 The group's name originates from the members who had settled in Clapham, then a village south of London (today part of south-west London), where both Wilberforce and Thornton, the sect's two most influential leaders, resided and where many of the group's meetings were held, and particularly those attending Holy Trinity Church on Clapham Common, then surrounded by fashionable villas.Henry Venn, the founder of the Clapham group, was curate at Holy Trinity (1754) and his son John became rector (1792–1813).Wilberforce and Henry Thornton, two of the group's most influential leaders, resided nearby and many of the meetings were held in their houses.