James Henry Alexander Gwyther

author

James Henry Alexander Gwyther

d. 1875

A 19th-century Anglican clergyman and preacher, he is remembered today for a sermon on Christian unity that was later preserved by Project Gutenberg. His life also linked him to the Picton Castle estate in Pembrokeshire, where he became known as James Henry Alexander Philipps.

1 Audiobook

The Unity of the Church Essential to the Conversion of the World A Sermon, Preached Before the Directors and Friends of the London Missionary Society, During Their Anniversary in May, 1846, in the Church of St. Mary, Spital Square, London

The Unity of the Church Essential to the Conversion of the World A Sermon, Preached Before the Directors and Friends of the London Missionary Society, During Their Anniversary in May, 1846, in the Church of St. Mary, Spital Square, London

by James Henry Alexander Gwyther

About the author

Born in 1815, he was the son of the Reverend Henry Gwyther and later became an Anglican clergyman educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained in the late 1830s and served in the church for many years, including as vicar of Madeley in Shropshire and later at St. Mary's, Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire.

As a writer, he is chiefly associated with The Unity of the Church Essential to the Conversion of the World, a sermon preached in 1846 before the directors and friends of the London Missionary Society. The work reflects his interest in church life, cooperation, and mission, and it remains the main published text by which modern readers encounter him.

Later in life, he inherited the Picton estate from his half-brother Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford, and took the surname Philipps. He died on December 3, 1875. No clearly suitable portrait image could be confirmed from the sources reviewed, so a landscape view connected with Picton rather than a portrait was not used.