Camisa

1 Reverend Dr Joseph Priestley was born on 13 March 1733 at Fieldhead, Birstall, near Leeds, one of six children of a cloth dresser. He died on 6 February 1804 at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA.2. Always a non-conformist, Priestley gradually developed a Unitarian position: initially he questioned the doctrines of original sin, atonement, and the Virgin birth, then accepting the Arianheresy that Jesus was divine and pre-existent but not equal to God the Father; finally he became a Socinian, believing that Jesus was simply a man. His theology was, however, always Bible based and heretained a belief in Biblical miracles and the physical resurrection of Jesus.

3. He is credited with contributing to the growth of Unitarianism on both sides of the Atlantic.

4. Since as adissenter he was barred from Oxford or Cambridge, Priestley studied from 1752-55 at Daventry Academy. After unsuccessful ministries at Needham Market and Nantwich, he was appointed tutor in languages atWarrington Academy in 1761 where he remained until 1767.

5. Priestley’s most important ministries were at Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds (1767-1773) and at New Meeting, Birmingham (1780-1791) being forced outof the latter by the riots of July 1791. Between these two ministries he served the Earl of Shelbourne as librarian, literary companion and tutor to the Earl’s sons.

6. Although he was not theimmediate cause of the Birmingham riots, Priestley was their most harmed victim. His well-known anti-Trinitarian views and his support for the principles of the French Revolution (his Letters to Burkevoicing this support were published in January 1791) meant that he had long been openly condemned by the Established Church there. Two things provoked the mob: a seditious handbill had been published inBirmingham celebrating the achievements of the Revolution and urging ‘every enemy to civil and religious despotism’ to mark Bastille Day, 14 July, by demonstrating against their ‘oppressors’. It had...