William Bridge 1600/01-1671

William BRIDGE 1600/01-1671

Biographical Note

Born in Cambridgeshire. BA Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1623, MA and fellow 1626. Lectured at several East Anglian parishes before becoming curate at St George Tombland, Norwich; his puritan views and nonconformity led to his deprivation by Bishop Wren in 1636, and he moved to Rotterdam to be a pastor there. He returned to England in 1641, preaching and writing in London, and appointed town preacher at Great Yarmouth, and a member of the Westminster Assembly, in 1642. He was a prominent preacher, and active in ecclesiastical politics, throughout the 1640s and 50s but was ejected in 1661, spending time ministering to various independent congregations in London and Surrey before returning to Yarmouth in 1667. Arrested and tried for encouraging nonconformity, he retired to Clapham where he died. Numerous sermons and tracts were published throughout his life, and posthumously.

Books

In his will, Bridge bequeathed his "whole library of books, except such written papers as my executor with the advice of Mr Greenhill or others shall think fit to be printed", to his son Samuel (vicar of Wivenhoe, Essex, d.1695). The size of his library is not known.

Characteristic Markings

None of Bridge's books have been identified.

Sources

• Greaves, Richard L. "Bridge, William (1600/01–1671), Independent minister." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Matthews, A. G. Calamy revised. Oxford, 1934.