Benjamin Parsons

Benjamin Parsons (1797–1855) was an English congregational minister. He was known as a political campaigner who involved his congregation.

Life Parsons was born on 16 February 1797 at Nibley in Gloucestershire, the son of Thomas Parsons (died 1803) and Anna Stratford, (died 1812), both from farming families. After attending the parsonage school at Dursley and the grammar school at Wotton-under-Edge, he was apprenticed for seven years to a tailor at Frampton-on-Severn.

In 1815 Parsons became a teacher at as Sunday-school set up at Frampton. He joined the church in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion at Rodborough Tabernacle in 1821, and on 8 September that year entered Cheshunt College. After occupying a pulpit in Swansea for nine months in 1825, and a short stay at Rochdale, he was ordained to the church at Ebley, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, in August 1826.

Views Parsons was an abolitionist ahead of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, and supported the "six points" of Chartism. He became an opponent of the Corn Laws, bringing forward a motion in 1841 at an Anti-Corn Law League conference. His three main causes as an activist were education of on the voluntary system (as opposed to state education), the temperance movement, and observance of the Sabbath. He published: The Wine Question Settled, London, 1841. The Mental and Moral Dignity of Women, London, 1842, 1849, 1856. Argues for equal female education. Education, the Birthright of every Human Being, London, 1845; Leeds, 1864 (4th ed.). A Short Memoir of Elizabeth P. Parsons (his daughter), Stroud, 1845. Buy the Truth and sell it not, London, 1846. The Unconstitutional Character of the Government Plan of Education, London, 1847? Tracts for Fustian Jackets and Smock Frocks,’Stroud, issued in penny numbers from the summer of 1847 to early in 1849. A Letter to the Clergy of the Borough of Stroud, Stroud, 1847? The Greatness of the British Empire, London, 1851 (lectures on English history delivered at Ebley, Stroud, and Cheltenham). In Cassell's Library. A Letter to Richard Cobden on the Impolicy … of State Education, London, 1852. A Letter to the Earl of Derby on the Cruelty and Injustice of opening the Crystal Palace on the Sabbath, London, 1853.

Parsons also worked during the 1850s on the editorial staff of The Working Man's Friend and Family Instructor for John Cassell.

Family Parsons married, on 3 November 1830, Amelia, daughter of Samuel Fry of Devonport. They had several children, including Anna Shatford Lloyd. Anna became a school principal and her daughter Martha Lloyd took over from her when she died. Benjamin was a strong advocate for the education of women. His daughter was taught at the school at his house.