Henry Forster Burder

Henry Forster Burder, D.D. (1783–1864) was an English nonconformist minister.

Life

The eldest son of the Rev. George Burder, and brother of Thomas Harrison Burder, he was born 27 November 1783, at Coventry. He was articled in 1798 to a wholesale firm based in Nottingham and London.

In London Burder attended the Weigh-house Chapel, and decided to devote himself to the ministry. He became a student in Hoxton Academy, and then in 1804 entered the University of Glasgow, where he took his M.A. degree in 1807, and subsequently that of D.D. After his graduation, Burder became classical tutor at Wymondley College, as a colleague of William Parry.

Burder resigned as tutor in 1808. By October 1811, he was assistant to Samuel Palmer at St. Thomas's Square Congregational Chapel, Hackney, and on Palmer's death was ordained to his pastorate on 2 March 1814. John Stoughton was one of his students, at the end of this period, and commented that Burder was influenced by Dugald Stewart. Another student of this time was Henry Rogers.

Burder was one of the founders of the Congregational Union in 1831; and in 1834 he advocated breaking traditional links with Presbyterians and Baptists. In 1844. he was chairman of the Union. He remained at Hackney till 1852, delivering on 26 December 1852, A Pastor's Farewell, published 1853. His congregation presented him with a purse of £1,000, with which a Burder scholarship was founded at New College, London. He then lived in the house of his eldest son at Hatcham Park, where he died 29 December 1864. He is buried at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery, in Stoke Newington.