William Metcalfe

William Metcalfe
Portrait from History of the Philadelphia Bible-Christian Church (1922)
Born(1788-03-11)March 11, 1788
DiedOctober 16, 1862(1862-10-16) (aged 74)
Occupations
  • Minister
  • physician
  • activist
Years active1811–1862
Organizations
Spouse
Susanna Wright
(m. 1810; died 1854)
Children1

William Metcalfe (March 11, 1788 –  October 16, 1862) was an English-American Bible Christian Church minister, homeopathic physician, and advocate of vegetarianism, pacifism, temperance and abolitionism. Ordained by William Cowherd in 1811, he emigrated with fellow Bible Christians in 1817 and founded the Philadelphia Bible Christian Church. In 1850 he helped establish the American Vegetarian Society with figures including William Alcott, Sylvester Graham and Russell Thacher Trall; after Alcott's death in 1859 he served as the society's president. He also edited and published reform periodicals.