Charles Simeon of Cambridge

A seminal book.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836) is one of the most important figures in modern church history. Here we have an overview of his life, and of the indelible mark he has left on the Church of England.

Simeon, a contemporary and friend of the abolitionist William Wilberforce, was vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge for 52 years. At first hated and derided, he would at his death be mourned by town and gown alike. Nearly two centuries later, through his work to help found the Bible Society and Church Mission Society, and through his influence on the later establishing of evangelical student ministry, we can track his legacy into some 200 nations.

This charming book includes biographical information about Charles Simeon, a map of the centre of Cambridge, and careful notes about the pattern Simeon set for the future. We find the original charge to his Patronage Trust, still used today.

There are line drawings of Holy Trinity Church, a photograph of Simeon and of his dear Henry Martyn, and a line-drawing of the queue of dons waiting to get into his funeral (drawn by the youngest chorister, seventy years later, in 1906), which had been buried in Cambridge University Library archives.

There are 43 endnotes which track Simeon's influence down to the present day. This is a seminal work in 52pp.