JAMES HINTON was the son of the well-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Howard Hinton, and Eliza Birt, his wife. He was born at Reading in 1822, and was the third of a family of eleven children. On his father's side, he sprang from the same stock as the Taylors of Ongar, Mr. Howard Hinton's mother being Ann Taylor, daughter of Josiah Taylor, the engraver, and aunt to Isaac Taylor, the well-known author of the "History of Enthusiasm," and his sisters Ann and Jane Taylor.
At the time of his birth, his father was already known as a powerful preacher, as the not altogether orthodox exponent of a more moderate Calvinism than was then in vogue among Baptists, and as a man of great energy of character. Indeed, he bore the strong Taylor stamp of individuality, which made him a leader in his own denomination, both in thought and in active philanthropy.
He owed his name to the philanthropist John Howard, who was an intimate friend of Josiah Taylor, the grandfather, and who, just before starting for Russia, whence