Hope Street Baptist Church
Hope Street Baptist Church
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This Baptist chapel was built in 1854, 'at the sole expence of Joseph Weakley of Graham’s Town, South Africa'. Joseph came 'to superintend the shipping of guns'. James Weakley, his son, described his occupation as 'colonial agent' or 'shipping agent'. James became a Deacon, and Rev. Peter Stanford of Hope Street Chapel, formerly a slave in America, was possibly the first African American minister in the UK - see more in October 2020 edition of the Gazette.
In 1883 Rev. Peter Stanford travelled to Britain and settled in Birmingham in 1887 when he was invited by Hope St Chapel in Highgate to become their Minister. He stayed until 1895 and became a prominent campaigner for racial justice. His book, “From Bondage to Liberty” was published in 1889.
In 1895, Stanford returned to America where he would live permanently for the rest of his life, visiting England briefly only once more. In 1907 he moved to Auburn, New York, to work with Harriet Tubman on developing an orphanage. When his health began to fail, he returned to his base in North Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On May 20, 1909, Stanford died in North Cambridge from kidney failure.
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