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John Newton
Sign in to saveAnglican clergyman, slave trader and abolitionist (1725–1807)
Key facts
- Born
- 4 August [ O.S. 24 July ] 1725 , Wapping , London, England
- Died
- 21 December 1807 (1807-12-21) (aged 82), London , England
- Spouse
- Mary Catlett ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1750 ; died 1790 )
- Occupation
- British sailor, slaver, Anglican cleric and prominent slavery abolitionist
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- John
- Family name
- Newton
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Place of birth
- London
- Place of death
- London
- Occupation
- merchant
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- Anglicanism
- Field of work
- Protestantism
- Image
- John Newton.jpg
Show 9 more facts
- date of birth
- 1725-00-00
- date of death
- 1807-12-21
- Commons category
- John Newton
- Commons Creator page
- John Newton
- writing language
- English language
- social classification
- slave
- name in native language
- John Newton
- significant person
- William Wilberforce
via Wikidata · CC0
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
John Newton (/ˈnjuːtən/; 4 August [O.S. 24 July] 1725 – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. Newton served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forced recruitment) and was himself enslaved for a time in West Africa. Newton is noted for being author of the hymns "Amazing Grace" and "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken".
Newton went to sea at a young age and worked on slave ships in the Atlantic slave trade for several years. In 1745, he became a slave of Princess Peye, a woman of the Sherbro people in what is now Sierra Leone. Newton was rescued, returned to sea and the trade, and captained several slave ships. After retiring from active sea-faring, he continued to invest in the slave trade. Some years after experiencing a conversion to Christianity during his rescue, Newton renounced his trade and became a prominent supporter of abolitionism. Now an evangelical, Newton was ordained as a Church of England cleric and served as parish priest at Olney, Buckinghamshire, for two decades and wrote hymns.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “John Newton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.