Edmund Calamy 1634-1685

Edmund CALAMY 1634-1685

Biographical Note

Born at Bury St Edmunds, son of Edmund Calamy (1600-66), a leading presbyterian minister of the mid-seventeenth century. BA Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 1655, MA from Pembroke 1658. Vicar of Moreton, Essex 1659, ejected 1662. He served briefly as chaplain to Sir Samuel Barnardiston at Brightwell Hall, near Ipswich, but was mostly in London after the Restoration, ministering to various nonconformist congregations (he was licensed to preach as a presbyterian, 1672).

Books

In his will, Calamy referred to his "library of books", though we do not know its size; he is likely to have inherited books from his father. He directed that they be given to his own son, when of age, "if he bred up a scholar", or sold for the benefit of his education; it seems likely that the former will have applied, as his son Edmund (the third of the dynasty of that name, 1671-1732) also became a presbyterian minister and is best known today as a key biographer and historian of the nonconformist movement in the seventeenth century.

In 1656 Calamy and friends raised seventeen pounds for the purchase of books for Sion College Library.

Characteristic Markings

None of Calamy's books have been identified.

Sources

• Gordon, Alexander, and Jim Benedict. "Calamy, Edmund (bap. 1634, d. 1685), clergyman and ejected minister." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Sion College donation inscription (Lambeth Palace Library (B12.3/ST4(1)).