Lewis Way (1772–1840) was an English barrister and churchman, noted for his Christian outreach to Jews. He is not to be confused with his grandfather, also called Lewis Way, a director of the South Sea Company.
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Life
Lewis Way was born on 11 February, 1772, as the second son of Benjamin Way (1740–1808) of Denham, Buckinghamshire. Benjamin Way was an MP and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and arranged for his son's education as a barrister. Way graduated M.A. in 1796 from Merton College, Oxford, and in 1797 was called to the bar by the Society of the Inner Temple.
Way came upon a stroke of good fortune in October 1799. A wealthy man named John Way (1732–1804) was at the Inner Temple to adjust his will; he stopped by Lewis Way's office, curious to meet the person who shared his unusual last name. While the two Ways were not related, they did establish a friendship and correspondence. Lewis visited John at his home, and John provided financial support for Lewis. John Way did not have any children of his own, and he adjusted his will such that his estate of around £300,000 (= around £32 million pounds in 2021, adjusted for inflation) went to Lewis, after setting aside some for his wife. John Way died in 1804, and Lewis Way was suddenly independently wealthy and no longer needed to support himself as a barrister. He became a philanthropist instead.
Way was ordained a priest of the Church of England in 1817, and devoted much of his wealth to religious works. On his way to Lebanon in 1823, he stayed for a while in Nice, on the Mediterranean coast in what is now France. While there, he donated funds for the construction of the seaside Promenade des Anglais. In Lebanon, he met the traveller Lady Hester Stanhope. He later lived in Paris as the chaplain to the British ambassador. He founded the Marbeuf Chapel near the Champs-Élysées in 1824, where his preaching attracted a fashionable congregation. This church has moved buildings and is now St George's Paris.