Robert Cleaver Chapman

Robert Cleaver Chapman (4 January 1803 – 12 June 1902), known as the "apostle of Love", was a pastor, teacher and evangelist.

Early days

Chapman was born in Helsingor, Denmark, in a wealthy Anglican merchant family from Whitby, Yorkshire.

Robert was educated by his mother whilst the family was in Denmark and later at a boarding school in Yorkshire, after the return of the family to England.

At the age of 15 Robert moved to London to work as an apprentice clerk in the legal profession.

Legal career

Robert completed his 5-year apprenticeship and became an attorney in 1823. In the same year he became a Christian after listening to the gospel preached by James Harington Evans in a nonconformist chapel in London. He prospered in his career and also spiritually and spent most of his spare time visiting and helping the poor of London.

His dedication to the poor made a great impression on his cousin's husband, a Mr. Pugsley, from Barnstaple, Devon, so much so that Pugsley, another lawyer, also became a Christian and began working with the poor in Barnstaple.

In 1831 Robert visited Barnstaple on a holiday and helped out in preaching and other Christian work in the vicinity. On returning to London he became convinced that he was being called into full-time Christian work; he also increasingly felt that some aspects of his legal work sat uncomfortably with his faith.

In 1832 he was invited by the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Barnstaple to be their pastor. In April 1832 he left the legal profession and moved to Barnstaple to become a pastor.