Local history

James Rowland White, (a local soldier with the 16^th. Foot Regiment in Gillingham,) founded the Jezreelites sect in 1875. The sect was based on the earlier Christian Israelite teachings of the Prophet John Rowe and Joanna Southcott. After being discharged from the army, White broke with the Christian Israelites, and subsequently the beliefs of the sect centred on the Millennium, when Christ’s kingdom would reign again for a thousand years. White laid out his beliefs in a series of sermons that were published under the title The Flying Roll.

White had by now renamed himself James Jershom Jezreel, and had acquired a number of shops in Gillingham and Chatham High Streets. He also started to build Jezreel’s Tower, which was intended to serve as a church and also a headquarters for the movement. It was located at the top of Canterbury Street and Chatham Hill. The funds for both the shops and the tower were acquired from the Jezreelites themselves, who had to sell all their possessions prior to joining the sect and give the money raised to the sect.Those who did not work directly for the sect had to donate one tenth of their earnings to the Jezreelites.

However, the money required for the building of the Tower led to resentment among the Jezreelites. Jezreel’s fundraising methods were called into question by a number of legal actions taken out against him. Jezreel died in 1885, in spite of preaching the immortality of both himself and other Jezreelites. His wife, "Queen Ann", died three years later, but the group was already in decline and eventually all the properties owned by the sect were sold, including Jezreel’s Tower, which remained unfinished. It was a prominent local landmark until it was demolished in 1961. The firm Jubilee Clips stands on the site today and one of the local streets is named after Jezreel.

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