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By courtesy of Dr. Williams' Library Photo: John Hewerdine

JOSEPH PRIESTLEY BICENTENARY HIGHLIGHTS (February 2004)

A NEGLECTED "GREAT BRITON"

Unitarians will play a significant part in the events marking the bicentenary this year of the death of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), minister, political radical who supported the principles of the French Revolution, yet who is better known as a pioneering scientist who made an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the chemistry of gases. A lifelong nonconformist, Priestley contributed markedly to the growth of Unitarianism on both sides of the Atlantic. He died on 6 February 1804 at Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

Best known today for his discovery of oxygen - and to a lesser extent his recognition of the process of photosynthesis, his invention of carbonated water (a great boon to the fizzy drinks industry) and his discovery of the anaesthetic nitrous oxide (laughing gas) - Priestley began his ministry as a dissenter in 1755. He gradually developed a unitarian theological position - historically, the belief that God is One and that Jesus was simply an inspired teacher and prophet - and he argued for this view passionately. His numerous religious publications included A History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782), and he influenced and challenged the religious thought of contemporaries such as the US Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

In a tradition which characterises the Unitarian movement today, he was a prominent campaigner for religious and political freedom and opposed the Test and Corporation Acts which excluded Roman Catholics and nonconformists from English universities and government positions. It was from Priestley's Essay on Government that the Utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, is thought to have derived the phrase "the greatest good of the greatest number". Priestley also campaigned against the slave trade and was an advocate of state education a hundred years before it came about. His scholarly interests embraced grammar, history, languages, and political theory as well as science and theology.

There will be a short ceremony on the anniversary of his death (6 Feb.) at 11.30 am close to the statue of Priestley in City Square, Leeds. This will be followed by a service in Mill Hill Chapel, a Victorian rebuild on the site of the chapel where Priestley ministered from 1767-1773. Events on the day end with a reception at the Leeds Library of which Priestley was a founder and first secretary.

Rev. Austin Fitzpatrick, President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, is to conduct a celebratory service at 11 am on 8 February at New Meeting, Birmingham, where Priestley was minister for 11 years from 1780 until driven out by the riots of 1791, which eventually led to his exile in the United States.

Speakers at events on the weekend of 7-9 February, organised by the Priestley Society around Priestley's birthplace (Fieldhead, Birstall) in West Yorkshire, include Unitarian ministers, the Rev. Peter Hewis, chaplain tutor at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and the Rev. Ann Peart, Principal of Unitarian College, Manchester.

Professor David Williams, Perren Chair of Astronomy at University College, London will deliver the Essex Hall Lecture on the life and work of Priestley during the Unitarian Annual Meetings in Chester, 14-17 April.

John Goodchild, regional Unitarian historian and a trustee of Westgate Chapel, Wakefield, is to speak at a Priestley study day at Leeds University on 8 May on Priestley's Religious Pilgrimage, from Orthodoxy to Unitarianism; from the West Riding to the United States.

The Hibbert Trust has launched a website about Priestley for use by schools to commemorate his bicentenary.

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