We may never know for sure what first inspired Richard Brothers to declare himself "Prince of the Hebrews" but his strange career as a prophet, and the followers who believed in him, make for quite a story.
He was born in Placentia, Newfoundland in 1757 (on Christmas Day of course) and his father, an English soldier stationed there during the Seven Years' War, arranged for his son to be educated in England. After graduating from the naval school at Woolwich, Brothers embarked on a naval career and was promoted to Lieutenant before retiring in 1783. Serving in the merchant marines, he traveled across Europe before settling down and marrying in 1786. The marriage didn't last long and they quickly separated when he learned about his wife's infidelity. Whether it was due to his marital breakdown or growing religious fervour, Richard Brothers began to question whether his oath of loyalty to the British government was consistent with his religious beliefs. This refusal to swear the oath cost him his military pension.
During this same period, he began an intense reading of the Bible as well as various other religious works (including the mystical writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg). Losing his pension meant that he had no money to pay his rent and he was forced into a workhouse to support himself (this was mandatory due to the UK's Poor Law system). For whatever reason, Brothers began to experience religious visions during the six months he spent in the workhouse, most of them focusing on the role that the British people would play in the reclaiming of Palestine and his own unique role as a prophet. In one of these visions, Brothers heard the voice of an angel proclaiming the fall of London (which the angel called Babylon the Great). After Brothers pleaded with the angel for mercy towards the city, God reportedly agreed to spare London for a time. Brothers also reported that a "heavenly lady" would eventually descend from Heaven to shower him with the love and happiness that his religious views convinced him he deserved.
By 1782, Richard Brothers had a new mission. In addition to being a prophet of the Lord, he also had the gift of healing. Although large crowds dutifully gathered, his spiritual gifts were never all that spectacular and his "miracles" tended not to impress too many skeptics. For that reason, the doubters were hardly convinced when Brothers announced that he had been chosen as an apostle of a new religion. As the new Prince of the Hebrews, it was Brothers' responsibility to lead the Jews back to Palestine and reclaim God's kingdom. As a descendant of the House of David and "Nephew of the Almighty", it was Brothers who would identify the "hidden Jews" among the people of England ignorant of their true heritage. Armed with a rod of rosewood that he had carved himself, the new Prince announced that he would use it to work miracles much as Moses had done before.
A pamphlet that Brothers published in 1794 was titled, A REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHECIES AND TIMES, Book the First, wrote [sic] under the direction of the LORD GOD and published by His Sacred Command, it being the first sign of Warning for the benefit of All Nations; Containing with other great and remarkable things not revealed to any other Person on Earth, the Restoration of the Hebrews to Jerusalem by the year of 1798 under their revealed Prince and Prophet (i.e., Richard Brothers). In his work, Brothers declared that the people of Western Europe (and especially the British people) were the descendants of the ten Lost Tribes of Israel and that the "hidden Jews" of England would be part of the new Kingdom of God on Earth. While he wasn't the only prophet preaching the notion of Anglo-Israelism, Brothers was definitely the most flamboyant. He actually attracted a quite a following for a while, including prominent clergymen, politicians, and writers.
Richard Brothers' crusade was sabotaged by his own lack of good judgment. Not only did he prophesy the death of King George III, he also denounced the war against France as "many men fighting against the Spirit of God". After declaring that "God will break the Empire in pieces" due to British colonialism, Richard Brothers was charged with "fond and fantastical prophecies". He was quickly declared to be criminally insane in 1795 but the intervention of one of his disciples (who also happened to be a member of Parliament) led to his being sent to a private asylum in Islington instead of Bedlam. Brothers kept on writing pamphlets and made numerous predictions relating to world events. He also spent the last thirty years of his life designing palaces, government buildings, and uniforms for the New Jerusalem that would arise after he was revealed as Prince of the Hebrews and Ruler of the World on November 19, 1795. Suffice it to say, this particular prophecy didn't pan out.
In writing about his imprisonment in the asylum, Brothers wrote, ""No man must be deemed insane who is inoffensive in his actions, and is civil in his actions, and is civil in his language, who is able to work at any kind of employment for a livelihood, to receive or give instructions, or to take proper care of himself. All men are not born with the same faculties for learning, teaching, inventing or executing; and wisely has God ordered it so, to make the diversity of properties in the mind appear, by the greater variety of ways and improvements for the general good of all." The fact that he and his followers were considered to be lunatics weighed heavily on him but he never recanted his crusade.
Richard Brothers was finally released from the asylum in 1806 but his followers had largely abandoned him by then. He died in the home of his last follower, John Finlayson in 1824. Even after Brothers' death, Finlayson continued writing pamphlets and manifestos describing the new Christian kingdom and generally trying to keep Brothers' crusade going. Despite Finlayson's efforts, Richard Brothers was quickly forgotten although other prophets with a similar message developed followings of their own.
We'll turn to one of them in the next installment...
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