James Sherman, was an English Congregationalist minister. He was an abolitionist, and a popular preacher at The Castle Street Chapel in Reading from 1821 to 1836. He and his second wife Martha Sherman made a success of Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars, London from 1836−54. Martha died in 1848.
Rev James Sherman, engraved for The Evangelical Magazine & Missionary Chronicle
Martha Sherman
The modern marker stone to Rev James Sherman, Abney Park Cemetery, London
Memorial to Rev. James Sherman and Martha Sherman at Abney Park Cemetery, London
The Surrey Chapel (1783–1881) was an independent Methodist and Congregational church established in Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London on 8 June 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill. His work was continued in 1833 by the Congregational pastor Rev. James Sherman, and in 1854 by Rev. Newman Hall. The chapel's design attracted great interest, being circular in plan with a domed roof. When built it was set in open fields, but within a few years it became a new industrial area with a vast population characterised by great poverty amidst pockets of wealth. Recently the site itself has been redeveloped as an office block, and Southwark Underground Station has been built opposite.
The Chapel when in use as The Ring
Rowland Hill's Chapel in 1814 – an 1880 illustration
