Joseph Ivimey

Joseph Ivimey (1773-1834) was baptized by John Saffery at Wimborne, Dorset, in1790. Ivimey moved from Ringwood to Portsmouth in 1794, supporting himself as a tailor, which he would do until 1803. He married Sarah Bramble, a member of Joseph Horsey’s congregation in Meetinghouse Alley, Portsea, in 1795. He began itinerant preaching in villages surrounding Portsmouth beginning in 1796 before becoming pastor of a congregation at Wallingford in 1803. His first village preaching was performed at Denmead. His greatest ministry, however, was to the Baptist church in Eagle Street, London, from 1805 to 1834, the same church his friend, John Shoveller, attended during his years in London in the 1790s.  Ivimey was instrumental in the founding of the Baptist Union in 1812, serving as secretary the remainder of his life. He also worked with the Baptist Irish Society, Stepney College, the Baptist Magazine, and the BMS. His chief publication was his four-volume History of the English Baptists (London: J. Ivimey, 1811-1830). His third wife was Elizabeth Ivimey (1783-1850), who was active in the affairs of the BMS into the mid-1840s. See J. C. Doggett, “Joseph Ivimey (1773-1834),”  in The British Particular Baptists, ed. Michael A. G. Haykin, 5 vols. (Springfield, MO: Particular Baptist Press, 1998-2019), 3:113-131.