Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pearce, Samuel

by James Cuthbert Hadden

PEARCE, SAMUEL (1766–1799), hymn-writer, the son of a silversmith, was born at Plymouth, Devonshire, on 20 July 1766. He studied at the Baptist College, Bristol, and in 1790 was appointed minister of Cannon Street Baptist Church, Birmingham. There he laboured successfully till his death on 10 Oct. 1799. He was one of the twelve ministers who, on 2 Oct. 1792, signed the resolutions founding the Baptist Missionary Society. In his ‘Memoirs,’ edited by A. Fuller, London, 1800, there are eleven poetical pieces, some of which have been included in nonconformist hymnals.

[Memoirs by Fuller as above; Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology.]

J. C. H.