Life of a Pioneer: Being the Autobiography of James S. Brown

by James S. Brown

We found Nottingham a very different place to Liverpool and Birmingham. The town and adjacent country were not so smoky and unhealthful. The town had about one hundred and eighty thousand inhabitants, and was the center of the silk and cotton lace and hosiery industries.

On Sunday, August 12th, Elders A. M. Lyman and N. V. Jones (who had come from Liverpool) and I preached to the Saints; on the 13th J. C. Rich and I went to visit G. Wright, at the request of his niece who lived in Utah; his home was at Fisherton, on the river Trent, and after an unwelcome greeting there we returned to Nottingham. Next day we went to Mansfield with Elder James Payne, passing through the place where Robin Hood roamed. That evening we preached to the Saints, then spent the next two days preaching in different villages. At Pixton, on the 16th, we visited a coal pit.

Leicester, the county seat of Leicestershire, and center of the boot and shoe trade, was our destination on August 19th. We preached there that night, and on Monday visited the museum. The rest of the week we spent in visiting and preaching in several villages, then returned to Nottingham. At Loughborough, on the 22nd, our meeting was disturbed by several rude young men, who laughed and asked questions in an offensive manner. A stone was hurled through the window at me, while I was preaching. It passed just in front of me, but no one was hit. The meeting was dismissed in confusion.

On the 26th, we went to Derby for a couple of days. My health continued to be very poor during this period of my travels. Burton-on-Trent, a place noted for the brewing of malt liquors, was visited on the 28th, and that night I preached at Branston, then stayed at the house of a chimney-sweep named Doman. He had been in the Church nineteen years. Next day we preached in the pottery district, then returned to Derby, where, on the 31st, we went through Fox & Company's shot factory, going to the top of the tower, two hundred and twenty steps. That evening we went to a theatre.

During the first part of September, I traveled and preached, visiting Nottingham, Derby, Belper and several adjacent villages. I attended the Derby races on the 6th; there were about twenty thousand people in attendance. On the 12th, I left Nottingham for London in company with Brothers J. C. Rich and Blackburn, and Sister Cook and daughter, going via the Midland railway. From St. Pancras station we went to Brother John Cook's, at No. 30 Florence Street, Cross Street, Islington, London, where I made my home during my stay in the metropolis. There we met with Elders John Brown, F. M. Lyman, and John Gleason.

I remained in London and vicinity until October 3rd. During our stay at the national capital we visited many interesting places, among them being the tunnel under the Thames, which is reached by a flight of one hundred steps, is four hundred yards from end to end, and while we were passing through there were some fifteen to twenty ships lying above it, and steamboats passing over it up and down the river. We visited the British hospitals for invalided soldiers and sailors, and went from there to Greenwich, whence is measured longitude east and west, and where we also saw the standard weights and measures of Great Britain.

The British Museum; the King's Library; Westminster Abbey, where Great Britain's rulers are anointed and crowned by the archbishops of the Church of England; the Parliament buildings, wherein are the House of Lords and House of Commons, with the throne and the woolsack; Buckingham Palace, the city residence of Queen Victoria; St. Paul's Cathedral, which was undergoing repairs; National Gallery; Cattle Market; Zoological Gardens, with the giraffe, the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros and all manner of beasts and birds; South Kensington Museum; Hyde Park; White Tower of London, where are the block and ax used in beheading Queen Anne Boleyn and Mary, Queen of Scots, also the royal regalia, and much other material of historic value; London Bridge, with its vast traffic; Crystal Palace with its tower four hundred and twelve steps to the top, from which can be seen six counties of England; Anatomical Museum; Madame Tussaud's Bazar; the Dockyards, and the rich residence portion of London, all were visited by us, and were very interesting and entertaining.

On September 13th we attended a tea party of the Saints near King's Cross station. Several times I preached to congregations, both on the Surrey side of the Thames, and on the north side. On the 14th, Elders A. M. Lyman and N. V. Jones came from Scotland to London. I received a letter from home on the 25th, Tuesday, bringing the sad intelligence of the death of Deseret Ann, my second daughter, also of the birth to her mother, my wife Rebecca, of a daughter. I wrote an answer to that letter the same day. During the time I was in London I had a severe cold and my health was far from good. I returned to Nottingham on October 3rd, via the Great Northern railway, and resumed my missionary labors in that conference.

CHAPTER LVII.

AGAIN AT MISSIONARY LABORS—BAPTISMS—BECOME QUITE ILL—APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE NOTTINGHAM DISTRICT, EMBRACING THREE CONFERENCES—VISITED BY APOSTLES A. M. LYMAN, C. C. RICH AND OTHERS—SETTLING DIFFERENCES AMONG CHURCH MEMBERS—ATTEND A PHRENOLOGICAL LECTURE—GET A CHART—GO TO LIVERPOOL—IN CONFERENCE AT NOTTINGHAM—MY PASTORATE ENLARGED—WITNESS A MILITARY REVIEW—MORE BAPTISMS—VISIT SHEFFIELD—FIXING MY NAME—POVERTY IN NOTTINGHAM—INVITED TO TAKE A TRIP TO PARIS—GO TO LONDON—HAVE TO GIVE UP THE VISIT TO FRANCE—IN POOR HEALTH—RETURN TO NOTTINGHAM—SEE PROFESSOR BLONDIN.