Biography

Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton was the son of Sir Jahleel Brenton. Lancelot was the second of four children and his key claim to fame was as the translator of one of only two English translations of the Septuagint. His father, Jahleel, was a Vice Admiral in the British Navy and a contemporary of Nelson. Jahleel was later made a Baronet for services to the crown. It was this title that Lancelot Brenton inherited. Lancelot however didn't inherit his father's acceptance of war, when he re-edited his father's memoirs he made it clear that he was a pacifist.

He trained for ministry at Oriel College and was ordained by the Church of England in 1830. He had left the established church by December 1831 to found an independent chapel in Bath with a friend, William Moreshead. By 1835 this chapel was associated with the Brethren and by 1837 Lancelot was contributing to "The Christian Witness", an early Brethren journal, and appears to have cemented his relationship with the emerging Brethren movement.

On the death of his father in 1844, Lancelot became Sir Charles. He moved to the Isle of White from Bath in 1849 where, although married, he died childless, the second and last Baronet of his line.

At time of writing, his translation of the Septuagint was the second and the latest English translation available It was first released in 1844 and has gone through several reprints and formats in the over a century and a half since.