Place Name
John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth (October 5, 1751 – February 14, 1834) worked as the Governor-General of Bengal from 1793 to 1798 for the East India Company. He was the first president of the British and Foreign Bible Society and one of the so-called Clapham Sect, whose campaigning resulted in the abolition of slavery. He and the others in the Sect worshipped at the nearby Holy Trinity Church, on Clapham North Side. Born in St James Street, Piccadilly, but brought up in Romford, and later studied at Harrow School. On joining the East India Company he was one of the first to learn a number of the local languages. After a mostly administrative career he was promoted to Governor-General, where his mostly benign leadership was seen as evidence of timidity by those who wanted to expand British influence in India. After resigning from his post, he returned to England and from 1802 to 1808 he lived at Clapham Common South Side. He was elected the first president of the British and Foreign Bible Society on May 14, 1804, and held that office until the end of his life. He took an active part in the various controversies in the Society, and gave his decision in favour of the exclusion of the apocryphal books from all editions of the Bible issued by the society. He died at his house in Portman Square aged 82, and was buried in Marylebone parish church, where a monument was erected to his memory. This is one of a number of streets around Clapham named after Sect members.
