Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jerram, Charles

by Edmund Venables

JERRAM, CHARLES (1770–1853), evangelical divine, born 17 Jan. 1770, in the parish of Blidworth in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, was son of Charles Jerram, a member of an old but somewhat impoverished Derbyshire family, who farmed his own freehold land. His mother, Mary Knutton, a pious woman of presbyterian descent, was the daughter of a farmer of the same parish. By her he was devoted from his infancy to the work of the ministry. He was placed under the tuition of the Rev. T. Cursham, the curate of Blidworth, a man of strong evangelical views, with whom he remained many years, accompanying him in his successive removals, first as pupil and subsequently as assistant teacher. About 1790 he became assistant at a unitarian school at Highgate, London. From Dr. Alexander Crombie [q. v.], one of the principals there, Jerram received valuable assistance in his classical studies, but his attendance at the sermons of the Rev. Richard Cecil [q. v.] saved him from adopting Crombie's religious opinions. His friend Cursham soon recommended him to the Elland Society, established in Yorkshire for aiding needy candidates in their preparation for the clerical profession. He was thus enabled in 1793 to enter Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he attended the ministry of the Rev. Charles Simeon [q. v.], the great evangelical leader, and was instrumental in forming various societies for mutual edification among his brother undergraduates. He obtained the Norrisian prize in 1796, graduated B.A. in 1797, as last wrangler, and proceeded M.A. in 1800. In 1797 he took holy orders, and served his first curacy at Long Sutton, Lincolnshire. The parish had become greatly demoralised under a succession of non-resident vicars and inefficient and immoral curates. Jerram speedily worked a wholesome change. The neighbouring clergy included the Rev. J. Pugh [q. v.], vicar of Rauceby, at whose house Jerram took part in the discussion which led to the foundation of the Church Missionary Society.

In October 1805 ill-health led Jerram to remove to Chobham in Surrey, where Cecil was vicar, and he acted as his curate till Cecil's death in 1810, when he succeeded to the benefice. At Chobham, as at Long Sutton, he prepared private pupils for the universities, and he acquired a very high reputation as a tutor. He finally relinquished the work of tuition in 1822.

The prejudice which his so-called methodistical teaching at first excited against him at Chobham soon disappeared. He was placed on the commission of the peace and devoted much attention to abuses in the administration of the poor laws, the tendency of which he felt was to reduce the labouring class almost universally to pauperism. About 1824 he left Chobham for the chapelry of St. John's, Bedford Row, still retaining the former benefice. But a town charge dependent on pew-rents was not to his taste, and, resigning it at the end of two years, he returned to Chobham in 1826. Bishop C. J. Sumner, who was in full sympathy with Jerram's opinions, on succeeding to the see of Winchester made him a rural dean, and in April 1834 presented him to the lucrative rectory of Witney in Oxfordshire, which he held till his death, his son succeeding him at Chobham. His predecessor at Witney had been non-resident, and the parish was given over to dissent. During Jerram's incumbency the parish church was restored; district churches and schools were erected in two hamlets; Sunday trading was put down, and the parish was divided into districts for systematic visitation. He wrote in 1836 a pamphlet on the somewhat numerous secessions of evangelical clergymen to the ranks of dissent, and combated what he called ‘the Tractarian heresy.’ His health began to fail in 1844, and on Good Friday 1848 he preached his last sermon in Witney Church. He died 20 June 1853, and was buried at Witney. Jerram may be regarded as one of the very best representatives of the second generation of the evangelical school, both in its excellences and its defects. In 1798 he married Mary Stanger, daughter of a yeoman of Tydd St. Mary, Lincolnshire, by whom he had a large family. Two sons, James and Samuel, were in holy orders. The former, rector of Fleet, Lincolnshire, was his biographer.

Jerram published, besides separate sermons and magazine articles:

1. ‘Scriptural Grounds for expecting the Restoration of the Jews,’ 1797, Norrisian essay.
2. ‘Review of the Letters of an Universalist,’ 1802.
3. ‘Considerations on the Impotency and Pernicious Tendency of the Administration of the Poor Laws,’ 1802.
4. ‘Letters on the Atonement,’ 1804; republished, with additions, 1828.
5. ‘Conversations on Infant Baptism,’ 1819, ‘a popular and satisfactory discussion of the subject,’ according to Bickersteth's ‘Christian Student.’
6. ‘Tribute of Parental Affection,’ 1823.
7. ‘Secession from the Church of England,’ 1836.

[Memoirs by his son, the Rev. James Jerram, 1855; Biographies of Cecil and Bishop Daniel Wilson.]

E. V.