William Brock (pastor)

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William Brock (1807–13 November 1875) was an English pastor, abolitionist and biographer. He became the first minister of Bloomsbury Chapel in central London, serving from 1848 to 1872, and he supported missionary work and the Bible society.

Born the eldest of three children, Brock lost his father early and was kept by charity. He trained as a watchmaker in Sidmouth and Hereford before giving up the trade. He was christened and studied at Baptist College, Stepney, graduating in 1833. He worked at St Mary’s Church in Norwich for fifteen years, a period that caused controversy for some.

Brock supported the non-denominational Missionary Society, which helped form the London Missionary Society. With connections to both Anglicans and Nonconformists, he was appointed in 1848 as minister of the new Bloomsbury Chapel, a central London Baptist church. His plain, warm preaching contrasted with the more energetic style of Spurgeon on the South Bank, though Spurgeon respected him.

After leaving Bloomsbury at age 65, Brock preached part-time at churches of various denominations. He described himself as “churchless, wifeless, homeless,” spending summers in Hampstead and winters at St. Leonards on the south coast.

Besides church work, Brock supported the Peace Society and opposed warfare in conflicts like the Crimean War. He wrote biographies, including that of General Sir Henry Havelock (1858), which drew some criticism for depicting a Christian who was also a soldier, and a popular biography of John Bunyan.

As an abolitionist, Brock participated in campaigns to end slavery and helped organize the first World's Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840 (a painting of the event hangs in the National Portrait Gallery). He died at St. Leonard’s and was buried in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London.