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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
As an undergraduate, Gladstone was enchanted by the preaching of Richard Sibthorp, but was unsure whether he could be trusted as a sound guide. So in December 1829 he wrote to his theological mentor, Edward Craig, an episcopal minister in Edinburgh, seeking an opinion. In reply, Craig described Sibthorp as a ‘very judicious man.’ Few would have dissented.
At a time of major divisions in the Protestant religious world, Sibthorp had established a reputation as a conciliator. In 1827, when the British and Foreign Bible Society was being torn apart by the Apocryphal controversy, he had been trusted by both sides to visit the Continent and report on adherence to the Society's revised rules. In the same year, he became Clerical Secretary of the Religious Tract Society, an office he held until 1836. In an inter-denominational Society, disputes over what should be published were constantly threatening to boil over and Sibthorp played no small part in ensuring that it did not suffer the convulsions that almost wrecked the B.F.B.S.
1 Edinburgh, December 15, 1829; Gladstone Papers, Addn. Mss. 44352, Fo. 141, British Library.
2 He was remembered in Oxford as having been a Catholic. Renouf wrote to his father in 1841, ‘When he came here first to reside as undergraduate he was a Roman Catholic. I don’t know whether he had any scruples. …’ Cathcart, K. J., The Letters of Peter le Page Renouf, 2002, Vol. 1, p. 76.Google Scholar
3 Letter from his father to Martin Routh, January 15, 1812. (Magdalen College.)
4 Martyn went to Louth soon after his ordination in December 1805 and left in the summer of 1807; The Laity's Directory for 1838, 1837, p. 89.
5 Cocking, T., The History of Wesleyan Methodism in Grantham and its Vicinity, 1836, pp. 143–314.Google Scholar
6 Gidney, W. T., The History of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews from 1809 to 1908, 1908, p. 52.Google Scholar
7 February 1814, (New Series vol. 1) pp. 12–710.
8 January 1828, p. 37. The sermon: The Character & Tokens of the True Catholic Church, was delivered at Tavistock Chapel, Drury Lane on November 20, 1827.
9 Gornall, T., The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, Vol. V, 1981, p. 386.Google Scholar
10 Ibidem, p. 389.
11 See, for example, issue of November 8, 1841.
12 Letter to F. Massingberd, December 29 1864; Mass 4/42, Lincolnshire Archives.
13 To Massingberd, December 30 1864; Mass 4/44. Lincolnshire Archives.
14 Sibthorp, R. W., Some Answer to the Enquiry; Why are you Become a Catholic? In a Letter to a Friend, 1842, p. 11.Google Scholar
15 See his letter to Lord Shrewsbury, October 7, 1843, Ushaw College.
16 Letter dated March 27, 1866. Quoted in Fowler, J., Richard Waldo Sibthorp: A Biography Told Chiefly in his Own Correspondence, 1880, p. 77.Google Scholar
17 Ibidem, pp. 73–74.
18 Sykes, C., Two Studies in Virtue, 1953, pp. 50, 51.Google Scholar
19 Letter dated November 17, 1841, Pusey House (P. H.)
20 Clifton, M., A Victorian Convert Quintet, 1998, p. 114.Google Scholar
21 R. W. Sibthorp, p. 33.
22 17 November 1841, P. H.
23 Dodsworth, W., A Letter to the Rev. Richard Waldo Sibthorp, B.D.; Occasioned by His Letter Entitled, ‘Some Answer to the Inquiry, Why are you Become a Catholic?’ 1842, pp. 14–15.Google Scholar
24 Information on Sibthorp’s preaching is taken from the London & Dublin Orthodox Journal, and from his letters to J. R. Bloxam (July 2 & August 23, 1842) and to Darwin Fox (April 4, 1842) archived at P. H.
25 Orthodox Journal, No. 356, April 23, 1842, p. 269.
26 Lincoln Rutland & Stamford Mercury, August 26, 1842.
27 Bickersteth, E., The Divine Warning to the Church at This Time of Our Present Enemies, Dangers and Duties, and as to Our Future Prospects, 1842, p. 21.Google Scholar
28 Ibidem, pp. 40, 42.
29 Bickersteth, E., The Restoration of the Jews, 1853, p. 307.Google Scholar
30 Dunton, H. I. B., The Millerite Adventists and other Millenarian Groups in Great Britain, 1830–60. London University Ph.D., 1984, p. 93.Google Scholar
31 In 1845, Froom, L. E., The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, vol. III, 1946, p. 706 Google Scholar. Dunton questions the basis of this figure (p. 48.)
32 In Bickersteth, E. (ed.) The Second Coming, The Judgement and the Kingdom of Christ, 1843, p. 142.Google Scholar
33 Ibidem, p. 444.
34 Letter to Bloxam, December 21, 1843, P.H.
35 P.H. The words in Italics are underlined in the original.
36 Quoted in The Times, November 28, 1843.
37 Ibidem.
38 Article quoted in English Churchman, November 23, 1843.
39 April 6, 1844, P.H.
40 To Bloxam, December 15, 1845, P.H.
41 November 22, 1844, P.H.
42 February 24, 1846, Keble College, Gresley Letters No. 164.
43 Ibidem.
44 Sibthorp’s last published sermon (delivered on November 23, 1862) was anti-Colenso: The Saviour’s Estimation of the Writings of Moses Shown in His Own Use of Them.
45 In conversation with Rev. Orlando W. W. Forester on January 13, 1879, reported in The Times, February 2, 1892.
46 Sykes, p. 19.