Ramsden Balmforth


Ramsden Balmforth was an English-born Unitarian minister and author who spent much of his adult life in South Africa.

Early life

Balmforth was born in Huddersfield, England, in 1861, the son of Nanny and Watts Balmforth. His father was a mechanic and a secularist.
As a young man, Balmforth joined the Fabian Society and became a friend of George Bernard Shaw. In 1886 he published a socialist-themed novel under the pseudonym "Laon Ramsey".
In 1893, he married Agnes Ellam ; the couple had two daughters and one son.
In 1894, he entered Manchester College, Oxford, where he studied theology and became a Unitarian minister. After serving as minister of the Huddersfield Unitarian church, he emigrated to South Africa in 1897.

South African career

Balmforth served as minister of Cape Town's Free Protestant Church from 1897–1937, succeeding David Faure. He published a number of books and articles on theology, politics, pacifism, and literature, and was one of the first clergymen to preach on South African radio.
He died in Cape Town on 31 December 1941.

Selected bibliography