John
Clifford
was
born Sawley, a small village near Derby,
in 1836. His father worked in a lace-factory and was a follower of
the Chartist leader, Thomas
Cooper. After a brief education at the local elementary school,
at the age of eleven, Clifford began work in a lace-factory. Clifford
had a great love of reading and over the next few years he educated
himself and by the time he was sixteen he had risen to the position
of book-keeper.
In September, 1855, Clifford entered the Midland
Baptist College at Leicester. Three
years later he became the minister at the Praed Street Baptist Church
in the Paddington area of London. During
the early years of his ministry, Clifford continued his education
at London University where he obtained
a B.A. (1861), a B.Sc (1862) and an M.A. (1864).
Clifford was a strong supporter of social reform and self-help. In
Paddington he helped establish the Westbourne Park Institute, an institution
that provided free adult education, the Mutual Economic Benefit Society,
an organisation that provided sickness benefit, the Westbourne Park
Permanent Building Society to encourage saving and a Labour Bureau
to help those seeking work.
In the 1870s Clifford emerged as the leader of the Baptist
Church in England. He held several senior positions including
the presidency of the London Baptist Union, National Baptist Union
and the Baptist World Alliance. As a religious individualist, Clifford
clashed with the other main Baptist leader at the time, Charles
H. Spurgeon, who advocated a more conservative approach to religion.
Clifford was a strong supporter of the Liberal
Party. He especially admired William
Gladstone, who he believed applied Christian principles to political
issues. In Clifford's view, the politician should always base his
policies on "what would further the cause of liberty and equality."
Gladstone temporarily lost the support of Clifford after his government
passed the 1870 Education Act. Clifford
believed that the legislation was an attack on the Nonconformist
Church and as editor of the General
Baptist Magazine,
Clifford withdrew support for the Liberal Party
in the 1874 General Election.
Other causes supported by Clifford included disestablishment of the
Church of England, extension of the franchise,
repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act,
the admission of the atheist Charles Bradlaugh
to the House of Commons, Irish
Home Rule, the National Union of Women's
Suffrage Societies, and the Temperance
Society. An advocate of trade unionism, Clifford
was a strong supporter of the Matchgirls
(1888) and the London Dockers (1889) in
their struggles for better pay and working conditions.
In 1899 Clifford became a national political
figure when he became one of the leaders of the campaign against the
Boer War. He was president of the Stop-the-War
Committee and a member of the South Africa Conciliation Committee
executive. Clifford was a fierce critic of the policy of burning Boer
farms and herding women and children into concentration camps. Clifford
also opposed the negotiated terms of the Union of South Africa because
it did not give equal rights to the country's black population.
When Arthur Balfour introduced the 1902
Education Act, Clifford became the leader of the campaign against
the legislation. Clifford was opposed to Balfour's bill for three
main reasons: (1) the rate aid was being used to support the teaching
of religious views to which some rate-payers were opposed; (2) sectarian
schools, supported by public funds, were not under public control;
(3) teachers in sectarian schools were subject to religious tests.
After the 1902 Education Act became
law, Clifford formed the National Passive Resistance movement. The
main strategy of the organisation was to persuade Nonconformists
not to pay the education rate. Between 1902 and 1906 over 170 people
went to prison for refusing to pay their school taxes.
Clifford hoped that the Liberal Government
that came to power following the 1906 General
Election would repeal the 1902 Education
Act. However, attempts at reform in 1906 and 1908 were frustrated
by the House of Lords. When the lords rejected
the budget proposals of David Lloyd George
in 1909, Clifford played an important role in the campaign to have
the upper house reformed.
In the period leading up to the First World War
Clifford supported W.T. Stead and his Peace
Crusade and condemned the press for its open hostility towards the
Germans. However, once war was declared, Clifford supported British
participation because of Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality.
Clifford supported the right of the individual to develop their own
moral views on the war and was totally opposed to conscription
and the punishment of conscientious objectors.
By the end of the war Clifford had become a Christian
Socialist. In the 1918 General Election
Clifford deserted the Liberals and instead
supported the Labour Party. Clifford was
especially critical of the nationalist speeches made by David
Lloyd George during the election campaign.
Clifford retired as pastor of Westbourne Park in 1915. He continued
his campaign against the 1902 Education
Act and in December 1922, received his fifty-seventh summons to
appear before the magistrates for refusing to pay his education rate.
John
Clifford
died on 20th November, 1923.
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