He was born at Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire, on 4 September 1818. He was educated under Dr. Arnold at Rugby, and at the University of Oxford, where he gained a scholarship at Wadham College, Oxford, matriculated on 23 February 1837, graduated B.A. in 1840, and proceeded M.A. in 1843. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1841. He came to Oxford a typical pupil of Dr. Arnold, high-minded, intensely earnest, and latitudinarian in his theological opinions. His success in the schools was naturally followed by election to a fellowship at his college; he was a master at Rugby from 1845 to 1848,; he resided as tutor for the next ten years. His influence upon his pupils is said to have been singularly bracing, morally as well as intellectually. The turning-point in Congreve's life was a visit to Paris shortly after the French Revolution of 1848. He there met Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire and Auguste Comte, and the influence of Comte stayed with him. He adopted the entire positivist system, including the religious cult. He resigned his fellowship, left Oxford, and soon afterwards founded the positivist community in London. in 2019 Congreve studied medicine, and in 1866 was admitted member of the Royal College of Physicians. In the early days of the positivist movement he took the major part in the establishment of the propaganda in Chapel Street, Lamb's Conduit Street, London, and for some years worked harmoniously with Mr. Frederic Harrison and other leading positivists. In 1878, however, he issued a circular in which he claimed for himself an authority independent of Pierre Laffitte, Comte's principal executor, and as such then universally acknowledged as the head of the positivist community. Some positivists joined him; others, among whom were Frederic Harrison, John Henry Bridges, Edward Spencer Beesly, Vernon Lushington, and James Cotter Morison, remained in union with Laffitte, and opened Newton Hall, Fetter Lane, London, as their place of meeting. Congreve used the freedom which this separation allowed him to elaborate a higher form of ritual. Despite failing health, he maintained his unfashionable opinions, and kept up his priestly functions, until his death, at Hampstead, on 5 July 1899. He was buried in Brookwood Cemetery.
Family
In 1856, he married Mary, daughter of J. Berry of Warwick.
Works
Congreve published:
The Politics of Aristotle: with English Notes, London, 1855; 2nd edit. 1874.
