Plymouth Brethren

Plymouth Brethren, a religious sect founded in England in 1830 by John Darby, a barrister, who originally belonged to the Church of England. He lectured in many countries, his contention being that the Church had lost touch with society, and so he wished to form a voluntary association, the members of which should possess equal rights of addressing and exhorting one another, their services in this respect resembling those of the Society of Friends. Divisions arose, but Darby founded congregations in Plymouth, London, Exeter, and elsewhere, and gained some success in the Swiss Canton de Vaud. The views of the sect, which professes no special creed, are a mixture of Calvinism and Mysticism.