James Sherman (minister)

The Rev. James Sherman (1796 - 1862), was a Congregationalist and abolitionist; a popular preacher at the Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars, London from 1836-54. He was successor at the Surrey Chapel to Rowland Hill.

Association with the London Missionary Society

James Sherman was a prominent supporter of missionary work, principally the work of the non-denominational London Missionary Society. The missionary Rev. Samuel Oughton was sent to Jamaica from Sherman's Surrey Chapel in 1836; an arrangement on behalf of the Baptist Missionary Society, a body that worked closely with the LMS, and practiced congregational principles of church governance.

Founding of Abney Park Cemetery

Shortly before 1840, James Sherman became a founding trustee and director of the Congregationalist's new non-denominational enterprise - Abney Park Cemetery.

All parts of the grounds were to be open for burial to everyone, regardless of denomination, without "invidious dividing lines". It became the first garden cemetery in Europe to be wholly non-denominational in this respect whilst also having just one chapel, to be shared by everyone.

Published Books

James Sherman's earliest works were devotional, but in the 1840s he developed his writing skills as a biographer. In 1848 James Sherman wrote "The Pastor's Wife", a biography of Mrs Sherman in memory of her death. Recently he had also completed a biography of the Quaker philanthropist William Allen.

Work Towards Slavery Abolition

Of monumental political significance in the 1850s was a semi-fictional book written on one side of the Atlantic, to which James Sherman contributed an introduction written on the other. This was Uncle Tom's Cabin, penned by the American Congregationalist and authoress, Harriet Beecher Stowe, with Sherman's introduction from London. The number of copies of the work, sold, was unprecedented in the history of American literature. Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in serial form for "The National Era", a slavery abolitionist newspaper, in 1851. When it appeared as a two volume work by March 1852, with Rev. James' Sherman's introduction, it quickly became a work of tremendous historical significance. For the book's promotional tour in London in the early summer of 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, her husband, and brother Charles Beecher, stayed at James Sherman's house. At the same time he invited the African-American escaped slave and Congregational minister Samuel Ringgold Ward, and assisted his stay in Britain for nearly a year, helping him raise funds for the Canadian Anti-slavery Society at a time when many escaped slaves from the USA were trying to reach freedom in British Canada.

The character of Uncle Tom was based in part on the narrative on the life of Josiah Henson, an escaped slave. It had a major effect in bringing to a head the issue of slavery abolition in the United States of America, which was resolved between the abolitionist north and pro-slavery south throughout the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln referred to Stowe as "The little woman who started this big war". After Lincoln's death she wrote a series of biographies, including a life of Abraham Lincoln.

Thereafter James Sherman became minister at Blackheath Congregational Church 1854-62 and was succeeded at Surrey Chapel by the Rev. Dr. Christopher Newman Hall. At Surrey Chapel, Hall continued Sherman's abolitionist cause by visiting America during the Civil War, and publishing books and making speeches to enlist British support on the side of the north: "England should side with the North", he wrote, "particularly because emancipation of the slaves is just".

Death & Memory

James Sherman died at his home in The Paragon, Blackheath, and was buried in a plain stone chest tomb at Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, London - the Congregationalist's novel non-denominational garden cemetery of which he was a founder director and trustee. His memorial stone can be seen to this day on the western boundary walk.

Books
* Sherman, James (1851) 'Memoir of William Allen', London: Charles Gilpin
* Beecher-Stowe, Harriet (1852) 'Uncle Tom's Cabin; or life among the lowly...with introductory remarks by J. Sherman', London:H.G.Bohn
* Beecher-Stowe, Harriet (1875 edn.) 'Uncle Tom's Cabin; or life among the lowly...with introductory remarks by J. Sherman', London:George Bell & Sons
* Sherman, James (1829 edn.) 'A Guide to Acquaintance with God', Boston: James Loring
* Sherman, James (1850 edn.)The Pastor's Wife: a memoir of Mrs Martha Sherman, New York: American Tract Society