John Newton

Lived

1725–1807

Era

Modern

Where

England

Tradition

Anglican

Amazing Grace, written by a former slave trader

A press-ganged sailor who became captain of a slave ship, made three voyages in that trade after his conversion, left the sea after a stroke, and became an Anglican curate at Olney and later a London rector.

Why it matters

It took him more than thirty years to write against the trade, and when he did — Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade in 1788 — he wrote as a witness, describing what he had done, and gave evidence to the Privy Council. He mentored Wilberforce and talked him out of leaving politics for the church. Amazing Grace is his, from a parish hymn written with William Cowper, and the wretch in the first line is not a figure of speech.

All the figures, from the apostolic age to the present, or the timeline they stand in.