Robert Forman Horton


Robert Forman Horton, British Nonconformist divine, was born in London.

Early life and education

Horton was educated at Shrewsbury School and New College, Oxford, where he was awarded a First in classics. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1877. He became a fellow of his college in 1879, and lectured on history for four years. He was the first non-Anglican to have a teaching position at the Oxford University since the Reformation.

Church role

In 1880 Horton accepted an invitation to become pastor of the Lyndhurst Road Congregational Church, Hampstead, and subsequently took a very prominent part in church and denominational work. This included establishing a mission hall for the Hampstead church in Kentish Town, known as Lyndhurst Hall.
Horton delivered the Lyman Beecher lectures at Yale University in 1893. In 1898 he was chairman of the London Congregational Union, and in 1903 he was chair of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. In 1909 he took a prominent part in the 75th anniversary celebration of Hartford Theological Seminary.
His numerous publications spanned theological, critical, historical, biographical and devotional subjects.

Personal life

Author Mary Beaumont was lifelong friends with Horton. Beaumont and her husband lived with Horton from 1902 until Beaumont's death in 1910.

Selected works