FLETCHER, JOSEPH: English independent; b. at Chester Dec. 3, 1784; d. at Stepney, London, June 8, 1843. He attended the grammar-school at Chester, then studied at Hoxton, and at the University of Glasgow (M.A., 1807; D.D., 1830). He was pastor of the Congregational Church at Blackburn 1807-23, and at the same time (after 1816) tutor in theology at Blackburn College. In 1823 he became pastor at Stepney. He was chairman of the Congregational Union in 1837. Fletcher was a voluminous writer and a regular contributor to the newly established Eclectic Review. His works include: Spiritual Blessings (Blackburn, 1814; 6th ed., London, 1891); Principles and Institutions of the Roman Catholic Religion (London, 1817), which received generous praise; Personal Election and Divine Sovereignty (1825), also favorably received; and Poems (1846), in collaboration with his sister, Mary Fletcher. His Select Works and Memoirs (3 vols., 1846) were edited by his son, Joseph Fletcher of Hanley.