British Israelism - Support

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A research paper, published in 2002 on the British-Israel movement has noted:

...The British-Israel movement crossed denominational lines but was predominantly Anglican but despite an anchor in the Church of England, British-Israel appealed across multi-denominational Protestantism. The key to this was its literal interpretation of the Old Testament in stressing its identity with the British Empire, as opposed to divisive spiritual interpretations.

William Bennett Bond, Primate (bishop) of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1904 to 1906, was a British Israelite.

Jonathan Holt Titcomb, the first Anglican Bishop of Rangoon in the 19th century, published several works on his belief in British Israelism. One of his works was republished in 1928 by Covenant Publishing as "British-Israel: How I Came to Believe It", Titcomb believed that during the End Times the two Houses (Judah and Israel) would be reunited, and that the Teutonic or Celtic peoples were Israel:

...we should have a representation of the Teutonic and Keltic races, or, at least, a large portion of them, lying in Britain, Gaul, Germany, Denmark, and Scandinavia, waiting to be collected into one nationalized mass."

Samuel Thornton was an eminent Anglican bishop of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia who wrote:

......British-Israel truth is most wonderful. I wish I had known it twenty-five years earlier. It makes clear so many things that had been obscure.

William H. Poole, a Methodist minister, published Anglo-Israel or the Saxon Race?: Proved to be the Lost Tribes of Israel (1899).

J. H. Allen of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, who later founded the Church of God (Holiness) wrote Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright (1902), which is still today considered a 'classic' text by modern British Israelites.

The prominent English barrister, King's Counsel and Methodist minister Richard Reader Harris (KC) in 1908 wrote his book The Lost Tribes of Israel, which expressed his belief in the theory that the Anglo-Saxons are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes:

... Such then are the Scriptures that appear to me to furnish strong evidence in favour of the contention of those who believe that in the Anglo-Saxon race God possesses today the descendants of the house of Israel. If this be true, it adds tremendously to our responsibilities, and opens before us in a way that no human tongue can describe, spiritual possibilities, temporal possibilities, national possibilities, and universal possibilities.

Robert Bradford, a Methodist clergymen, who served as an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament from 1974–1981, was a British Israelite.

William Pascoe Goard who in 1921 become Vice-President of the British-Israel-World Federation was a Methodist minister.

Famous Baptists who believed in British Israelism include Mordecai Ham (1877–1961). Ham gave a speech at the Seventh Annual Conference of the British-Israel-World Federation on October 4, 1926. His speech was recorded and published in 1954 and as of 2002 continues to be reprinted in booklet form by British Israelites.

Revd T. R. Howlett B.A. minister of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington D.C was a British Israelite who wrote Anglo-Israel, the Jewish Problem: The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel Found and identified in the Anglo-Saxon Race (1896).

English Fundamentalist Independent Baptist Rev. James Mountain authored British Israel Truth Defended (1926) and The Triumph of British-Israel (1930) both of which have been republished apart of Covenant Publishing's "classic" series in 2004.

Martin Lyman Streator (1843–1926) one of the early founders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1900 published Anglo-American Alliance in Prophecy, which is considered one of the earliest key publications of British Israelism in America.

Pentecostalism has a long history with British Israelism. Many early founders of pentecostalism were British Israelites including Charles Fox Parham.

George Jeffreys (pastor) who founded the Elim Pentecostal Church was a British Israelite.

Christian Revival Crusade (CRC Churches International) a Pentecostal Protestant Christian denomination based in Australia, which was founded by Leo Cecil Harris in 1945 originally subscribed to British Israelism.

Frank Sandford (1862–1948) was a British Israelite.

Faith healer John Alexander Dowie who founded the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church believed in British Israelism. Covenant Publishing sell a 34 page booklet entitled "Leaves of Healing" which quotes Dowie's identification of Britain with Israel from his miscellaneous writings.

The famous faith healer and author of Christ the Healer F. F. Bosworth in 1920 broadcast a radio lecture entitled The Bible Distinction Between the House of Israel and the House of Judah which promoted his views on British Israelism and Two House Theology.

Several atheists from the 19th century embraced the identification of Britain with the Ten lost tribes but rejected the religious or Christian aspect of standard British Israelism.

Allan Abraham Beauchamp (April 17, 1874 - December 30, 1944) was one of the foremost publishers in the United States of books on British Israelism. He converted to Christian Science sometime before Mary Baker Eddy's death in 1910. His conversion to Christian Science was due to the complex interaction between Christian Scientists and advocates of British-Istaelism which had begun in Eddy's lifetime. Beauchamp was active as a book dealer in New York City (Manhattan) between 1900–1912, specializing in rare books, manuscripts, and ephemera having to do with Christian Science. About 1913 he moved to Winchester, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston), and established a bookstore (Copley Square Book Shop) and publishing house (A. A. Beauchamp) at 603 Boylston Street on Copley Square in Boston. This address would remain the headquarters of his British-Israel-related publishing business for the next 32 years - until his death in 1944. Within a few years after starting his publishing house, he began publishing a popular British-Israel magazine titled The Watchman of Israel.

Julia Field-King (born August 27, 1840), an American Christian Scientist from Iowa who was a friend and student of Eddy, sailed to England in 1896, under Eddy's orders, to study British Israelism. Prior to her 1896 trip to England, Field-King had been greatly impressed by the writings of Anglo-Israelism proponent C. A. L. Totten. Totten engaged in a genealogical exercise, attempting to prove the Davidic ancestry of the British royal family. Field-King engaged in extensive research trying to prove Totten's thesis; she went even further, and tried to prove that Mary Baker Eddy herself was a descendant of King David. Mrs Eddy came to be a believer in British Israelism. It held a special attraction for her, as she felt that British Israelism was a belief that might give a boost to the Christian Science movement in England. In 1898, Mary Baker Eddy wrote a poem titled “The United States To Great Britain” In this poem, Mrs. Eddy refers to the United States and Great Britain as "Anglo-Israel," and our "brother," Great Britain, as "Judah's sceptred race".

In a letter in 1902 to Julia Field-King regarding a work tracing the lineage of Queen Victoria back to King David, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "Your work, The Royal House of Britain an Enduring Dynasty, is indeed masterful: one of the most remarkable Biblical researches in that direction ever accomplished. Its data and the logic of its events sustain its authenticity, and its grandeur sparkles in the words, 'King Jesus.'" In the words of Jeremiah, quoted in the book: "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the House of Israel." (Jer. 33:17) Mrs. Eddy states: "Christian Science ... restores the lost Israel." In many of Mary Baker Eddy's writings, she addressed the Israelites as Christian Scientists. Until her death, Mary Baker Eddy continued to keep an interest in British Israelism.

Early members of the Church of Christ Scientist Mother Church accepted the Anglo-Israel message of Mrs Eddy. However, after Mrs. Eddy’s death in 1910, the Mother Church denied belief in anything having to do with British Israelism, and any Christian Scientists in the Mother Church who supported British Israelism were excommunicated. Nevertheless, after Eddy's death many Christian Scientists remained adherents of British Israelism.

Because the Mother Church no longer wanted to teach British Israelism, a number of offshoot Christian Science churches and groups were set up to continue teaching British Israelism. One notable example, the Christian Science Parent Church, was organised in 1912 by an English Christian Scientist named Annie Cecilia (Bulmer) Bill (December 1859 - July 1, 1936). Bill became convinced that she was the true spiritual successor of Mary Baker Eddy. Bill moved to the United States after World War I, and in 1924 she established the American branch of the Christian Science Parent Church. As soon as Annie Bill set up the Christian Science Parent Church, many Christian Scientists left the Mother Church to join it. Annie Bill believed the Mother Church was no longer teaching Christian Science the way it should be taught. Her book The Universal Design of Life (1924) acknowledged Mary Baker Eddy's authority. The Christian Science Parent Church taught a mixture of Eddy’s Christian Science combined with Annie Bill’s teachings on British Israelism and spirituality. Initially, the Christian Science Parent Church had high respect for Mrs Eddy. Members would read both Eddy's textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and Bill's textbook The Universal Design of Life. Members of the Christian Science Parent Church believed that the English-speaking peoples are the lost tribes of Israel and are in Bible prophecy.

Another Christian Scientist who was a firm believer in British Israelism was John Valentine Dittemore (1876–1937), who joined Bill's Christian Science Parent Church. Dittemore was a well-known contributor to A. A. Beauchamp's British-Israel magazine The Watchman of Israel. Dittemore corresponded with Beauchamp, and told him that Annie Bill's doctrines were correct. Later, Beauchamp joined the Christian Science Parent Church. Beauchamp’s magazine, published on behalf of British-Israelism, became the magazine of the Christian Science Parent Church, and British-Israelism became the central perspective promoted by Bill. The Christian Science Parent Church had a messianic view of history: The English-speaking peoples are the lost Israel, and Bible prophecies proclaim that the English-speaking peoples will bring about spiritual perfection on Earth. Annie Bill believed the northern and western European peoples, and the North American peoples, are the descendants of the ten ancient tribes of Israel, and that these particular people are destined to lead the world, spiritually, to the millennial dispensation. A number of members of the Christian Science Parent Church also came to believe in pyramidology, the idea that the measurements and geometric design of the Great Pyramid in Egypt had religious and prophetic significance.

The vigorous efforts of Beauchamp and Dittemore to promote British-Israelism resulted in dramatically increasing the membership of the Christian Science Parent Church. Many of these new church members were independent believers in British-Israelism, who had never been members of an organized body of believers in British-Israelism prior to joining the church. Many subscribers to Beauchamp's The Watchman of Israel became full-time Christian Scientists. The Census of Religious Bodies reported that in 1926 the Christian Science Parent Church had 29 congregations, with 582 members in the United States. By 1928 there were over 44 congregations in Great Britain, Australia and Canada, and by 1930 there were 88 congregations and over 1200 members.

In the late 1920s Annie Bill denounced Mary Baker Eddy’s writings. Bill's new textbook The Science of Reality replaced her old textbook The Universal Design of Life, which had acknowledged Eddy’s authority. Bill changed the name of the Christian Science Parent Church to the Church of Universal Design, and continued to lead the church up until her death in 1936. In 1924 Beauchamp left the Christian Science Parent Church and pursued other interests, but he rejoined the church (under its new name the Church of Integration) in the 1940s.

After Annie Bill's death, a new leader named Francis John Mott (April 13, 1901 - December 1980) took over her church, continuing the propagation of the British-Israel message and the work of Annie Bill. In 1937 Mott changed the name of the church from the Church of Universal Design to The Society of Life. Later he changed the name of the church again, this time to the Church of Integration. A. A. Beauchamp’s British-Israel magazine The Watchman of Israel was retitled The Universal Design, A Journal of Applied Metaphysics. Mott initially made his views known in several books published by A. A. Beauchamp. The British branch of the Church of Integration was destroyed in the chaos of World War II. In America the Church of Integration survived, and briefly revived after the war. Beginning in 1946, a new magazine titled Integration was issued from the Church of Integration's headquarters in Washington, D.C.. Eventually, however, the Church of Integration - which was never numerically strong - dissolved.

At least one follower of Annie Bill who opposed Mott's leadership, Mary Sayles Atkins (1879–1966), continued to write, under her pen name, Mary Sayles Moore, about Bill and during the 1950s published several volumes with A. A. Beauchamp, who had left the Church of Integration in the 1940s. Her most important volume was Conquest of Chaos, which reviewed Bill's career and the rise of Mott.

Mary Hawley (Beecher) Longyear (1851–1931), the founder of the Longyear Museum was a British Israel proponent. Mrs. Longyear and her husband John Munroe Longyear (1850–1922) were very helpful to Eddy and the early Christian Science church in providing the funds to purchase land for the church and for the Christian Science Benevolent Association in Chestnut Hill. Mrs. Longyear was a pioneer in the field of historic preservation. She searched the back roads of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to locate and purchase four houses in which Eddy once lived. She had portraits painted of Mrs. Eddy and Mrs. Eddy's early students and had reminiscences written by many of those who knew her. For over three-quarters of a century, the Longyear Museum has provided exhibits and resources about the life and achievements of Mary Baker Eddy. The Museum moved into its new building in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

The Christian Science Endtime Center founded in 1996 by Stanley C. Larkin is the only active Christian Science organisation which supports Mary Baker Eddy's Anglo-Israel studies.