Rev. Thomas Walker Horsfield FSA (christened 2 December 1792,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

- 26 August 1837, Chowbent,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

), was an English Nonconformist minister, topographer, and historian best known for his works ''The History and Antiquities of Lewes'' (1824-26) and ''The History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex'' (1835).

Life

He was the eldest of six children of James Horsfield and Ann Hewett who were married 29 July 1790 in St Peter's Cathedral,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

.The Weald - People history and genealogy
/ref> Horsfield was minister at the Westgate Chapel in Lewes, later changed from

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

to Unitarian. He found time from his ministerial duties to take on pupils. In 1835, Horsfield was appointed to succeed Benjamin Rigby Davis as Presbyterian minister at the Chowbent Chapel, Atherton,

. He died there on 26 August 1837, leaving a widow and eight children.

Works

His ''History of Sussex'' in two volumes became a standard reference work for later Sussex historians. Horsfield compiled for John Baxter ''The History and Antiquities of Lewes and its vicinity'' (with an appendix, an ''Essay on the Natural History of the District'' by

Gideon Mantell Gideon Algernon Mantell MRCS FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was a British obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstruct the structure and life of ''Iguanodon'' began the scientific study of dinosaurs: in ...

), two vols. Lewes, 1824–7. This was followed by a more major undertaking, ''The History and Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex'', two vols. Lewes, 1835. For the first volume, which contains East Sussex, Horsfield was assisted by William Durrant Cooper; the second volume, on

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, is mainly an abridgment of the histories of James Dallaway and Edmund Cartwright (1773–1833).

References

;Attribution 1792 births 1837 deaths English Dissenters 19th-century English historians Clergy from Sheffield Writers from Sheffield {{UK-historian-stub