John Langford 1629?-1674

John LANGFORD 1629?-1674

Biographical Note

Born at Lanreath, Cornwall. No university education is recorded but he was vicar of Gwennap, Cornwall, in 1653 and ejected in 1660; he remained in Cornwall as an independent minister, was recorded as “peaceable” at Constantine in 1665, and was licensed to preach in Falmouth in 1672.

Books

Langford’s probate inventory includes a study with books and other contents, valued at £40, from a total estate valued at £285. His will refers to his “history notes and heraldry manuscripts”. BL Sloane MS 1022 is a chiefly theological 17th-century commonplace book, in more than one hand, whose primary hand includes a chronological section (the Creation to the destruction of Jerusalem) attributed to Langford; it is possible, but unlikely, that Langford was the writer of the manuscript.

Characteristic Markings

None of Langford’s books have been identified.

Sources

• Matthews, A. G. Calamy revised. Oxford, 1934.
• Poole, William. Seventeenth-century preadamism, and an anonymous English preadamist, The Seventeenth Century, 19.2 (2004), 1-35.