author

T. Latham

Known today mainly for a sharp religious pamphlet from 1817, this little-documented writer steps into a real public dispute with force and certainty. The surviving record suggests a ministerial voice shaped by controversy, argument, and the intense pamphlet culture of early 19th-century Britain.

1 Audiobook

The Rod in Pickle; or, An Answer to the Appeal of John Church, the Obelisk Preacher Containing an Authentic Narrative of the Cause of His Leaving Banbury, in Oxfordshire: Together With the Charges Exhibited Against Him, the Meeting of His Friends in Consequence of Those Charges, and the Result of That Meeting. To Which Are Added, His Letters, Written to the Managers of the Banbury Meeting-House, Begging Them Not to Let the Cause of His Dismissal Be Known in London.

The Rod in Pickle; or, An Answer to the Appeal of John Church, the Obelisk Preacher Containing an Authentic Narrative of the Cause of His Leaving Banbury, in Oxfordshire: Together With the Charges Exhibited Against Him, the Meeting of His Friends in Consequence of Those Charges, and the Result of That Meeting. To Which Are Added, His Letters, Written to the Managers of the Banbury Meeting-House, Begging Them Not to Let the Cause of His Dismissal Be Known in London.

by T. Latham

About the author

Very little biographical information about this author is easy to confirm from reliable online sources. The clearest evidence comes from the title page of The Rod in Pickle; or, An Answer to the Appeal of John Church, the Obelisk Preacher, which identifies the writer as Rev. T. Latham, Minister of the Gospel.

That work was published in 1817 and presents itself as an account of why preacher John Church left Banbury, Oxfordshire, along with related charges, meetings, and letters. Project Gutenberg also lists another theological polemic by Thomas Latham, The Self-Plumed Bishop Unplumed, and the overlap in name and subject suggests that T. Latham may be the same writer, though that connection is best treated cautiously.

Because so little securely sourced personal detail is available, the author is best understood through the surviving work itself: a combative religious commentator writing in the world of early 19th-century English dissent, where sermons, rebuttals, and pamphlets often doubled as public battles.