{{Short description|British nonconformist minister and biographer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Joseph Sortain Dawe.jpg|thumb|Joseph Sortain, engraving by Henry Edward Dawe]] '''Joseph Sortain''' (1809–1860) was a British nonconformist minister, an evangelical Independent, philosophy tutor at Cheshunt College, and biographer of Francis Bacon.<ref name="Sell2004">{{cite book|author=Alan P. F. Sell|title=Philosophy, Dissent and Nonconformity: 1689-1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t88K8CNVEZ4C&pg=PA257|year=2004|publisher=James Clarke & Co.|isbn=978-0-227-67977-7|page=257}}</ref> A reputed preacher of his time, he was called "the Dickens of the pulpit" by John Ross Dix.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Ross Dix|title=Pen pictures of popular English preachers: with limnings of listeners in church and chapel|url=https://archive.org/details/penpicturespopu00dixgoog|year=1852|publisher=Partridge and Oakey|page=[https://archive.org/details/penpicturespopu00dixgoog/page/n114 108]}}</ref>

==Life== He was born in Clifton, Bristol;<ref name="Stowell1862">{{cite book|author=William Hendry Stowell|author-link=William Hendry Stowell|title=The Eclectic Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tvU3AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA16|year=1862|publisher=s.n.|pages=16–27}}</ref> his father was a baker of Huguenot descent.<ref>[http://archive.huguenotsociety.org.uk/44_Vol_XVI_Issue_4_1940-1.pdf ''Proceedings of the Huguenot Society'' Vol XVI Issue_41940-1 (PDF)] at p. 427</ref> His parents were in the congregation of James Sherman.<ref name="Diss">[http://dissacad.english.qmul.ac.uk/new_dissacad/phpfiles/sample1.php?asearch=0&detail=people&parameter=Surnamest&alpha=S&personid=2200 http://dissacad.english.qmul.ac.uk ''Sortain, Joseph (c.1809-c.1860)''.]</ref><ref name="Allon1863">{{cite book|author=Henry Allon|author-link=Henry Allon|title=Memoir of the Rev. James Sherman|url=https://archive.org/details/memorirevjamess00allogoog|year=1863|page=[https://archive.org/details/memorirevjamess00allogoog/page/n170 148]}}</ref> This chapel was in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion derived from the Calvinistic Methodists. In 1823 the congregation came under William Lucy, and shortly migrated to the Lodge Street Chapel.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntington: By a Member of the Houses of Shirley and Hastings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QPk5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA395|year=1841|publisher=W. E. Painter|page=395}}</ref>

Sortain attended the Bristol Baptist Academy when still young (around 1824); at this period he won an essay prize, in a competition for which Lucy was his sponsor, on the topic ''Christ's Mission''.<ref name="Diss"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Teacher's offering|title=Juvenile essays which obtained the prizes proposed by the proprietor of The Teacher's offering|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtkGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA80|year=1825|page=80}}</ref> Reading Micaiah Towgood dissuaded him from going to the University of Cambridge. He then studied at Cheshunt College, and Trinity College, Dublin. He returned to Cheshunt College as a tutor, from 1838 to 1850. Under the initial arrangement he taught mathematics, logic, and belles lettres, for two periods of six weeks in a year.<ref name="Mander">W. J. Mander, Alan P. F. Sell, Gavin Budge (editors), ''The Dictionary of Nineteenth-century British Philosophers'', Volume 2 (2002), p. 1045.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James Bennett|author-link=James Bennett (minister)|title=The History of Dissenters: during the last thirty years, from 1808 - 1838|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RRBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA140|year=1839|publisher=Hamilton|page=140}}</ref>

From 1832 Sortain was the Countess of Huntingdon's preacher at her North Street Chapel in Brighton, where he was admired as an orator, and noted for not exceeding 30 minutes.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marilyn Thomas|title=The Diary: Sex, Death, and God in the Affairs of a Victorian Cleric|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1EYb1a9Y9YC&pg=PA272|date=30 December 2007|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4343-3889-1|page=272}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Alexander Richardson|title=The Future Church of Scotland, by 'Free lance'.|url=https://archive.org/details/futurechurchsco00richgoog|year=1870|page=[https://archive.org/details/futurechurchsco00richgoog/page/n194 174] note}}</ref> He held to the dissenting position of his family, though he was known not to differ much from Anglican theological positions.<ref name="The Christian observer">{{cite book|title=The Christian Observer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61|year=1862|pages=61–9}}</ref> Henry Crabb Robinson appreciated Sortain as a preacher, while thinking Frederick William Robertson ("Robertson of Brighton") would rival him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Henry Crabb Robinson|title=Diary, reminiscences, and correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson: ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUhbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA361|year=1870|publisher=Fields, Osgood, & Co.|pages=361–|isbn=9780404053666}}</ref> thumb|left|The North Street Chapel in Brighton

Sortain died on 16 July 1860. His funeral sermon was given by his friend Richard Alliott at the North Street Chapel.<ref name="Mander"/> His reputation lapsed, and he could be called a "forgotten Bristol celebrity" by 1907.<ref>Stanley Peerman Hutton, ''Bristol and its Famous Associations'' (1907), p. 165; [https://archive.org/stream/bristolitsfamous00hutt#page/n219/mode/2up archive.org.]</ref>

==Works== Sortain was a reviewer during the mid-1830s. He obtained work for the High Church ''British Critic'', through contacts with the Rev. Richard Harvey of Hornsey, and James Shergold Boone. He wrote also for the ''Edinburgh Review'', at the suggestion of William Empson.<ref name="The Christian observer"/><ref name="Sortain1861">{{cite book|author=Bridget Margaret Sortain|title=Memorials of the rev. Joseph Sortain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjUBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA177|year=1861|pages=177–8}}</ref> These articles of the mid-1830s were anonymous, but attributions to Sortain have been made, for topics such as Brougham on natural theology, Coleridge, Charles Lyell on geology, and Mary Somerville's ''Connection of the Physical Sciences'' in the ''British Critic''.<ref name="Paley1999">{{cite book|author=Morton D. Paley|title=Apocalypse and Millennium in English Romantic Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mJNn1cAZuYsC&pg=PA108|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-818500-0|page=108 note 47}}</ref><ref name="CantorShuttleworth2004">{{cite book|author1=Geoffrey N. Cantor|author2=Sally Shuttleworth|title=Science Serialized: Representation of the Sciences in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chHOb0dTKzMC&pg=PA62|year=2004|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-03318-3|page=62 note 23}}</ref><ref name="Hug">[http://archive.huguenotsociety.org.uk/06_Vol_III_Issue_3.pdf John Taylor, ''Notes on Bristol Huguenots'', Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, Vol. III Issue 3 (PDF), p. 373.]</ref> In the ''Edinburgh Review'' topics were Richard Baxter, Thomas Lathbury's ''History of English Episcopacy'', and Jeremy Bentham's ''Deontology'' (he thought Bentham's works brought on "mental nausea").<ref name="Hug"/><ref>{{cite book|author1=Harriet Martineau|author2=Elisabeth Sanders Arbuckle|title=Harriet Martineau's Letters to Fanny Wedgwood|url=https://archive.org/details/harrietmartineau0000mart|url-access=registration|year=1983|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-1146-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/harrietmartineau0000mart/page/40 40] note 5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sydney Smith|title=The Edinburgh review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzobAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA365|year=1835|publisher=A. and C. Black|page=365}}</ref> Harvey, however, seemed to find Sortain's oratory incomprehensible.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Baron Edmund Beckett Grimthorpe|author2=John Lonsdale|title=The life of John Lonsdale, Bishop of Lichfield: with some of his writings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww1FAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA155|year=1868|publisher=J. Murray|page=155}}</ref>

Sortain wrote ''A Lecture Introductory to the Study of Philosophy'' (1839) as a Cheshunt College tutor.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Sortain|title=A Lecture Introductory to the Study of Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FYtLHAAACAAJ|year=1839}}</ref> He published ''Romanism and Anglo-Catholicism'' (1841); at this time he was preaching on Antichrist.<ref name="Mander"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Evangelical Register|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_S0EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA176|year=1841|publisher=J.M. Robson|page=176}}</ref> The ''Eclectic Review'' noticed this work with one by Charles Pettit McIlvaine, as anti-Tractarian, though giving it little space, and regretting the "declamatory" style, while praising the content.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Eclectic review. vol. 1-New (8th)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M9oEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA511|year=1841|pages=511–534}}</ref> His ''Life of Francis, Lord Bacon'' was published by the Religious Tract Society in 1851.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Sortain|title=The life of Francis, lord Bacon, baron of Verulam, viscount St. Albans, and lord high chancellor of England|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeoffrancislor00sort|year=1851|publisher=The Religious tract society}}</ref>

Sortain wrote novels, as well as theological and philosophical works:

*''Hildebrand and the Excommunicated Emperor'' (1852)<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Sortain|title=Hildebrand ... and the excommunicated emperor: a tale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLMBAAAAQAAJ|year=1852}}</ref> *''Count Arensberg; or, The days of Martin Luther'' (1853).<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Sortain|title=Count Arensberg; or, The days of Martin Luther|url=https://archive.org/details/countarensbergo01sortgoog|year=1853|publisher=R. Folthorp}}</ref>

==Family== Sortain married Bridget Margaret, daughter of Sir Patrick Macgregor, 1st Baronet.<ref>[http://www.thepeerage.com/p50421.htm#i504205 thepeerage.com, ''Bridget Margaret Macgregor''.]</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YadJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA270|year=1833|publisher=E. Cave|page=270}}</ref> She published ''Memorials of the Rev. Joseph Sortain'' in 1861.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bridget Margaret Sortain|title=Memorials of the Rev. Joseph Sortain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjUBAAAAQAAJ|year=1861}}</ref>

His brother was Dr James Cornish Sortain M.D., a well known planter in Batticaloa, Ceylon, medical physician and philanthropist.<ref name="Bio">{{cite web|url=https://search.fibis.org/bin/aps_detail.php?id=1426627|website=Families in British India Society|title=Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon by J. Penry Lewis, C.M.G|pages=257}}</ref> He was intimately connected with the first systematic cultivation of the coconuts on the island in the early 1840s. This took place 5 miles from the town of Batticaloa, beside the lake. The {{convert|640|acre}} estate was known as Tannamunai. After Sortain's death, ownership passed to his wife, Eleanor Burleigh Atherton, eldest daughter of Robert Atherton.

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Benjamin Samuel Hollis (1861), ''Sortain of Brighton; a Review of His Life and Ministry''

==External links== *[http://www.recoveredhistories.org/pamphlet1.php?page=1&orderby=MaxID&catid=396 ''A Lecture introductory to the Study of Philosophy'', online text.]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sortain, Joseph}} Category:1809 births Category:1860 deaths Category:English Methodists Category:English male novelists Category:19th-century English novelists Category:19th-century British male writers