James Edmeston

EDMESTON, James. b. Wapping, London, 10 September 1791; d. Hackney, London, 7 January 1867. He was an architect and surveyor, with an established practice in London (Sir George Gilbert Scott was one of his pupils). His family had belonged to the Independent church (his grandfather, Samuel Brewer, was pastor of an Independent church at Stepney), but Edmeston became an active member of the Church of England. He took a great interest in the welfare of children and the provision for orphaned children in London, at a time when workhouses were often cruel and inhumane places (see Dickens, Oliver Twist, 1837-38). Edmeston contributed many hymns to the Evangelical Magazine, and published no fewer...