The Reverend Brooke Herford

The Rev Brooke Herford

At eighteen he entered Manchester New College, now at Oxford but then at Manchester, where he found a truly liberal spirit. He lived a frugal life, and perseveringly prepared himself for preaching and the parish ministry, feeling particularly blessed by the presence of such men as James Martineau and Francis William Newman. At twenty–one he started preaching regularly at Todmorden in Yorkshire and, as the college authorities could not sanction this arrangement, he decided to withdraw from the college and become the settled minister of the church. He came into close contact with the working people, and befriended their interests, but he was also courageous and quick to rebuke the labor organizers when they resorted to violence.

The second person who, after Travers Madge, influenced Brooke Herford’s life profoundly was Hannah Hankinson. They were married in 1852—after he had been six months at Todmorden—and she became his true helpmate, sharing with him both his struggles and his triumphs. They were both strong personalities, but they enjoyed a perfectly harmonious relationship with each other, and provided a happy home for nine children. Sometimes when he could not give as much help financially as he wished to chapels and societies that were soliciting aid, he would say, “I have contributed nine little Unitarians to the cause, and I can’t afford much more.” As it turned out, that was a very substantial contribution.

Together Mr. and Mrs. Herford wrought at Todmorden for five years, with a salary probably equivalent to about a thousand dollars a year. Their next charge was at the Upper Chapel, in the busy manufacturing city of Sheffield, a parish deservedly proud of its history, and of its social standing in the community. Here Mr. Herford developed into the powerful personality for which he was later known, and here he preached as good sermons, it is said, as were ever put out in his maturer years. He became active in denominational as well as community affairs, but never neglected his very careful pulpit preparation. While in Sheffield he carried on missionary work extensively in the nearby Yorkshire villages, and organized a band of lay preachers to help him. Some of these laymen later became ministers themselves; they were but the first of many young men whom he started, steered, or quickened in this direction.