----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Read <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 2:09 PM
Subject: Scripture Reader
> I'm writing a piece about a 19th local government officer who lived
> 1837-1916. Before he came into government he was a building labourer but
> when he wrote his will in 1870, and whilst still employed as a builder, he
> described himself as a "Scripture Reader".
>
> I had imagined that scripture reading would be something he did
voluntarily
> on Sundays but there seems to be more to it than this as some of the
letters
> about him at that time (the 1860s), and before he came into local
> government, mentioned his excellent work visiting the poor.
>
> So can anyone tell me if a "Scripture Reader" was more than just a
voluntary
> job in the mid 19th century? He was not a well-educated man. Could it have
> been a paid job for a church which entailed parish visits?
Scripture reader: "one who is employed to read the Bible to the uneducated
poor in their own homes".
?1854 Mrs. Gaskell Lett. (1966) 274 'Scripture readers' are men, sent &
paid by a London society to any clergyman who applies for them to help him
to read the bible in his parish. 1862 H. Mayhew London Labour Extra vol.
(ed. 2) p. xxii, It is the special duty of the Scripture readers to visit
from house to house. 1882 Ogilvie, Scripture-reader, one employed to read
the Bible in private houses among the poor and ignorant.
[References from OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY]
AJ
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