Background
He was born at Clapham, then south-west of central London, while his father Henry Venn was curate there, on 9 March 1759.
He was born at Clapham, then south-west of central London, while his father Henry Venn was curate there, on 9 March 1759.
He entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1781, and Master of Arts
In 1784. Venn was rector of Little Dunham, Norfolk, from 1783 to 1792, and rector of Clapham from 1792 to his death. He was one of the original founders of the Church Missionary Society in 1797, and was a leading abolitionist and philanthropist. He ran the school set up by the Society for the Education of Africans which was set up in Clapham in 1799.
He died at Clapham on 1 July 1813.
A volume of his sermons was published after his death. Venn married first, at Trinity Church, Hull, on 22 October 1789, Catherine, daughter of William King, merchant, of Kingston upon Hull.
Venn was the grandfather of logician and philosopher John Venn.