Robert Hindmarsh was born at Alnwick on the 8th Nov 1759 and baptised on the 20th Jan 1760. His father, James Hindmarsh, a Periwig maker of Alnwick, Northumberland, held a prominent position in the Methodist Church. Robert was the fourth of five children and was a pupil at Kingswood School; he left in 1773 aged 13 years. He married Sarah, the daughter of Henry Paramor at Canterbury on 17 May 1782. Robert was apprenticed to a Printer in London and later lost a considerable part of his fortune when he became the victim of a swindle. He took up the Freedom of the Stationers Company by Redemption on the 1st April 1794 and was admitted tothe Livery of the Company on the 6th May 1794. In 1791 he lived at 32 Clerkenwell Close, Clerkenwell, London, where he described himself as "Printer to the Prince of Wales". On the 27th Novemer 1798, when he was living in Walworth, Surrey, he took out a patent "for a method of applying an elementary or physical power to blast furnaces and for all other works where power is required (Dodsleys Annual Register Vol XL p390 - 1798).

In 1789, Robert Hindmarsh was expelled (with five others) on the grounds of lax vicus of the conjugal relation, perhaps only theoretical. He therefore vowed never again to be a member of any society, but he later contrived to become the sole tenant of the premises in Eastcheap, the majority seceding to Store Street, Tottenham Court Road. He got into a controversy with Joseph Priestley,to whom he had lent (1791) Swedenborg's doctrine, advocating in 1792 the autocracy of the priesthood. Robert held a conference (of seven members) in 1793, at which a hierarchy of three "orders" was agreed and Great Britain was parcelled into twenty four dioceses: however, for want of funds the Eastcheap chapel was closed within the year. A few years later Robert persuaded his friends to build a "temple" in Cross Street, Hatton Gardens, at a cost of &3000. It was opened on the 30th July 1797 by Joseph Proud. Proud departed in 1799 because of disputes with the proprietors, and the chapel subsequently was left to be developed by Edward Irving.

Meanwhile, Robert tried stockbroking with only temporary success. In 1811, William cowherd invited him to Salford to superintend a printing office for the production of cheap editions of Swedenborg's works. He soon broke with Cowherd but some of the supporters of Clowes and Cowherd persuaded him to stay. He preached in Clarence Street, Manchester from the 7th July 1811 and, in 1812, he held a weekly debating society on a Thursday which he called the "New School of Theology". His friends built for him (1813) a New Jerusalem Temple in Salford. Later, at a conference held in Derby in 1818, over which Robert presided, it was resolved that he had virtually been "ordained by the divine auspices". Robert continued to preach at Salford until his retirement in 1824. He then wrote a history of the New Church.

Robert Hindmarsh died at Gravesend, Kent in his daughter's house, and was buried in the churchyard of Milton-next-Gravesend. In 1821/22 he had lived at 25 Hodson Street, Salford. Robert's Will is dated the 16th October 1834 and at that time he was living at 38 Windsor Terrace, City Road, London. He left his papers and manuscripts to his son Henry and also the picture of Emanuel Swedenborg painted by his late brother John Hindmarsh in 1784. He also left him Swedenborg's Cane with the initials "E.S" engraved on the top of it. The Will was proved at London on 13th February 1835. ("National Biography History of Kingswood School" by CH KellY 1898).

Robert Hindmarsh left an interesting account of his family in his book "Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church". "...I may add, as rather a singular case, in relation to myself and the number "5", that my grandfather had five children; my father five children; myself five children; and my three sons each five children, and no more. My wife and I were married on the 7th May 1782 and she died on 2nd March, 1833; consequently we lived together for 55 years and ten months, wanting five days. During all that time we never had a death in our house, and we have seen five generations in the family: 1. My father and mother 2. Myself and wife 3.Our children 4. Our grandchildren 5. Our great-grandchildren. Not to mention some other circumstances distinguished by the number "5", which are too insignificant to be particularly noticed (This memorandum is made on the 12th May 1834.).

Footnotes

(1)    Extract from "Time" Magazine 26 Jun 1964:
"Despite his prediction of the "New Jerusalem," Swedenborg died a Lutheran, and was buried according to the rites of the Swedish Church. In 1784, his followers organized a society to propagate his teachings, which have influenced such disparates figures as Balzac, Emerson, Lincoln and Helen Keller.     Today there are more than 7,000 loyal Swedenborgians in the US (and about 45,000 elsewhere) who belong to three churches. The biggest concentration of them is in the Philadelphia suburb of Bryn Athyn; there most of the town's population of 1,100 belong to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, which for 51 years has been putting up a magnificent - but still incomplete - Gothic Cathedral."

(2)    A document: "Reasons for separating from the Old Church by members of the New Jerusalem Church, who assemble in Great East-Cheap, London."    Printed by R. Hindmarsh, 32 Clerkenwell Close, London in 1788 and signed by:    Robert Hindmarsh, Sarah Hindmarsh, James Hindmarsh, Phillis Hindmarsh, George Robinson and Hannah Robinson etc..

Click here for details of the "Alnwick Branch and Family Tree".