Church of the Divine Unity

This means that for most subject areas maximum use of the collection may be achieved only by consulting both the normal arrangement and the papers subtracted from this and placed within the scrapbooks.

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Accession 1787

The Church of the Divine Unity may claim to be the oldest of the nonconformist congregations in Newcastle. Its first two ministers, Durant and Gilpin, were both ejected in 1662, the one from All Saints, Newcastle, and the other after refusing the bishopric of Carlisle. The exact date of formation is unknown, although it seems that Durant held religious meetings in his own house in Pilgrim Street before 1672, when he and his Society secured a licence to hold services in a meeting-house in the Close. On Durant's death in 1681 the congregation was then ministered to by Dr. Gilpin, who may already have had his own congregation, meeting in a building in Castle Garth.

The exact tenets of the faith proclaimed by Durant and Gilpin are imprecisely known, and it would appear that it was the next pastor, Benjamin Bennett, who established the congregation firmly on Unitarian lines.

During Bennett's ministry wealthier members of the congregation purchased land on which was to be built a church and houses, where the members of the church might reside - the complex to be named Hanover Square, reflecting allegiance to the Crown and the new royal dynasty. The Square was never completed but the church, opened in 1727, continued to carry the name until 1854, when the congregation moved to a new building in New Bridge Street, and changed its name to the Church of the Divine Unity.

A further move took place in 1940, when the present church, in Ellison Place, was opened.

During the lifetime of this long-established congregation there have been several distinguished clerical and lay members of the congregation, none more so than the Rev. William Turner, who was minister from 1782 to 1841. Turner was respected and widely known - not only in his own denomination - but enjoyed a respect and fame in Newcastle and beyond for his endeavours and abilities. Turner was quick to follow in 1785 the initiative of Robert Raikes of Gloucester in founding (1782) a Sunday School (although there is now reason to believe that there were earlier examples); in turn the Hanover Square pastor was quickly emulated within months by three other Newcastle and Gateshead churches. A Charity School attached to the church was already in existence when Turner arrived in Newcastle, but he developed this in both scope and curriculum. He established a church library, a pioneer move, as well as founding the Newcastle Unitarian Tract Society. Turner was instrumental in encouraging the creation of the New (Unitarian) College at Manchester, and was for a time noted as one of the principals. During his ministry he formed a strong friendship with the Rev. Edward Prewitt, the minister of the Calvinistic Baptists, meeting at Pandon Bank; in 1787 the two congregations merged, although the Pandon Bank building seems to have been kept on.

In secular affairs Turner, the first secretary, is credited with the establishment of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, where he lectured over many years on a wide variety of subjects. He was also Chairman of the Newcastle Police Association, played some part in founding the Mechanics Institution, encouraged the introduction of inocculation in Newcastle, and was a member of the Schoolmasters Association and the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

In common with other older nonconformist congregations, organisation of the church is through a Church Meeting, composed of all members. This meeting from time to time elects a committee and officers such as secretary and treasurer to carry on the day-to-day administrative business, with spiritual and other leadership provided by the minister.

It is noticeable with the Church of the Divine Unity, particularly since the time of Turner, that this congregation has been frequently concerned with wider social and other matters, and thought nothing of petitioning Parliament in the mid-nineteenth century, for example, to plead for the abolition of capital punishment.

The collection starts with a fine series of Committee minutes, and continues through the records of various aspects of the church's administrative and pastoral life. At some point, however, many of the letters, reports, notes etc. relating to these aspects have been assembled into a separate series of scrapbooks.

In addition to the records of the Church of the Divine Unity, the collection also contains a copy of material relating to the Unitarians in the north east, including the formal overall federal organisation and records of individual churches.

List of the Ministers of Hanover Square, later Church of the Divine Unity

William Durant, ?1662 - 1681

Richard Gilpin, ?1681 - 1703

Timothy Manlove (assistant), 1693 - 1699

Thomas Bradbury (assistant), 1699 - 1703

Benjamin Bennett, 1703 - 1726

Nathaniel Fancourt (assistant), 1710 - 1719

William Wilson (assistant), 1720 - 1751

Ebenezer Lawrence, 1726 - 1733

Richard Rogerson, 1733 - 1760

Samuel Lothian (assistant, then minister), 1752 - 1780

Robert Hood, 1781 - 1782

William Turner, 1782 - 1841

Edward Prewitt (Minister of Pandon Bank, 1788 - 1797; assistant 1797 - 1802)

Joseph MacAlister (assistant, then minister), 1837 - 1844

George Harris, 1845 - 1859

William Newton, 1860 - 1863

James Christopher Street, 1863 - 1871

Alfred Payne, 1871 - 1883

Frank Walters, 1885 - 1907

Alfred Hall, 1908 - 1918

Herbert Barnes, 1919 - 1951

J.H. Coram Davies, 1951 - 1957

James Storer, 1958 - 1971

Philip Tindall, 1972 - 1976

M.C. Ratter, 1976 - 1977

Roger Tarbuck, 1977 to date