Plymouth Brethren
Preserved but no longer current.
A sect of Evangelical Christians that arose at Plymouth about 1830. They have no regular ministry, holding that national churches are too lax and dissenters too sectarian. Sometimes called "Darbyites" (q.v.) from John Nelson Darby (1800-82), their founder.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Plymouth Brethren” mean?
A sect of Evangelical Christians that arose at Plymouth about 1830. They have no regular ministry, holding that national churches are too lax and dissenters too sectarian. Sometimes called "Darbyites" (q.v.) from John Nelson Darby (1800-82), their founder.
Is “Plymouth Brethren” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.