Our History
Who was John Pounds?
John Pounds was born in Portsmouth on 17th June 1766. His father was a sawyer in the royal dockyard and when John was twelve years old he arranged for him to be apprenticed as a shipwright. Three years later John fell into a dry dock and was crippled for life.
Following his accident John was unable to work as a shipwright and became a shoemaker, by 1803 he had his own shop in St. Mary Street, Portsmouth. While working in the shop, John began teaching local children to read. His reputation as a teacher grew and he soon had over 40 pupils attending his lessons. Unlike other schools, John did not charge a fee for teaching the poor of Portsmouth. As well as reading and arithmetic, John gave lessons in cooking, carpentry and shoemaking. John Pounds died in 1839.
After his death, Thomas Guthrie wrote Plea for Ragged Schools and proclaimed John Pounds as his inspiration. Guthrie started a ragged school in Edinburgh and Sheriff Watson established another in Aberdeen. Lord Shaftesbury formed the Ragged School Union in 1844 and, over the next eight years, over 200 free schools for poor children were established in Britain.
What is the John Pounds Church?
John Pounds Church is the home of Portsmouth Unitarians. There has been a place of worship on the site in Old Portsmouth’s High Street since 1662 when a Presbyterian chapel was founded by Benjamin Burgess, who fell out of grace with St Thomas’s Church (now Portsmouth Cathedral). The High Street Presbyterian Chapel (now known as John Pounds Church) subsequently became united with St Thomas’s Street Baptist Chapel founded in 1640. By the early 19th century the High Street Chapel had fallen into disrepair and was subsequently acquired for Unitarian worship.
John Pounds, the famous Portsmouth cobbler whose efforts to offer education, food, and clothing to poor children from his tiny workshop, worshipped in the High Street Chapel and his remains are buried in the churchyard. Both chapels were destroyed by enemy action in one of the most devastating raids on Portsmouth during WWII; the night of 10th/11th January 1941 when 300 raiders dropped 25,000 incendiary bombs on the city.
The foundation stone of the current John Pounds Church was laid by Adrian Cedric Boult on 24th September 1955 and the building was opened for worship a year later. A replica of John Pounds workshop has been erected in the church garden.