Augustus Clissold

Augustus Clissold (c.1797–1882) was an English Anglican priest, known as a Swedenborgian active in later life in publishing on behalf of his views.

Life

Born in or about 1797, the fifth son of Stephen Clissold (1764–1834) of Stonehouse, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, he had Stephen Clissold the writer as elder brother.[1] He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, on 6 December 1814, the same day as his elder brother Henry. He took the ordinary B.A. degree on 19 November 1818, proceeding M.A. on 13 June 1821.[2]

In 1821 Clissold was ordained deacon, and in 1823 was admitted to priest's orders by Thomas Burgess, the Bishop of Salisbury. He held for some time the curacies of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. Mary, Stoke Newington.[2]

Having become a follower of Emanuel Swedenborg, Clissold withdrew from the Anglican ministry about 1840, but remained nominally connected with the Church of England to the end of his life. He continued to reside at Stoke Newington. He died on 30 October 1882 at his country house, 4 Broadwater Down, Tunbridge Wells, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.[2]

Swedenborgian

The Swedenborg Association was started in 1845 for the publication of Swedenborg's scientific works, and merged, after its task had been accomplished in a great measure, in the larger Swedenborg Society. Clissold was chosen president of the Association; in 1838 he joined the Swedenborg Society as a life member, and in the same year he was placed on the committee. In 1840 he was elected chairman of the annual meeting. In 1854 he purchased for the use of the society a seventy years' lease of 36 Bloomsbury Street, London, which later became a distribution centre for "New Church" literature.[2]

During the troubled time through which the Swedenborg Society passed in 1859 and 1860 Clissold supported it financially. His will left it £4,000.[2]

Works

Clissold translated and printed at his own expense Swedenborg's Principia Rerum Naturalium, 2 vols., London, 1845–6, and Œconomia Regni Animalis (edited by J. J. Garth Wilkinson), 2 vols., London, 1846, both of which he gave to the Swedenborg Association. He was the author of:[2]

Clissold published also a sermon preached on the death of the Rev. George Gaskin, London, 1829. In 1870 he busied himself in forwarding the publication of the work known as Documents concerning the Life and Character of Emanuel Swedenborg 2 vols. 1875–7, based on originals collected, translated, and annotated by Johann Friedrich Immanuel Tafel; and during the last two years of his life he assisted the publication of Swedenborg's posthumous work on The Brain, 1882, part of the Regnum Animale perlustratum.[2]

Family

Clissold married Elizabeth Crawshay, daughter of William Crawshay, some time after his death in 1834. They had no children. On the marriage, the Newington Park House estate passed to Clissold; it was renamed Clissold Park, and the house Clissold House.[1][3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Stunt, Timothy C. F. "5689". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5689. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Clissold, Augustus". Dictionary of National Biography 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  3. "London Gardens Online". Retrieved 24 June 2014.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Clissold, Augustus". Dictionary of National Biography 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

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