Octavius Winslow
| Octavius Winslow D.D. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
1 August 1808 Pentonville, England |
| Died | 5 March 1878 (aged 69) Brighton, England |
| Occupation | Pastor, author |
| Spouse(s) | Hannah Ann Ring (2 April 1834) |
| Children | John Whitmore, (1834 America), Hannah (1835 America), Mary (1837 America), James (1840), Thomas (1842), Emma (1845), Sarah Johanna (1848), Octavius Evans (1850), Georgiana Lyndhurst (1853), Lyndhurst (1855) |
| Parent(s) | Thomas and Mary Winslow |
Octavius Winslow (1 August 1808 – 5 March 1878), also known as "The Pilgrim's Companion", was a prominent 19th Century evangelical preacher in England and America. A Baptist minister for most of his life and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon and J.C. Ryle, he seceded to the Anglican church in his last decade.
Winslow was a direct descendant of John Winslow and Mary Chilton who braved the Atlantic to travel to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Legend has it that Mary was the first female of the little band to set foot in the New World. In 1624 she married John, brother to Edward Winslow (1595–1655), a celebrated Pilgrim leader.
Octavius’s mother, Mary Forbes (1774–1854) had Scottish roots but was born and raised in Bermuda and was the only child of Dr. and Mrs George Forbes. On 6 September 1791, when she was just 17, she married Army Lieutenant Thomas Winslow of the 47th Regiment. Shortly after this, she came under spiritual convictions and was brought to gospel deliverance while pleading the promise, “Ask, and ye shall receive”.
Mary and Thomas Winslow went on to live in England and Octavius was born in Pentonville, a village near London, on 1 August 1808. He was the eighth of 13 children. Those children recorded in the family bible of Robert Winslow, brother of Octavius, are:
Thomas and Mary had three children who died before their first birthday. They are:
Octavius seems to have been given his name because he was then the eighth surviving child.
As a child, Octavius and family would worship at Pentonville Chapel under the ministry of Rev. Thomas Sheppard. During this time of his life, he suffered from what seemed to be a life-threatening illness. While staying in Twickenham, a nurse accidentally administered an incorrect medicine that doctors would later say would have killed ten men. Octavius’s father was from a wealthy family but by 1815, following his retirement from the army, he suffered ill-health and the loss of his fortune due to one of several national financial disasters that occurred in this period. A decision was soon made to move to America, but before Mr. Winslow could join his wife and children in New York, he died. At the same time, their youngest child died too. Octavius was but 7 years old.
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