John Towill Rutt
John Towill Rutt (4 April 1760 – 3 March 1841) was an English political activist, social reformer and nonconformist man of letters.
Life
Born in London on 4 April 1760, he was only son of George Rutt, at first a druggist in Friday Street,
In 1780 Rutt joined the
On his partial withdrawal from business about 1800 Rutt lived for some years at Whitegate House, near Witham in Essex, and afterwards at Clapton and Bromley-by-Bow, before he finally settled at Bexley. As a member of the Clothworkers' he worked in the administration of the company's charities, and he laid the first stone of the Domestic Society's school and chapel in Spicer Street, Spitalfields.
He died at Bexley on 3 March 1841.
Works
He aided in founding the Monthly Repository, was a regular contributor to its columns, and occasionally acted as its editor; he also wrote in the Christian Reformer. In 1802 he edited a Unitarian Collection of Prayers, Psalms, and Hymns.
Rutt was the author of a volume of poetry for Thomas Fyshe Palmer, entitled The Sympathy of Priests. Addressed to T. F. Palmer, at Port Jackson. With Odes, 1792. In conjunction with Arnold Wainewright, he published in 1804 an enlarged edition, brought down to the date of death, of the Memoirs of Gilbert Wakefield, originally published by Wakefield in 1792.
The years between 1817 and 1831 were chiefly spent in editing the ‘Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Priestley’ in twenty-five volumes, portions of which were subsequently issued separately. The first volume Rutt separately issued as Life and Correspondence of Joseph Priestley, 1831–2, 2 vols. Rutt also edited with notes, historical and biographical, the Diary of Thomas Burton, M.P., 1656 to 1659 (1828), Calamy's Historical Account of my own Life, 1671–1731 (1830), and The Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys. With a Narrative of his Voyage to Tangier (1841). He contributed articles to the Encyclopædia Metropolitana.
Family
He married, in June 1786, Rachel, second daughter of Joseph Pattisson of
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Rutt, John Towill". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.