- Edward Backhouse
Edward Backhouse (1808-1879) was a
philanthropist ,Quaker minister and a writer onchurch history . He was also one of the founding fathers of theSunderland Echo newspaper.Early life
Edward Backhouse was born in
Darlington in May 1808, the son of Edward Backhouse of Darlington. When Edward senior moved toSunderland in 1816, his family travelled with him. Edward junior remained in Sunderland until his death. [Sunderland Daily Echo: May 29, 1879]Working life
Backhouse became a partner in the family banking firm of Backhouse & Co, but did not take an active part in the business. Instead, he worked as a minister for the
Quaker -runSociety of Friends from 1854 and was also active in establishing the "Sunderland Indigent Sick Society", the "British School" in Borough Road, Sunderland, and the oldAthenaeum and Reformatories. [Sunderland Daily Echo: May 28, 1879]Political life
Backhouse, who held Liberal political views, was a leading supporter of Sunderland Infirmary, and of temperance work. At the time of his death in 1879, he was President of the Sunderland
Temperance Society and treasurer of theBible Society . He was also a prominent opponent of the Contagious Diseases Acts, serving as President of the Northern Counties Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. [Sunderland Daily Echo: May 29, 1879]The political views of Backhouse were shared by
Samuel Storey and other leading local politicians of the day. His political opinions eventually led Backhouse to become one of the original seven founders of theRadical -runSunderland Echo in 1873. [Sunderland Daily Echo: May 28, 1879]Personal life
Backhouse married Katherine Mounsey in 1855. The couple had no children. He died in
Hastings , where he had gone for his health, on May 22, 1879. The work Backhouse carried out on church history was published posthumously. [Sunderland Daily Echo: May 29, 1879] [Sunderland Daily Echo: December 19, 1879 - will]Works
*"Early Church History to the Death of Constantine", 1884
References
*Leslie Stephen, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/984 ‘Backhouse, Edward (1808–1879)’] , rev. K. D. Reynolds, * "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 23 Dec 2007
* Sunderland Daily Echo: May 29, 1879 - obituary
* Sunderland Daily Echo: May 28, 1879 - funeral
* Sunderland Daily Echo: December 19, 1879 - will
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