PROUD, JOSEPH

born March 22, 1745, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Eng. died Aug. 3, 1826, Handsworth, near Birmingham, Warwickshire English Swedenborgian minister and hymn writer who possessed considerable gifts as a preacher. The son of a General Baptist minister, Proud served Baptist churches at Knipton, Fleet, and Norwich before in 1788 openly adopting the views of Emanuel Swedenborg. As a minister of the (Swedenborgian) New Church, he gathered large congregations in Birmingham, Manchester, and London. His first volume of 300 hymns appeared in 1790 and was several times reprinted. A small book of hymns for children was published in 1810. Many of his compositions continue to be used in Swedenborgian worship.