Anglican priest, ordained deacon in 1755 and licensed as a curate at Dewsbury in 1756. He is probably the Jonas Eastwood who was patronized by the Countess of Huntingdon and is listed by William Myles as Classics Master at Kingswood School around 1758-60. After being ordained priest in 1757 he moved to the chapelry of Cleckheaton, where the numbers of Easter communicants increased fivefold during his ministry. In August 1766 John Wesley preached in the churchyard after Eastwood had read prayers in the church. In later years he also officiated in Birstall itself. The parish history describes him as 'an earnest and successful worker in the Methodist cause' whose 'love for souls impelled him to intrude into the Chapelry of Tong Bradford, where he is reported in 1764 as teaching twenty or thirty fortnightly in a dwelling house'. He died in March 1772.

The James Eastwood mentioned in Wesley's Journal as being 'set at full liberty' on 26 July 1761 may have been a relation.

Entry written by: DCD
Category: Person
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