Robert Hindmarsh

Robert Hindmarsh (1759–1835) was an English printer and one of the original founders of Swedenborgianism.

He was born at Alnwick, Northumberland, on 8 November 1759. His father, James Hindmarsh, was one of John Wesley's preachers, and was in 1777 under training by Wesley in London; Robert, however, was never a Methodist. At 14 he got an apprenticeship as a printer in London, and he later opened his own print shop, setting up for himself at 32 Clerkenwell Close.

About 1781 he met with one of Anthoinette Bourignon's works, and afterwards with those of Hans Engelbrecht; a Methodist preacher complained of his lending about works of this class. He first discovered Emanuel Swedenborg's theology when he read Heaven and Hell and Intercourse between the Soul and the Body in 1782. He was instantly converted.

In December 1783 he formed a society (originally consisting of five members) for the purpose of studying Swedenborg's works. Hindmarsh found first three other readers of Swedenborg: Peter Prow, William Bonington, and John August Tulk. They organized a public meeting of readers of Swedenborg with an advertisement in the newspaper. The meeting took place on December 5, 1783 at the “London Coffee House” on Ludgate Hill. They were joined by one other member, William Spence. They met again on December 12 and were joined by Henry Pickitt and James Glen. A group of readers of Swedenborg slowly grew.

In January 1784 they formed “The Theosophical Society”, for translating, printing and distributing the writings of Swedenborg. Rooms were taken for the society in New Court, Middle Temple. Among the members were John Flaxman, William Sharp, two clergymen, and Hindmarsh's father, who left Methodism in 1785. Hindmarsh printed for this society Swedenborg's Apocalypsis Explicata (1785–1789), and in 1786 he issued his own abridgment of Bourignon's Light of the World. A proposal made on 19 April 1787 to open a place of worship was defeated by John Clowes, who came from Manchester to oppose it. However, on 31 July sixteen worshippers met at the house of Thomas Wright, a watchmaker, in the Poultry. James Hindmarsh, his father, was chosen by lot to administer the sacraments; ten communicated, and five, including Robert Hindmarsh, were baptised into the ‘new church’.

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