Thomas Bray

Thomas Bray (1656 or 1658 – 15 February 1730) was an English clergyman, abolitionist, and philanthropist who played a pivotal role in establishing the Church of England in colonial America. His legacy is marked by the founding of influential societies such as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), now known as USPG. Bray’s work extended beyond ecclesiastical organization; he was a fervent advocate for the education and spiritual welfare of enslaved Africans and Native Americans, and his efforts in establishing parish libraries laid the groundwork for public lending libraries in the American colonies.

Life

Early Life

Thomas Bray was born in Marton, then part of the parish of Chirbury, Shropshire, at a house now known as Bray’s Tenement. The exact year of his birth is debated, with records suggesting either 1656 or 1658, the latter being the year of his baptism on 2 May at Chirbury. His parents, Richard and Mary Bray, were poor farmers, and Bray’s early life was marked by modest means. He received his education at Oswestry Grammar School and later at Oxford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from All Souls College in 1678. He continued his studies at Hart Hall, obtaining a Master of Arts degree in 1693. Bray also completed the necessary work for Bachelor of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity degrees at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1696, though financial constraints prevented him from paying the required fees to formally receive these degrees.

Ministry

After his ordination, Bray returned to the Midlands, serving as a curate at Bridgnorth before becoming chaplain to the family of Sir Thomas Price in Warwickshire. Price also secured Bray a position at Lea Marston, where his diligence and extensive library caught the attention of John Kettlewell, the vicar of Coleshill. Kettlewell highlighted the plight of impoverished country parsons who lacked access to theological books, which could lead to ignorance and despair, ultimately affecting their ministry. Through Kettlewell, Bray was introduced to influential figures such as Sir Charles Holt and Lord Digby, whose brother appointed Bray as vicar of Over Whitacre and, in 1690, rector of St Giles’ Church, Sheldon.

During his tenure at Sheldon, Bray wrote the first volume of his intended four-volume set of Catechetical Lectures, dedicating it to William Lloyd, the Bishop of Lichfield. The success of this publication drew the attention of Henry Compton, the Bishop of London, who in 1696 appointed Bray as his commissary to organize the Church of England in the Colony of Maryland. This appointment came at a critical time, as Protestant rebels had recently ousted the Catholic Proprietor, Lord Baltimore, and the British Crown had taken control of the colony. Maryland already had several Church of England parishes and sought an “experienced, unexceptionable priest” to oversee them. Bray’s acceptance of the position was contingent on securing funds to supply parishes with books, a mission that soon expanded to deaneries in England and Wales with the founding of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in March 1698.

Bray’s journey to Maryland was delayed due to political complications, but he finally sailed in 1699, accompanied by two recruited priests. En route, he established seaport libraries at Gravesend, Deal, and Plymouth. By the time Bray left Maryland the following year, he had divided the colony’s ten counties into thirty parishes and established seventeen parish libraries, including one in the colonial capital at Annapolis, partly funded by a contribution from Princess Anne of Denmark. Bray’s commitment to colonial missions, particularly among enslaved Africans and Native Americans, was evident in his writings and sermons, where he vehemently opposed slavery and the oppression of indigenous peoples. He departed swiftly after securing the establishment of the Church of England in the colony through an Act of the Assembly in 1700, as Quaker lobbyists in England were attempting to secure the law’s veto.

Upon his return to England in 1701, Bray published an expanded edition of his Catechesis and a report on the state of the Church of England in North America, refuting Quaker arguments against the church’s establishment in Maryland. Although he failed to secure a bishop for the colony, he played a crucial role in obtaining a royal charter for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in June 1701. Bray’s vision for parish libraries in England and America was realized with the establishment of 80 libraries in England and Wales during his lifetime, and 39 in the colonies. These libraries were intended to encourage the spread of the Anglican Church and primarily included theological works, a significant endeavor given the scarcity of public libraries in the American colonies at the time.

In 1706, Bray accepted the position of rector at St Botolph’s, Aldgate, a role he had previously declined before his voyage to Maryland. He spent the final decades of his life serving this London parish and engaging in various philanthropic and literary activities. Visitors were particularly impressed by his catechizing of charity children and his work on behalf of prisoners at Newgate Prison, including weekly “beef and beer” dinners and proposals for prison reform. His final publication was a memoir of John Rawlet of Newcastle, another friend of John Kettlewell.

Death and Legacy

Thomas Bray died on 15 February 1730, at the age of at least 71, and was buried two days later in the churchyard at St. Botolph’s. In 1723, concerned about the continuity of his evangelistic work, Bray formed a group of ‘associates’ to succeed him. Known as Doctor Bray’s Associates, the group received a chancery charter shortly after his death and continues to publish an annual report of their activities.

Bray’s legacy is commemorated in various ways. St Botolph’s erected a memorial plaque in his honor, and in 1901, a memorial plaque was placed in the parish church at Chirbury. A contemporary described him as “a Great Small Man.” Bray’s concern for poor debtors and his plan to allow them to emigrate overseas to better themselves influenced General James Oglethorpe, who received a royal charter to establish the colony of Georgia two years after Bray’s death. The Episcopal Church, which received 50 libraries from Bray’s society (17 in Maryland, mostly in what later became the Episcopal Diocese of Easton), remembers Rev. Thomas Bray with a feast day on its liturgical calendar on the anniversary of his death, 15 February. The Special Collections division of the University of Maryland houses much of his correspondence with Maryland officials, and the Diocese of Easton named its headquarters building in his honor.

Bray is often referred to as the Father of the Modern Lending Library. His efforts ensured a significant flow of reading material into the American colonies, marking the first major coordinated effort to establish libraries in the New World. From the time of his death until the American Revolution, only four new libraries were founded in the American Colonies. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel continued its work even after Bray’s passing, sending books, pamphlets, and other reading materials to aid missionaries in the colonies. The Society’s work in America persisted until the end of the Revolutionary War, with correspondence requesting books as late as 1771 in North Carolina. The Society also continued Bray’s aspirations for a ministry to the mistreated Native American and African peoples within the American colonies, as evidenced by correspondence between the Society and a missionary named Alexander Stuart.

Thomas Bray is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration and honored with a feast on the Episcopal Church calendar on 15 February, as well as in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Family

Rev. Bray married firstly, around 1685, Elenor (surname unknown), who died in 1688, leaving a son and daughter. He married secondly, on 3 November 1698, Agnes Sayers of Clerkenwell, London, with whom he had four children, all of whom died young.

Publications

Bray’s publications included:

Bibliotheca catechetica
The Good Fight of Faith
Two Select Discourses on Faith, and the Objects Thereof, the Articles of the Apostles Creed. The First on Faith, Shewing the Nature and Difference of that Faith which is Justifying, and of That Which Is Not. The Second, The Practical Believer: Or, the Articles of the Apostles Creed, Drawn Out To Form a True Christian’s Heart and Practice. Two Treatises Upon the Covenant of Grace, The First, A Discourse of the Nature, Ends, and Difference of the Two Covenants. The Second Catechetical Lectures Upon the Preliminary Questions and Answers of the Church-Catechism (Four Books in One), 1703, with William Allen and John Kettleworth