Mr. Foster says "the company who made sometime since an establishment
at Sierra Leone in Africa, have brought to England twenty black boys
to receive European improvements, in order to be sent when they are
come to be men to attempt enlightening the heathen nations of Africa.
They have been placed in a house at Battersea for the present till some
kind of regular and permanent establishment shall be formed, and I
have been requested, and have agreed to take the care of them for the
present."--_Foster's Life and Correspondence_, Vol. I. p. 58-60, edited
by J. C. Ryland, A.M.
The Rev. Edmund Clark held the Pastorate from Spring of 1834 to
Mid-Summer, 1834--three months. He was succeeded by the Rev. Enoch
Crook, who was two years and a half Pastor of the Church, viz., from
Mid-summer, 1834, to 1837. A tablet to his memory is placed on the
wall in the vestry of the chapel. Subsequently from January, 1838,
it was the scene of the labours of the Sainted Israel May Soule, who
for thirty-six years was Pastor of the Church of Christ assembling
here; he faithfully discharged his ministerial duties; his doctrine
was truly evangelical; his services unremitting and his deportment
exemplary--beloved by his flock and highly esteemed by Christians of
other denominations for his large liberal-heartedness, sound judgment
and unsectarian spirit. It was he who first conceived the idea of
enlarging the Old Chapel and had a model in his study to represent the
style of alteration which his own mind suggested with a view to meet in
some humble measure the growing and increased spiritual wants of the
neighbourhood. However, instead of enlarging the Old Chapel a second
time, he used strenuous efforts and succeeded in having the Old Chapel
demolished and a commodious place of worship erected on its site. The
Chapel was enlarged and repaired in 1842 and the freehold purchased
and put in trust at a total cost of £1,000. In 1868 the requisite
land for further enlargement of the Chapel was purchased. The present
handsome Chapel involved an outlay of £5,000, erected in the Romanesque
style from the designs of Mr. E. C. Robins. The accommodation on
ground-floor and galleries is for 900 worshippers. The open timbered
roof is one span, and the building is faced with white bricks with
Bath stone dressings. It was constructed by the late Mr. John Kirk.
The same architect has recently enlarged East Hill Chapel, Wandsworth.
The memorial stone of the New Chapel was laid by Field Marshal Sir G.
Pollock, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., on the 8th of June, 1870, being the 33rd
year of the Rev. I. M. Soule's ministry; the building was completed by
the end of the year, so that Mr. Soule had the pleasure of conducting
the opening services January 1st, 1871. Previously to his coming to
Battersea Mr. Soule for seven years had been Pastor of the Baptist
Church, Lewes, Sussex. He was born Dec. 25, 1806, died unexpectedly
Nov. 8, 1873, having preached with his usual energy on the previous
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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