Raleigh, Alexander

RALEIGH, rē´le, ALEXANDER: Congregationalist; b. at The Flock (a farmhouse near Castle Douglas, 65 m. s. of Glasgow), Scotland, Jan. 3, 1817; d. in London Apr. 19, 1880. He came of Covenanting stock; when fifteen years of age was apprenticed to a draper; in 1835 removed to Liverpool, where he began to study for the ministry, entering Blackburn College in 1840; he became pastor of the church at Greenock 1845, but ill-health compelled his resignation in 1847, and for two years he traveled in search of health; in 1850 he accepted a call to Rotherham; then removed to the charge, of the West George Street Independent Chapel, Glasgow, 1855; and in 1858 became pastor of Hare Court Chapel, Canonbury, London, and soon rose to eminence and great usefulness; in 1865 be was one of the English delegates to the National Council of Congregational Churches held at Boston, where his tact was displayed and his fine sense received recognition. He was twice president of the Congregational Union, in 1868 and in 1879; in 1876 he became pastor of the Kensington Congregational Church. He was the author of: Quiet Resting Places and Other Sermons (Edinburgh, 1863); The Story of Jonah the Prophet (1866); Christianity and Modern Progress (London, 1868); The Little Sanctuary, and Other Meditations (1872); The Book of Esther (Edinburgh, 1880); Thoughts for the Weary and the Sorrowful (ed. his wife, Mary Raleigh; 2 series, 1882–1894); From Dawn to the Perfect Day. Sermons (1883). Some of these passed through many editions.

Bibliography: Mary Raleigh, Alexander Raleigh, Records of his Life, Edinburgh, 1881; DNB, xlvii. 207–208.