Alexander Mackennal

Who was Alexander Mackennal?

Alexander Mackennal, British Nonconformist divine, was born at Truro in Cornwall, the son of Patrick Mackennal, a Scot, who had settled there.

In 1848 the family removed to London, and at sixteen he went to the University of Glasgow. In 1854 he entered Hackney College to prepare for the Congregational ministry, and in 1857 he graduated BA at the University of London. After holding pastorates at Burton upon Trent, Surbiton, Leicester, he finally accepted the pastorate of the Congregational Church at Bowdon, Cheshire, in 1877, in which he remained till his death.

In 1886 he was chairman of the Congregational Union, which he represented in 1889 at the triannual national council of the American Congregational churches. The first international council of Congregationalists held in London in 1891 was partly cause, partly consequence, of his visit, and Mackennal acted as secretary. In 1892 he became definitely associated in the public mind with a movement for free church federation which grew out of a series of meetings held to discuss the question of home reunion.