Benjamin Ingham (1712-1772) and the Inghamites

My Dad’s Yorkshire ancestors include a prosperous couple, William and Susannah (Castlehouse) Ingham, who married in 1697 and lived in Ossett in the parish of Dewsbury, just west of Wakefield. Their son Benjamin was a celebrated religious leader who established a Christian denomination whose members were known as Inghamites. (If you descend from people who joined these congregations, the book My Ancestors Were Inghamites by Paul Oates may be helpful.)

Pedigree from Whitaker of Hesley Hall, Grayshott Hall, Pylewell Park and Palermo by Robert Sanderson Whitaker.

Benjamin was baptized 16 Jun 1712 in Dewsbury’s parish church. He attended Batley Grammar School and then earned a bachelor’s degree at Queen’s College, Oxford University, graduating in 1734. While at Oxford he joined John and Charles Wesley’s Holy Club, a group that met for prayer and Bible study, and resolved to pursue a self-disciplined lifestyle. According to his diary he renounced “all pleasures which are obstructive of the love of God, especially shooting.” Like his American contemporary Jonathan Edwards, he became abstemious with regard to food, controlling his portions and avoiding snacks and desserts. He also set aside time each day for doing good works and for devotions.

Queen’s College, Oxford, from an engraving at the Wellcome Library, London.

Ingham was ordained at Oxford in June of 1735 and soon went to the American colonies with the Wesleys, intending to evangelize Native Americans in Georgia. Also on this voyage were missionaries from the Moravian Brethren. Their emphasis on the personal conversion experience, and on piety and good works appealed to Ingham, and thus began his long association with Moravian Christian ideas, leaders and congregations.

Field between Ossett and Horbury. Photo by Tim Green from Bradford via Wikimedia Commons.

Ingham returned to Yorkshire in 1737, where he preached at many West Riding churches and chapels as well as at private meetings. By 1739 the Church of England leadership decided that his doctrine was not compatible with Established Church teachings and disallowed his preaching in Anglican pulpits. He resorted to preaching in homes, barns, fields and city streets over a broad section of the country, sometimes traveling 200 miles in a week.

Marriage between “Benjamin Ingham of the parish of Dewsbury Clerk and the R[igh]t Hon[ora]ble Lady Margaret Hastings” of the parish of Aberford. Found on Ancestry.com.

In 1741 he made a very advantageous marriage to Lady Margaret Hastings, the daughter of Theophilus, Seventh Earl of Huntingdon, and moved to Aberford Hall near Tadcaster, northwest of Leeds. The following year he handed the administration of his approximately fifty congregations over to the Moravian Brethren, though he continued preaching far and wide.

Notice board at a surviving Inghamite church in Wheatley Carr, Yorkshire. Photo by Alex P. Kapp via Wikimedia Commons.

During the 1740s his thinking diverged from that of the Moravians to the point that he eventually formally separated from them and began establishing new “Inghamite” meetings and chapels. I will avoid delving into complicated theological issues, and will just say that according to his biographers, Ingham’s understanding of Christianity veered away from Methodist and Moravian viewpoints, and toward Calvinist ones.

Ingham’s obit from the Leeds Intelligencer 8 Dec 1772 found on Findmypast.com.

The Inghamite movement grew steadily during the 1750s, especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire. However its lack of formal organization combined with internal disputes splintered and reduced the denomination in the following decade. In 1768 Lady Margaret died. Benjamin followed her in 1772. His obituary in the Leeds Intelligencer described him as a “learned and excellent christian.” His sister Susannah (Ingham) Whitaker is my 7th great grandmother.