Richard Brothers

Richard Brothers initiated what might be considered a religious movement of his own, believing that he had been divinely inspired, and that he was the nephew of God, descendent from King David, through James who was reputedly the brother of Christ.

This one sentence contains the whole philosophy behind what Richard Brothers felt his mission in life to be. He believed that he had been divinely inspired to lead the Hebrews to a position of power over all the others races of the world.

Born at Placentia, on December 25, 1757, Richard Brothers came from a family of four boys. He spent the early years of his life fishing with his father, a former gunner in the Royal British Navy, but at fourteen, feeling drawn towards a life at sea, he signed on as midshipman on the vessel "Ocean", a sixty-four gun ship. From the "Ocean" he transferred to the "Union" and then in 1781, to the "St. Alban's" on which he achieved post of Lieutenant with Seniority on January 3, 1783. On July 28 of the same year he was honorably discharged.

Like many men of his class and interests, Brothers travelled about the continent. He also seems to have married, but the union did not last very long perhaps only about two months. By 1787 he was settled in a set of London rooms, with a landlady who was very fond of him (few who knew him realized he had written in his diary: "I have always has a presentiment of being sometimes (sic) or the very great.").

Then the oddness started. Brothers reading the Bible, decided one message from Christ's sermon on the mount was that no one should swear fidelity to and earthly institution. He also began having visions, of a peculiar and vivid kind. In the most famous, "Satan (was) walking leisurely into London, in face had a smile, but under it his looks were sly, crafty, and deceitful. On the right side of his forehead were seven dark spots, and he was dressed in white and scarlet robes.

Whatever the origin of these visions, they left Brothers sick and exhausted. Once after he had "lain on his face" not moving for three days, his worried landlady called for the authorities. Brothers hadn't paid his rent in months, and that didn't bother her, but she feared he was truly ill. She begged the officials to treat him gently as they carted Brothers off to a workhouse.

Brothers spent six months there, and found his sentence relatively benign. He had his own room, which he kept very neat, and he began the first of the writings that would soon become best sellers on both sides of the Atlantic.

"The Revealed knowledge of the Prophecies and Times" began as a pamphlet and evolved into a book that would go through dozens of printings. Brothers' visions and biblical interpretations foretold much apocalyptic doom and gloom. In this he was like any millenarist, those "end-is-nigh" fortune tellers who seem to crop up like dandelions at the end of each century. Their teachings usually combine worldly destruction with terrestrial salvation.

But Brother would not have become so well known if he was simply parroting the screeches of fellow doomsayers. His own prophecies were often highly political. Brothers was an ardent supporter of the French revolution. He believed all monarchies would fall before the 19^th century. He foretold the death of France Louis XIV- which anyone could have done, really - and King Gustav of Sweden. Several times he announced that God had wanted to do away with the Royal Family, but had spared them as a personal favor to Brothers.

King George III was not amused.

By 1792, Brothers was beginning to attract some followers, but he was still living on credit and once again found himself prosecuted for his debts. This time he ended up in Newgate Prison, where conditions were terrible. Brothers lived in a room where many people died of exhaustion and starvation. Therefore it was part of his teachings that no one should be imprisoned for their debts.

Released from Newgate, Brothers attracted disciples. These included a lawyer named John Finlayson, an army captain named Hanclett, and most remarkably Nathnaiel Halhed.

Now Brothers began to preach his most fervently held idea- a concept that would make its way into Williams Blakes's poetry and indeed still has pockets of believers in England today. Brothers said England was the New Isreal, the lost tribe that would be found just before the end of the world.- He said many Englishmen were "hidden Jews," including Prime Minister William Pitt, whom Brothers greatly admired at the time. He said it was time for these hidden Jews to gather together in Palestine, in preparation for the second coming.

And he said that he Brothers was the prince of the Hebrews.

This theory is now known as "philosemitism".

Through the printing and distribution of pamphlets, Brothers' views soon became widespread. London then was a city under great stress. Recent harvests had been terrible and food was very expensive. England's war with the French was draining the treasury. Pitt was deeply unpopular while the charismatic opposition leader, Charles Fox, was proposing structure. Even the weather was bad.

Fox, Pitt and George III himself were well aware of Brothers and his followers. Not only did Brothers regularly write to them, Halhed spoke about him in the House of Commons, But, largely, they ignored him (causing Brothers to remove Pitt's name from his list of those who would be saved . He kept the Royal Family on though). Millenarists were clogging up the parlors all over London, predicting this, that and the other. It was only Brothers' antimonarchism that kept him somewhat apart form the crowd.

Then Brothers made a prediction; London would be destroyed on June 4, 1795 (the King's official birthday). King George III would hand his crown over to Brothers. Brothers and his followers would then make their triumphant way to Palestine, where Brothers would rule until the Coming of Christ. He even had a flag designed.

Brothers was arrested, charged with treason and sent to a madhouse.

No earthquakes occurred, although England's weather that year continued to be unusally vicious.

Brothers would stay in the asylum until Pitt died in 1806. The label of traitor was erased, but George III made sure Brothers was offically classified as a lunatinc. Some followers, notably Finlayson, were waiting for him though most had absconded to such johnny-come latley prophets as Joanna Southcott.

Brothers' continued to make elaborate preparations for his new land, designing palaces and scripting policies. His last words, to the ever faithful Finlayson, were "Are your hammer and sword ready?"

He was buried in a pauper's grave in St. John's churchyard. Today he lies under a children's playground.