Newman Hall grabbed what was available and made the most of it. He was the son of a reformed alcoholic, named rather appropriately John Vine Hall, who after a boozy career as a wine merchant had seen the light and became a famous preacher and publisher of religious tracts.

Christopher started work as a compositor in his father's printing works but soon embarked on more scholarly pursuits, gaining a first class honours degree on the road to becoming a famous preacher and publisher. The best known of his religious tracts is Come to Jesus, of which over four million copies have been circulated in forty different languages.

Thus he became an international star, described as 'a forceful and fluent preacher, a man of wide sympathy, artistic feelings and evangelical fervour'. He was active in the fight against slavery and made frequent appearances in Canada and America.

His stardom came at a price. His first marriage ended in a painful and much-publicised divorce. He married again at the age of 64 to the much younger Harriett Knipe but died still childless in 1902.

As Wikipedia states, few preachers of any denomination have exercised so far-reaching an influence as the 'Dissenters' Bishop'. He is buried with his father John Vine Hall in a polished red coffin tomb at Abney Park Cemetery.

References

• http://clanbarker.com/getperson.php?personID=I565&tree=Br#sthash.SK...
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Newman_Hall