Thomas Wadsworth (1630–1676) was an English presbyterian minister, an ejected nonconformist after 1662.

Life

The son of Thomas Wadsworth, he was born in the parish of

St. Saviour's, Southwark Southwark Cathedral ( ) or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. ...

, on 15 December 1630. His father was close to Samuel Bolton, who held a lectureship at St Saviour's as well as being Master of

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

; and in 1647 Thomas entered Christ's College. There his tutors were Peter Harrison and

William Owtram William Owtram D.D. (17 March 1626 – 23 August 1679) was a clergyman who published notable theological works. After leading the church of the House of Commons, St. Margaret's, Westminster, he gained preferment as Archdeacon of Leicester. Life S ...

. He was scholarly, religiously inclined, and joined an academic club for philosophical study and devotional exercises. Having graduated B.A. in 1650–1, Wadsworth was called home by his father's last illness. Elected Fellow in 1652 of Christ's, he graduated M.A. in 1654, and then resigned his fellowship on Bolton's advice, accepting a call to minister at St. Mary's,

Newington Butts Newington Butts is a former hamlet, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction. The road continues as Kennington Park Road leading to ...

, Surrey. The rectory had been filled by Henry Langley on the sequestration of James Meggs; Langley was followed by John Morton, on whose death the parish was divided on the question of his successor; each section independently petitioned parliament in favour of Wadsworth, who was appointed on 16 February 1653. He was ordained by the eighth London classis in the church of

St Mary Axe St Mary Axe was a medieval parish in the City of London whose name survives as that of the street which formerly occupied it. The Church of St Mary Axe was demolished in 1561 and its parish united with that of St Andrew Undershaft, which is ...

. He gained a reputation preacher and catechist. On August 1660, after the English Restoration, Meggs claimed the living; Wadsworth resigned on 29 September. He retained a Saturday morning lectureship at St Antholin's, and a Monday evening lectureship at St Margaret, Fish Street Hill. The parishioners, who were the patrons of the perpetual curacy of

St Laurence Pountney St Laurence Pountney was a Church of England parish church in the Candlewick ward of the City of London. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, and not rebuilt. History The church stood on the west side of what is now Laurence Pountney ...

, presented him to that living, with a lectureship at St John the Baptist's. He held it till the Uniformity Act of 1662, preaching his farewell sermon on 23 August, the day before the act came into force. Moving to Theobalds in the parish of Cheshunt,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, he preached privately there, and, also privately to a section of his old flock at Newington Butts, taking no salary. He continued his works during the plague of 1665. After the Great Fire of 1666 he preached in a timber building erected in Deadman's Place, Southwark, where he was assisted by Andrew Parsons (1616–1684). He still continued to reside and preach at Theobalds, where in 1669 he was returned as keeping a conventicle along with Robert Bragge (1627–1704), and where he took out a license (1 May 1672) under the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, as a presbyterian teacher in the house of Jonathan Pritman. A few weeks before his death Wadsworth left Theobalds for a residence in Pickle Herring Stairs, Southwark. He died on Sunday, 29 October 1676. His funeral sermon was preached (12 November) by Robert Bragge; Richard Baxter took charge for some months of the Deadman's Place congregation.

Works

Wadsworth's writings included: * ''Ἀντιψυχοφαναία, or the Immortality of the Soul'', 1670. This work was answered in detail by

Henry Layton Henry Layton (1622–1705) was a minor British philosopher, theological writer, and contemporary of John Locke. Life He was the eldest son of Francis Layton (died 23 August 1661, aged 84) of Rawdon, West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was one o ...

. * ''Faith's Triumphs over the Fears of Death'', 1670. * ''Separation yet no Schism'', 1675. * ''Last Warning to secure Sinners'', 1677 (his last two sermons; edited by Richard Baxter). * ''Meditations on the Lord's Supper'', 1680. * ''Remains'', with a Life and portrait. * ''Self-Examination'', 1687.

Family

Wadsworth married, first, a younger daughter of Henry Hasting of Newington Butts; she died in childbed on 13 October 1661. He married, secondly (November 1663), Margaret (died 3 January 1668), daughter of Henry Gibs of Bristol, and widow of Thomas Sharp, merchant. He married, thirdly (1671), Anna, only daughter of Colonel Markham, by whom he had issue two sons (one of whom died in infancy), and two daughters. By his earlier marriages he had no surviving issue.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wadsworth, Thomas 1630 births 1676 deaths Ejected English ministers of 1662 Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge English Presbyterians