Brewer, Samuel

honorific(s): Reverend
Birth: 1724
Death: June 11, 1796
Affiliation

Broad Street Church, Stepney, London, England

Faith

Dissenting/Congregational

Nationality

English

Occupation

Minister

Residence(s)
  • Stepney, London, England (from 1746 to 1796)
Events

Fundingraising Tour of Great Britain

Marital status

Married to Miss Woolmer of Shadwell in October 1749 and survived by her and several children.

Biography

Samuel Brewer was a minister who served for 50 years at the Broad Street Church, also called the Stepney Meeting, the largest of the dissenting congregations (Congregational or Presbyterian) of London. Starting in the late 17th century, many dissenters, separatists, and independents congregated in Stepney, now a working-class and immigrant neigborhood in London's east end, but originally a village developed around the Church of St. Dunstan's on the outskirts of the city. Brewer took over the ministry at Stepney in 1746, when the congregation had dwindled, and increased attendance over the years, leaving a very successful church at his death in 1796. Though an independent, he was friendly with clergy from the Church of England, and was part of the group of eminent clergymen clustered around the evangelical preacher George Whitefield, his particular friend, who welcomed Occom and Whitaker when they arrived in London in 1765. Occom calls Brewer "a warm Servant of Jesus Christ," and records preaching at Mr. Brewer's meeting several times to crowded audiences who made generous collections for the Indian Charity School. Robert Keen mentioned Brewer as part of a group that met weekly to advise Occom and Nathaniel Whitaker on their activities and send letters of introduction and recommendation to the leading men of surrounding churches. Whitaker urged Wheelock to write to Brewer, among other energetic supporters, but there is no evidence that he did so.

Sources

Richardson, Leon B. ed. An Indian Preacher in England. Hanover: Dartmouth College Publications, 1933.

Further reading

George Ford. "The Good Man, and Faithful Minister, Made Eminently Useful. A Funeral Sermon, Preached at Stepney Meeting, June 19, 1796, Occasioned by the Death of the REV. Samuel Brewer… Together with the Oration Delivered at the Interment." London: W. Smith, 1796; Gale Ecco, 2010.