2024: Anniversaries from Church History

A Wife for Zwingli, Gold for Eric, Father Brown and the end of The Inklings.

525 Years

• Jan 29th 1499, Birth of Katherine von Bura, the future Mrs Martin Luther.

500 Years

• Apr 2nd 1524, Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli marries Anna Reinhart.

475 Years 

• Jan 21st 1549, the first version of the Book of Common Prayer was authorised for use in the English church. 

425 Years

• Apr 25th 1599, soldier, statesman and Puritan Oliver Cromwell born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. 

350 Years

• November 8th 1674, Death of poet John Milton. Author of Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes.
• July 16th 1674, Hymnwriter Isaac Watts born in Southampton. Composed many popular hymns still sung today. 

225 Years

• July 17th 1799, Hymnwriter and Baptist minister Samuel Medley died in Liverpool. Composer of the popular hymn “I know that my Redeemer Lives.”

200 Years

• May 24th 1824, John G Paton born Kirkmahoe, Scotland. Served as a city missionary in Glasgow 1847-56. Pioneer missionary to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu). 
• Apr 13th 1824, Jane Taylor, poet, dies aged 40 in Ongar, Esses. Remembered today as the author of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” Jane was also a prolific hymnwriter. 

150 Years

• Feb 18th 1874, William Sandys (pronounced “Sands”) died in London. Antiquarian who published “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern” in 1833.
• Apr 10th 1874, Henry H. Halley born in Kentucky, US. Author of the popular Halley’s Bible Handbook, millions of which have been sold worldwide. Halley was a formidable memoriser of Scripture, which he could recite for an astonishing 25 hours! He died in 1965, his lifetime mirroring that of Winston Churchill.
• May 29th 1874, G.K Chesterton (pictured below) born in Kensington, London. Christian apologist, he also wrote the Father Brown detective stories. His writings influenced the conversion of C.S Lewis.
• July 24th 1874, Oswald Chambers born in Aberdeen, Scotland. Baptist evangelist, the author of devotional classic “My Utmost for His Highest.”

100 Years

• May 28th 1924, Baptist missionary William Haas dies in Bangassou, Africa. Founder of Baptist Mid-Missions in Central Africa.
• July 4th 1924, Eric Liddell wins Olympic Gold in the 400m, Paris.

80 Years

• Feb 28th 1944, Corrie Ten Boom arrested by the Nazis. In the concentration camp at Ravensbrück in Germany Corrie and her sister Betsie will hold secret worship meetings.

75 Years

• Jan 26th 1949,  Scottish-American pastor Peter Marshall died in Washington DC aged 46. He also served as Chaplain to the US Senate. His widow Catherine wrote the book “A Man Named Peter” which also became a famous motion picture with Richard Todd playing Peter.
• October 20th 1949, The last of the Inklings weekly meetings, Oxford. Usually comprising 6 to 8 members including JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and his brother Warren (“Warnie”). They met from 1934 in the Eagle and Child pub or Magdalen College.
• October 22nd 1949, The first baptisms of Protestants in the Filipinos.

40 Years

• Mar 6th 1984, Lutheran Pastor and opponent of Adolf Hiter, Martin Niemoller dies in Wiesbaden, West Germany. Survived the concentration camps in Sachenshausen and Dachau.
• May 15th 1984, American theologian, author and apologist Francis Schaeffer died in Rochester, Minnesota, US. Co-founded the L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland with his wife Edith. 

25 Years

• Jan 23rd 1999, martyrdom of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his 2 sons aged 10 and 6 in Manoharpur, India.