He was one of the earliest MNC ministers, having first been a local preacher in Stockport. He was Secretary of the MNC Conference in 1802. During the Napoleonic period he published a string of radical pamphlets in which he defended Luddism, attacked rack-rent landlords, the aristocracy and war; but after a further pamphlet, The Helmet, condemned as 'a gross calumny on the Connexion', he resigned in 1814 in the face of Conference disapprova of ministers publishing 'works of a political nature'l. His Norwich congregation at Ebenezer chapel remained loyal to him and he ministered to it as an Independent chapel until his death.

Entry written by: EAR
Category: Person
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