Binney was born of
Presbyterian parents at
Newcastle upon Tyne in 1798, and educated at an ordinary day school. He spent seven years in the employment of
George Angus, bookseller and printer of The Side, Newcastle. A fellow apprentice,
Robert Emery wrote his song about "The Great Frost on the River Tyne" which had caused the
River Tyne to freeze over during January and February 1814; Binney is credited by
Thomas Allan, in his
Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings with finishing off the song. After his time with the bookseller, he entered the
theological school of
Wymondley College, Hertfordshire. In 1829, after short pastorates at
Bedford (New Meeting) and
Newport, Isle of Wight, he accepted a call to the historic
King's Weigh House Chapel, London in succession to the elder
John Clayton. Here he became very popular, and it was found necessary to build a much larger chapel on Fish Street Hill, to which the congregation removed. Its eminent members included
Samuel Morley MP as well as
William Hone and members of his family. Binney laid the foundation stone of the new chapel himself, in 1834. An address delivered on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone, published with an appendix containing a strong attack on the influence of the
Church of England, gave rise to a long and bitter controversy. Throughout his career Binney was a vigorous opponent of the state church principle, though he maintained friendly relations with many of the dignitaries of the Established Church. From 1865 to 1869,
Llewelyn David Bevan assisted Binney at the King's Weigh House. , 2006 His liberality of view and breadth of ecclesiastical sympathy entitle him to rank, on questions of
Nonconformity, among the most distinguished of the school of
Richard Baxter. Indeed, he became known as "the Archbishop of Nonconformity". Binney was an active member of the
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, formed in 1839. A painting at the
National Portrait Gallery in London,
The Anti-slavery Convention, 1840, depicts many of the key participants of the first
World Anti-Slavery Convention, with
Thomas Clarkson introducing the event chaired by Binney. In 1853, when the African-American abolitionist
Samuel Ringgold Ward came to Britain to raise funds for the
Anti-slavery Society of Canada, a time when there was a vast influx of escaped slaves from the United States seeking refuge in the British colony, he brought letters of introduction to Binney, planning to seek help initially from fellow Congregationalists in London such as Binney,
James Sherman and Josiah Conder. Binney later became the biographer of
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a leading parliamentary
abolitionist. He continued to discharge the duties of the ministry until 1869, when he resigned. In 1845 he paid a visit to Canada and the United States, and in 1857–1859 to the Australian colonies. The
University of Aberdeen conferred the LL.D. degree on him in 1852, and he was twice chairman of the
Congregational Union of England and Wales. Binney pioneered changes to the forms of service in Nonconformist churches, and gave a special impulse to congregational psalmody by the publication of a book entitled
The Service of Song in the House of the Lord. Of numerous other works the best-known is his
Is it Possible to Make the Best of Both Worlds?, an expansion of a lecture delivered to young men in Exeter Hall, which attained a circulation of 30,000 copies within a year of its publication. He wrote much devotional verse, including the well-known hymn "Eternal Light! Eternal Light!" Binney preached his last sermon in November 1873. After some months of suffering, he died on 24 February 1874.
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley assisted at his funeral service in
Abney Park Cemetery,
Stoke Newington, London, where his monument, a tall pink granite obelisk, can still be seen near to that of
William Booth, close to Church Street. ==Books==