Richard Brothers

Richard Brothers (1757—1824) was a self-styled prophet born in Placentia, Newfoundland. As a boy, Brothers was sent to Woolwich where he was schooled. In the year 1772 he enlisted in the royal navy as a midshipman of the vessel Ocean. In 1778 he would serve under Admiral Augustus Keppel and take part in the engagement with the French off the coast of Ushant. In 1781 he was transferred to the Union, and later to the St Albans. He would be discharged in 1783, and began traveling throughout Europe until marrying his wife, Elizabeth Hasall, in 1786. Brothers, having joined the mercantile marine, rejoined his ship soon after the wedding. Upon his return to England a year later, finding his wife living with another man, Brothers promptly moved to London. At this point in his life he would become quite religious and, in 1790, he renounced his pension from the Navy, as he did not believe Christianity agreed with military service. In 1791 he supposedly had several visions concerning the imminent judgment of London by God. He concluded that the city was spared due to his being a prophet and having divine favor. No longer drawing his pension, he was charged with non-payment of rent on two occasions and even spent several weeks in Newgate prison for his crimes. In the next few years he would become more convinced of his prophetic abilities and began to call himself the Prophet of the Hebrews and Nephew of the Almighty. In 1795 his two-volume work, Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times, was funded and published by some of his followers. Some of his prophecies, he claimed, predicted the deaths of Gustavus III and Louis XVI, awarding his work with a wide readership. He was also met with opposition and ridicule despite his growing number of followers, especially after prophesizing the death of the King. This latest vision would earn him the title of traitor and lead to his arrest and eventual committal to an insane asylum. He would continued to write prophetic pamphlets while committed but in the end lost all of his followers after his prophesy of becoming Prince of the Hebrews and Ruler of the world failed to come true in 1795. Brothers would die alone in 1824 in his London home.