Robert William Dale

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Robert William Dale (December 1, 1829 – March 13, 1895) was an English Nonconformist church leader.

Dale was born in London and educated at Spring Hill College, Birmingham, for the Congregational ministry. In 1853 he was invited to Carr's Lane Chapel, Birmingham, as co-pastor with John Angell James, on whose death in 1859 he became sole pastor for the rest of his life. In the University of London M.A. examination (1853) Dale stood first in philosophy and won the gold medal. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him in 1883 by the University of Glasgow during the lord rectorship of John Bright. Yale University gave him its D.D. degree, although he never used it. He served as Chairman of Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales in 1868 and President of the International Congregational Council in 1891 (Dale et al, 1899).

He normally read his sermons, because 'if I spoke extemporaneously I should never sit down again' (Dale et al, 1899, p.198). He did not use the title 'Reverend'. He was a strong advocate of the disestablishment of the Church of England, holding that the Christian church was essentially a spiritual brotherhood, and that any vestige of political authority impaired its spiritual work. In church polity he held that congregationalism constituted the most fitting environment in which religion could achieve its work. He published lectures such as the Atonement (which is still in print), sermons, the 'Manual of Congregational Principles' (also still in print), and at his death he left an unfinished history of congregationalism (Dale et al, 1899), revised by his son, A. W. W. Dale.

Dale's integrity, intelligence, moral passion and oratory soon made him a national figure in an age when the strength of non-conformity was at its highest (Briggs, 1955). He welcomed social improvement and was an advocate, with George Dawson of what became known in Birmingham as the 'civic gospel' (Hunt, 2004: Briggs, 1963). The health, housing, sanitation and living conditions in Birmingham had suffered from its rapid population expansion in the previous thirty years (Mayne, 1993: Briggs, 1963). Dale argued 'the public duty of the state is the private duty of every citizen': service on the town council to improve the wellbeing of Birmingham was advocated by Dale as having moral and religious worth (Dale et al, 1899, p. 125). He was an advocate of free public education, social improvement, the extension of the franchise, the recognition of trades unions, and understanding the links between poverty and crime.

Although Dr Dale did not turn his pulpit into a political arena, he was a keen Liberal and associated with other Birmingham reformers and radicals including Joseph Chamberlain, Kendrick, Jesse Collings, George Dixon and John Bright. In 1886 he opposed Irish Home Rule along with Joseph Chamberlain, but this did not diminish his influence even among those Liberals and Nonconformists who adopted the Gladstonian standpoint. In the education controversy of 1870 he took an important part as a champion of the Nonconformist position.

When Forster's Elementary Education Bill appeared, Dale attacked it on the grounds that the schools would in many cases be purely denominational institutions, that the conscience clause gave inadequate protection, and that school boards were empowered by it to make grants out of the rates to maintain sectarian schools. He was himself in favor of secular education, claiming that it was the only logical solution and the only legitimate outcome of Nonconformist principles. In Birmingham the controversy was terminated in 1879 by a compromise, from which Dale stood aloof. His interest in educational affairs had led him to accept a seat on the Birmingham school board. He was appointed a governor of Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and served on the Royal Commission of Education. Dale took a great interest in Spring Hill Congregational College, Moseley (where he had previously studied). Largely due to his initiative, Spring Hill College, renamed Mansfield College after its founders, was moved to Oxford in 1886 and he became chairman of the council of what is now Mansfield College, Oxford.

The statue of R.W Dale sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford in 1898, was rediscovered in 1995 and is now on loan from Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery,in Carr's Lane Church Centre (his old church)(http://www.carrslane.co.uk/index.php/DaleToday). The National Portrait Gallery holds two pictures of him http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=Robert+William+Dale&LinkID=mp55892)

There is a blue plaque commemorating him on Carrs Lane Church, Carrs Lane, Central Birmingham [1]. The street 'Dale End' in central Birmingham was named after Dr R.W.Dale.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Briggs, A. (1955) "Victorian people: A Reassessment of Persons and Themes 1851-67", Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
• Briggs, A. (1963) "Victorian Cities", Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
• Dale, R.W. (1875 ) "The Atonement", edition, Oswestry:Quinta Press.
• Dale, A. W. W., Fairbairn A. M., Rogers, J. G. (1899) "The Life of RW Dale, of Birmingham", London: Hodder and Stoughton.
• Dale, R.W. (1920) "Manual of Congregational Principles", edition, Oswestry:Quinta Press.
• Hunt, T. (2004) "Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City", London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.