The Life And Ministry Of Henry Dadswell
Earthen Vessel 1913:
My dear father was born at Brighton in the year 1857. His parents were members of the Church at Ebenezer, Richmond Street, of which Mr. Israel Atkinson was pastor, his father being a deacon and secretary of the Sunday-school, and his mother a faithful helper in every good work; and they gave their son the best education in their power. He attended the Sunday-school at “Ebenezer,” and his answers to the pastor’s Bible questions, written when he was in the Bible Class under the leadership, first of Mr. Green and then of Mr. Field, and his papers written for the pastor’s week-night Bible Class at a late dat, when he had become a Sunday-school teacher, so impressed Mr. Atkinson that he told a friend of his mother’s that that he felt sure he would become a preacher some day.
My father had some serious impressions at this time, but they soon wore off, and when at the age of 21 he left home to go to Borough Road College for two years he come more thoughtless and careless. He never gave up attendance at some place of worship, however, and one Sunday morning he heard Mr. Newman Hall preach a sermon, of which he said, “It made me feel as I had never done before that I was a great sinner, and I began to pray for mercy, and was brought at last to feel that my sins had been pardoned; but as my stay in London was temporary I joined no Church, and after some months fell into a very indifferent state as to religious matters.” In 1882 he was married and lived at Brighton for a year, where he was brought by God’s providential dealings to seek the Lord more fervently, after which he came to London to take up an appointment under the London School Board. Here my mother, who was already a member of “Ebenezer,” Brighton, and himself, attended Keppel Street Chapel, where Mr. Styles was pastor. Under Mr. Styles’ ministry he became convinced that the doctrines held by our denomination were in accordance with God’s Word, and a friendship began with his pastor which lasted until his death. He applied for Church membership after hearing Mr. Styles preach from the words “Prove me now,” &c. (Mal. 3:10), and was baptized in February, 1884.
After this he began to think of, the work of the ministry, but held back, as he felt he was not worthy. But one evening, as they were walking home together, Mr. Styles spoke to him on the subject, and soon after a way was opened for him to preach one Sunday at Poynings, near Brighton, which he did, his first text being Matt. 11:28, and was helped and encouraged. For twelve months afterwards he spoke occasionally on week-nights at Camden Lecture Hall and sometimes at Poynings. His first Lord’s-day engagement in London was at Camden Lecture Hall on September 8th, 1889, and as he knew of no one to take his place he carried it out, although he had heard the day before that his dear mother was dying of apoplexy. As he journeyed to Brighton afterwards (which he reached in time to see his mother before she died) the words we have so often heard him quote were given to him, “I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” After that he was continuously engaged in ministerial work until the year 1891, at which time he was a member of the Church at Chadwell Street, when he received an invitation from the Church at Courland Grove, Clapham, to preach for them with a view to the pastorate. He could not then see his way to do this, but on the invitation being renewed the next year he accepted it, and also the subsequent call to the pastorate, writing in his diary beneath the record of his acceptance “I will go in the strength of the Lord God, making mention of His righteousness, even of His only.”
He moved to Clapham with my mother and their three children in 1893, and our home has been here ever since. In spite of the claims of his secular calling he was enabled to fulfill the duties of the pastorate with comparatively little interruption until his last illness, though he had no time to take part in other forms of Christian work as he would have liked to do. For several years he conducted a week-night Bible Class in addition to the usual services.
The death of his father in 1910, and the tram accident which he had in 1911, both told on his health, and on Christmas Eve, 1911, as he was preaching he had a slight apoplectic seizure which, however, did not prevent him from finishing his sermon. He recovered from this to such an extent that he returned to his office, but after a few weeks he had a sudden attack of illness there and was taken to Charing Cross Hospital. There he received every attention, and after several weeks was able to return home and was looking forward to devoting himself entirely to the duties of his pastorate. On the 13th June, 1912, he preached a sermon, full of gratitude for God’s goodness to him, from the words “Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may shew forth all Thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion; I will rejoice in Thy salvation.” He spent one of two restful months, only preaching occasionally, and then on the 24th of July last year had a paralytio stroke which compelled him to take to his bed. During the first pat of his illness he used often to engage in prayer and thanksgiving and to enjoy the reading of the Bible and hearing hymns sung; the last hymn he asked for being “Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah”; but even towards the end, when he was unable to express his thoughts connectedly, the peace of God still kept his heart, and the nurse, who came every morning, said she had never known a patient suffering from the same disease to be so uniformly cheerful and contended. All through his illness, and afterwards, he and we received much kindness from his many friends, and especially from his many friends, and especially from those whom he always called in his diary “my own people.” He had another stroke on the morning of the 28th May last, after which he was unable to speak, and two days afterwards, having “served his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep.”
The first part or the funeral service was held at Courland Grove Chapel, and, both there and at Putney Vale Cemetery, a large number or friends assembled. The service was conducted by Messrs. Sears and Mutimer, and the memorial service at the Chapel on the following Sunday evening was conducted by his old friend Mr. E. Mitchell, who reminded us that for a Christian to depart and be with Christ is “far better—very far better—best of all.”
A. D.
Henry Dadswell (1857-1913) was a Strict and Particular Baptist preacher. He served as pastor for the church meeting at Courland Grove, Clapham. As a youth, he sat under the gospel ministry of Israel Atkinson and then that of William Styles.
