ABSTRACT
Newton, slave-ship captain, evangelical minister of the Anglican church, the author of ‘Amazing Grace’ and other hymns, is a remarkable figure among the abolitionist ranks. The son of a sea captain, he led an eventful early life, sailing with his father, later being impressed by the navy, deserting, and serving on the African slave coast. Although espousing Calvinist tenets and conducting services on board his own ship, Newton remained in the trade. After leaving the sea for a post at Liverpool, Newton became a disciple of the evangelical George Whitefield and in 1764 he was ordained as a priest. In 1780 he removed to London to take up the livings of St Mary Woolnoth, there being instrumental in the ‘evangelical revival of late eighteenth-century religious sentiment.
