Samuel Fisher (died 1681)
Samuel Fisher | |
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Born | 1605/6 Presbyterian |
Church | Church of England, later Nonconformist. |
Ordained | 18 December 1630 |
Writings | An Antidote against the Fear of Death A Love Token for Mourners A Fast Sermon. |
Offices held | Rector of Upton Magna Preacher at St Alban, Wood Street Vicar of Mary's, Shrewsbury Minister of Bride's, London Rector of Mary's, Thornton-le-Moors Licensed Presbyterian preacher in Birmingham. |
Part of a series on |
Puritans |
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Samuel Fisher (c.1605–buried 5 September 1681)
Identity
This article concerns a
Early life and education
Stephen Wright identifies the Presbyterian Fisher as the son of John Fisher of
Samuel Fisher's career in maps
Location | Dates | Nature of post | Illustration | Caption | Approximate coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upton Magna | 1635–42 | Rectory in the gift of the Barker family of Haughmond Abbey | St Lucia's church, Upton Magna, mainly Norman with 19th century restoration. | 52°42′29″N 2°39′45″W / 52.708070°N 2.662441°W | |
Withington | 1635–42 | A chapelry of Upton Magna. | St John the Baptist, Withington: an entirely Victorian building on the site of the original chapel. | 52°42′46″N 2°37′40″W / 52.712803°N 2.627755°W | |
St Alban, Wood Street | 1643–6 | London church in hands of sequestrators after previous incumbent joined royalists. | Tower, all that is left of St Alban. Rebuilt by Wren, restored in the 19th century and destroyed in the Blitz, nothing remains of the building of Fisher's day. | 51°31′00″N 0°05′39″W / 51.516585°N 0.094087°W | |
Mary's, Shrewsbury | 1646–50 | Former Classis or Classical Presbytery. |
Nave of St Mary's, which is largely medieval, although the exterior was greatly altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. | 52°42′31″N 2°45′05″W / 52.708733°N 2.751399°W | |
Bride's, London | 1651, 1652–4 | A vicarage taken over by its own vestry after its vicar, James Palmer, went into voluntary sequestration in 1645. | The church as shown in the mid-16th century Copperplate map of London. | 51°30′50″N 0°06′20″W / 51.513767°N 0.105518°W | |
Mary's, Thornton | 1654–62 | Rectory in the gift of Sir George Booth. | St. Mary's, Thornton-le-Moors, photographed from the churchyard. | 51°30′50″N 0°06′20″W / 51.513767°N 0.105518°W | |
Birmingham | 1662–81(?) | Nonconformist preacher, licensed as Presbyterian teacher under Royal Declaration of Indulgence, 1672. | 52°28′37″N 1°53′36″W / 52.476958°N 1.893243°W |
Early career
The Clergy of the Church of England database (CCEd) has a record of Samuel Fisher's ordination as priest at Eccleshall by Thomas Morton, then Bishop of Lichfield, on 18 December 1630.[6] The five years, 1630–5, between Fisher's ordination and his appointment as rector at Upton Magna, are largely unaccounted for. Rigg's account in the Dictionary of National Biography[7] implies that he worked at St Bride's Church in London before coming to Shropshire: this is almost certainly untrue, as he is known to have worked there in the 1650s.[8] Fisher's ordination by Thomas Morton seems to connect him from the outset of his career with the West Midlands and his preaching at Shrewsbury in 1633 shows that he was moderately known as a preacher in the region before his presentation to the rectory. However, it is not known how or where, or even if, he had an ecclesiastical living during this period.
Despite the mystery as to his activities in this period, Fisher did make a significant public impact on Friday 20 September 1633, when he preached a sermon in Shrewsbury. The previous week had seen a
Upton Magna
Richard Baxter remembered his old friend Fisher as being "some-time of Withington, then of Shrewsbury."[12] Wright locates him there around 1640 as a curate of Thomas Blake before a move to Upton Magna. Withington was at that time a chapelry of the parish of Upton Magna,[13] not a separate parish, and is treated as such by CCEd. In the Middle Ages Upton Magna had been dominated by Haughmond Abbey, a great Augustinian house which stood within it and held considerable property in the parish.[14] However, in the 12th century Bishop Roger de Clinton had confirmed that it was Shrewsbury Abbey that then held the tithes and advowson of both the church at Upton and its chapels, specifying Withington as one of them.[15] Some of Fisher's letters were sent from Withington at dates when he is known to have been rector of Upton Magna, but this shows no more than that he worked across the whole parish, although he may have resided at Withington.
After the
As Fisher was Barker's choice, it is likely that the two men had similar views from the outset, so it is not surprising to find Fisher taking up the Puritan cause during his incumbency at Upton Magna. He seems to have followed controversies in Shrewsbury, which was very close. In a preface to some sermons he published in the 1650s, Fisher denounced those who had endangered his liberty by traducing his doctrine. While this might have applied to several phases of his career, he added in the margin: "Mr Studley and some others."[1] At the time of Fisher's appointment Studley had become mired in a controversy over his book, The Looking-glasse of Schisme in which he sought to explain a sensational murder at Clun as the result of the Puritan principles of the killer.[27] The book was published in London in 1634 and reissued in an expanded edition in 1635.[28] Under Thorough, the experiment in absolute monarchy then in force, a reasoned reply by Richard More, a layman of St Chad's parish, could not be published and it did not appear until 1641. After the furore, Studley resigned from St Chad's and moved a few miles to a living at Pontesbury. Whether his offence to Fisher was more personal than the contents of his polemic is unknown. Certainly Fisher was not one to ignore intemperate abuse of his faith. He wrote to Sir Robert Harley, then serving as MP for Herefordshire in the Long Parliament, to report some anti-Puritan banter that might have serious implications.
- 1640, December 18. Withington — The knowledge has come to my hands of some scandalous words uttered by a Justices of the PeaceI think they could be proved.
- Postscript. After writing the above I acquainted my patron Mr. Barker with Rowley's words, and his purpose is to open this business to Sir Richard Newport.[18]
With civil war looming in the summer of 1642, Fisher[1] and Barker[20] worked through local landed gentry networks to mobilise support for the Puritan and Parliamentarian causes. Much was hoped of Newport, who was closely connected by marriage and proximity: Newport's sister, Margaret, had been married to John Barker, Walter's brother from whom he had inherited the estate,[19] and his home at High Ercall Hall made him a close neighbour. Fisher did all he could to persuade Newport to side with Parliament,[29] with the help of Barker's cousin, Robert Charlton of Apley Castle.[20] However, a local royalist gentry circle around Francis Ottley pre-empted their efforts, seizing control of Shrewsbury and inviting Charles I to bring his army from Nottingham to occupy the town.[30] Charlton and Barker tried to send a large sum of money down the River Severn to the Parliamentarians at Bristol but it was intercepted by the Sheriff, John Welde, at Bridgnorth. Charlton escaped but Barker was detained.[31] Newport, after affecting indecision, gave the king £6000 in exchange for becoming Baron Newport.[32] Fisher seems to have fled the scene, perhaps to London. There is no record of a replacement being installed at Upton Magna.
London
On 23 January 1643 the
Shrewsbury
Appointment
Fisher was appointed by Shrewsbury's council to St Mary's, at the latest on 21 August 1646.
The Presbyterian project
A Presbyterian reorganisation of the English Church was now a leading priority, in line with Parliament's promises to its Scottish
Controversy and flight
The Puritan coalition was soon in trouble, locally as well as nationally. In 1648 Mackworth was forced to play an active part in the
At Shrewsbury open division came with Parliament's imposition in March 1650 of the Oath of Engagement: "I do declare and promise, that I will be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England, as it is now established, without a King or House of Lords."[48] This was so clearly at odds with the Covenant that it was impossible for Fisher and Blake to subscribe. They preached against it, while Paget took to his pulpit and wrote for the opposite side.[49] Early notice of the English Council of State's determination to impose the Engagement at Shrewsbury came from the handling of Fisher's old friend and relative Sir Robert Harley, who had refused to subscribe. A staunch Parliamentarian, he wrote to Mackworth, also a relative, asking permission to retire to Shrewsbury.[50] Mackworth, however, was not free to allow him to settle, and on 8 May turned down his request.
- I have received yours of the 29th of April wherein you intimate your desire of coming to reside in tins garrison. I acquainted your servant Shilton with my resolution of adhering to the present government. I am now entrusted by the Parliament for the security of this garrison, and in pursuance of some private instructions I have received I shall desire that if you be not fully "satisfied to the subscribeinge of the engagement," that you will at present rather forbear than retain your intention of coming to reside here.
Harley was forced to spend his last years at Ludlow. Mackworth had made clear, as he was told to do, that the main consideration in handling dissent at Shrewsbury was state security. Fisher and Blake continued to preach against the engagement and their opposition was well known in London, where it was noted by Bulstrode Whitelocke.[49]
The general atmosphere of crisis was then greatly intensified by an outbreak of bubonic plague at Frankwell in June, which soon spread throughout Shrewsbury.[51] On 16 August the Council of State ordered Mackworth "to turn out of his garrison all such persons as, either in the pulpit or elsewhere, by seditious words endeavour to stir up sedition and uproar among the people."[52] A week later the Council named Blake and Fisher, ordering Mackworth to detain them and to "examine them as to their former and late offences."[53] Fisher later wrote of their "continual expectation of arrest" during this period, when he and Blake saw their pastoral work during the plague as the priority.[54] The epidemic reached its peak in September and October, only petering out in January 1651.[55] Fisher and Blake seem to have left towards the end of 1650.[35] At Myddle they stayed with the minister, Joshua Richardson, who had also refused the Engagement.[56] Myddle had been allocated to the second classis and the leading lay Puritan locally was Robert Corbet of Stanwardine.[57] The difference in political atmosphere away from the county town and fortress was so great that they were allowed to preach. Richard Gough, Robert Corbet's secretary, mentioned their visit in his famous Antiquities & Memoirs of Myddle:
- The two chiefe and ablest Ministers in Shrewsbury, viz. Mr. Thomas Blake, Minister of St. Chads, and Mr. Fisher of St. Mary's removed to Myddle and dwelt both in Mr. Gittin's house att the higher well; they preached often att Myddle. Mr. Fisher was a man of myddle stature and age, a fatt plump body, a round visage, and blacke haire.[58]
Some of the detail is not quite right, but Gough's physical description of the minister seems to be the only one extant. Later they ventured further north and stayed at West Felton with Samuel Hildersham and his wife Mary.[56] He was a Puritan writer, the son of Arthur Hildersham, and had been a leading figure in the second classis: they had the use of his substantial library for several months.
Shrewsbury faced a further crisis in 1651, when governor Mackworth had to face down a demand that he surrender the town to
London again
Fisher preached at Bride's, London, (with the "Saint" omitted) apparently for two separate short periods, between his flight from Shrewsbury and his admission to the rectory of Thornton. The details are contained in the architect Walter Godfrey's monograph on the church, started as Wren's later building lay ruined in 1940. The advowson of the church belonged to Westminster Abbey – until the Dissolution of the Monasteries to the Abbot and Convent, afterwards to the Dean and Chapter.[61] During the Civil War, the Vestry, which was strongly committed to the cause of Parliament and radically Puritan, took control. The incumbent, James Palmer, a moderate Puritan, was pressured into accepting voluntary sequestration on 18 October 1645 and the Vestry thereafter appointed a series of preachers closer to their own tastes. Fisher accepted the post of "lecturer" at Bride's on 28 April 1651. Two other short incumbencies followed and Fisher was then "entertained minister" from 30 June 1652 on a salary of 40s. per week[62] – a good rate that reflected his considerable experience and ability. No reason is given for the interlude, but April 1651 seems rather early for Fisher to appear in London, where he was fairly notorious in some quarters. The parish minutes record that:
- a Sacrament be administered by Mr. Fisher on the next Sabbath day come Sennitt in the parishe to suche as have been admitted of formerly to the Eldershipp and to suche that come to give accompt to the Minister and Elders of their faith, as he, Mr. Fisher, hath propounded it.
This relatively restricted admission to Lord's Supper is closely in line with Richard Baxter's demand in that candidates for communion be confronted with the New Covenant and "might knowingly and seriously professe their consent, (and if they subscribed their names, it would be more solemly engaging) and this before they receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper."[63] It is in clear contrast to the inclusive teaching and practice of Thomas Blake, who engaged in controversy over this issue with Baxter and his circle over several years.[64]
While at Bride's, Fisher delivered funeral orations for two women of the congregation: Mrs Holgate and Mrs Baker. He published these, with an introduction penned on 25 September 1654 at Thornton, under the title: A Love-Token for Mourners: Teaching Spiritual Dumbness and Submission under Gods Smarting Rod.[65] He was described as "Samuel Fisher M.A., late preacher at Bride's, London, now at Thornton in Cheshire." The valedictions were accompanied by An antidote against the fear of death, a reflection he had written during the difficult days of summer 1650 at Shrewsbury, advertised as Some thoughts which the author used to flatter and allure his soul to be well pleased with death, when he with the Rev. Mr. Blake stayed in Shrewsbury (in the time of God's last visitation of that place by the pestilence) to execute their pastoral office amongst their people that did abide there in that doleful time, when they were under the continual expectation of arrest."
The next known appointment at Bride's was of John Herring on 8 October 1654,[62] some months after Fisher had taken up residence at Thornton.
Thornton
On 25 May 1654[1] Fisher took up the rectory of Thornton-le-Moors, Cheshire, which was in the gift of Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey,[66] a notable landowner who headed the Presbyterian cause in Cheshire and a long-term rival of Brereton, the main local representative of the army.[67] Thornton had seen its share of conflict, both religious and military. Samuel Clarke served there, apparently with some difficulty and discomfort, in the 1620s under Dr George Byron, the Laudian incumbent.[68] When the Parliamentarians triumphed in the Chester area in 1646, Byron, was turned out in favour of the Puritan Richard Chapman.[69] Richard Bowker was ordained and certified by the Manchester classis to be a minister at Thornton on 9 August 1653.[66] He had presented himself for ordination on 12 July, when it was noted: "Mr. Richard Bowker presented himself for ordination. He hath been examined in the languages, in Greek, logic, philosophy, ethics, physics, metaphysicks, and approved; had an instrument given him to be affixed."[70] It seems that he acted as assistant to Fisher, although he later moved to be minister in Middlewich. Fisher was later assisted by Samuel Edgley, a candidate for ordination.[66]
Cheshire never had a classical presbytery,[71] and had been dependent on the Manchester classis for many important functions. A voluntary association was proposed by a meeting of Cheshire ministers at Wilmslow on 14 September 1653, making it contemporary with the association founded by Baxter in Worcestershire.[72] Its establishment was agreed at a meeting in Knutsford the following month.[71] Like Baxter's movement, it was intended to carry some of the ordaining and disciplinary functions left in abeyance by the collapse of the national Presbyterian project in 1648.[73] The workings and extent of the association are unclear but Fisher was closely associated with the leading figures in it and his judgement respected by them. In November 1656 Henry Newcome, one of the founders, had the opportunity of taking up the incumbency of Julian's church in Shrewsbury after losing a valuable post in Manchester. Baxter wrote a detailed and encouraging letter to him, but at the end deferred to Fisher's closer knowledge.
- But then I confess, you have one reason that I am unable to confute, — which is the contrary judgment of your neighbour ministers. They may see more than I can, (especially such as judicious and honest Mr. Fisher, who knoweth both places.) And, therefore, I presume not peremptorily to advise you, but to cast in my thoughts; which, if they seem unsatisfactory to you, reject them.[74]
Newcome and his friend
Birmingham
Fisher seems to have spent the rest of his life at Birmingham. There he became a leading member of a regional network of nonconformists, who tried to take advantage of the Royal Declaration of Indulgence of 15 March 1672 to gain legal recognition for their meetings. A petition referring to the Indulgence was submitted by Birmingham Presbyterians some time in April.[76]
To the Kings Most Excellent Matie
The humble Addresse & Petitiõ of severall Inhabitants of the Towne of Birmingham in the County of Warwicke in the Name of them &c. and sundry others of the same Towne, humbly sheweth
That your Majestyes gracious declaratiõ of ye 15th of March last past wherein your Maties Indulgence to us is soe fully manifested, is wth all humble thankfulnes acknowledged by us. And professing our Loyalty to your Sacred Matie wth all Sincerity, and resolving, by the grace of God, to use the Liberty, soe freely given to us, with that Moderatiõ & peaceableness, that your Majesty may not have Cause to repent the favour afforded to us therein. Wee are humble Petitioners to yor Sacred Matie, that in pursuance thereof, your Majesty will bee gratiously pleased, to allow and Lycense Mr Samuel Fisher Master in Arts of the Presbiterian perswasiõ to excercise his Ministeriall functiõ amongst us, and that the house of the said Samuel Fisher, and the Town-Hall scituate in Birmingham, may bee places allowed for their meeting under his Ministry
In which Royall, & humbly desired favour to Mr Samuel Fisher and us
Your Majestyes most humble Petitionrs
Shall ever pray.
Tho: Rowney
John Hunt
Francis Himmons
William Egmond
John AshfordGeorge Jackson
Samuel Taylor
Josiah Yate
Isaac Ashford
Daniel Ashford.
At this time the work of co-ordinating requests to government was co-ordinated in part of the West Midlands by Fisher's eldest son, Samuel Fisher junior, and it seems that it was he[77] who, a little later, also sent to London petitions relating to nonconformist communities in Darlaston, Sedgley, and Rowley Regis, as well as a further house in Birmingham.[78] These were all channelled through Robert Blayney, clerk of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, allegedly a former confidant of Oliver Cromwell,[79] who handled a large volume of correspondence with government officials for the nonconformists outside London. It is likely that the petition relating to Fisher's Birmingham meetings was accompanied by a covering letter[80] from Charles Fisher, the preacher's younger son, who probably lived in London and was known personally to Blayney. This made clear that the signatories included some of the principal citizens of Birmingham. Samuel junior's letter relating to Darlaston finished with the postscript "I pray remember my fathers business," suggesting there had been some delay in dealing with it.[81] Shortly after, it was returned to Blayney, with an "Endorsed" mark. Licences for Samuel Fisher's house in Birmingham to be a Presbyterian meeting place and for him to operate as a Presbyterian teacher in it were entered in government records on 1 May 1672,[82] along with two of the Staffordshire licences, suggesting Blayner did actually expedite matters for Birmingham when he received the further requests from Samuel junior.[83] Blayney picked up the Birmingham licences two days later.[84]
Last years and death
Fisher seems to have resided in Birmingham until his death. He made his will 8 November 1677, including a bequest to a friend called Richard Blayney.[1]
Fisher was buried on 5 September 1681 at St Martin's, Birmingham.
Marriage and Family
Fisher married but his wife's name is unknown. There were at least three children who survived to adulthood: Samuel junior, Hannah and Charles. Both his wife and Charles had died by the time his will was made in 1677. His chief beneficiary was Hannah, who cared for her parents into old age.
Publications
- An Antidote against the Fear of Death; being meditations in a time and place of great mortality (Shrewsbury, 1650).
- A Love Token for Mourners, teaching spiritual dumbness and submission under God's smarting rod, in two funeral sermons, London, 1655.
- A Fast Sermon, preached 30 January 1692–3.
See also
- Calvinism
- Savoy Conference
- Westminster Assembly
Footnotes
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9508. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Athenae Oxonienses, pp. 701–3
- ^ Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, p. 501, also Bennell-Bloye
- ^ a b Coulton, p. 165, note 43.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9507. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ CCEd Record ID: 69926
- ^ a b Rigg, James McMullen (1889). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 19. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- ^ Godfrey, Rectors and vicars.
- ^ Coulton, pp. 86–7.
- ^ Coulton, p. 75.
- ^ Coulton, p. 79.
- ^ Reliquae Baxterianae, p. 98.
- ^ Withington Parish Register, p. iv.
- ^ Gaydon and Pugh (eds.), Houses of Augustinian canons: Abbey of Haughmond
- ^ Eyton, p. 264.
- ^ Hope and Brakspear, p. 284.
- ^ Visitation of Shropshire 1623, Barker of Wollerton, Coulshurst and Haughmond, p. 27.
- ^ a b Portland manuscripts, Volume 3, p. 70.
- ^ a b Visitation of Shropshire 1623, Barker of Wollerton, Coulshurst and Haughmond, p. 28.
- ^ a b c Coulton, p. 93.
- ^ CCEd Record ID: 200740
- ^ CCEd Record ID: 134896
- ^ Withington Parish Register, p. 17.
- ^ CCEd Record ID: 120124
- ^ Palmer, p. 234.
- ^ CCEd Record ID: 119904
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 2, pp. 214–5.
- ^ Coulton, p. 86.
- ^ Auden (1907), p. 249.
- ^ Coulton, p. 91.
- ^ Coulton, p. 94.
- ^ Coulton, p. 92.
- ^ House of Commons Journal, Volume 2, 23 January 1643
- ^ House of Lords Journal, Volume 5, 3 March 1643
- ^ a b Owen and Blakeway, Volume 2, p. 378.
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 2, p. 281.
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 2, p. 376.
- ^ Coulton p. 106.
- ^ a b Coulton, p. 107.
- ^ Auden (1907), p. 270.
- ^ Auden, p. 263.
- ^ The scheme is reproduced in full by Auden, pp. 263–70. and Shaw, pp. 406–12.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37716. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Coulton, p. 87.
- ^ Coulton, p. 108.
- ^ Auden, pp. 270–1.
- ^ Auden, p. 267.
- ^ Auden (1907), p. 242.
- ^ a b Coulton, p. 113.
- ^ Portland manuscripts, Volume 3, p. 188.
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 1, p. 465.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1650, 16 August, p. 290.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1650, 23 August, p. 301.
- ^ Coulton, p. 114.
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 1, p. 466.
- ^ a b Coulton, p. 115.
- ^ Auden, p. 265.
- ^ Gough, p. 178.
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 2, p. 379.
- ^ Owen and Blakeway, Volume 2, p. 380.
- ^ Godfrey, History of St Bride's: The advowson.
- ^ a b Godfrey, History of St Bride's: The seventeenth century to the Great Fire.
- ^ Richard Baxter, Aphorismes of Justification, p. 107.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2583. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Urwick, p. 467.
- ^ a b c d Urwick, p. 64.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2877. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Urwick, p. 63.
- ^ Shaw, p. 329.
- ^ Urwick, p. 167.
- ^ a b Urwick, p. xxxii.
- ^ Shaw, pp. 152–3.
- ^ Shaw, p. 159.
- ^ Autobiography of Henry Newcome, Volume 2, p. 346.
- ^ Urwick, p. xxxvi.
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 1, p. 279, Document 320 (237)
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 3, p. 316.
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 1, pp. 262–3, Documents 320 (191–3)
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 3, p. 475.
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 1, pp. 235–6, Documents 320 (112)
- ^ Volume 3, p. 462.
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 1, p. 455, Document E (58)
- ^ Volume 3, p. 463.
- ^ Turner, Original Documents, Volume 1, p. 298, Document 320 (302)
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- Baxter, Richard (1649). Aphorismes of Justification. London: Francis Tyton. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- Baxter, Richard (1696). Sylvester, Matthew (ed.). Reliquae Baxterianae. London: Parkhurst et al. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- "CCEd search". Clergy of the Church of England Database. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- Coulton, Barbara (2010). Regime and Religion: Shrewsbury 1400–1700. Little Logaston: Logaston Press. ISBN 978-1-906663-47-6.
- Eyton, Robert William (1858). Antiquities of Shropshire. Vol. 7. London: John Russell Smith. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Foster, Joseph, ed. (1891). Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1714. Vol. 2. London: Parker. Retrieved 1 July 2015. Also at Foster, Joseph, ed. (1891). Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1714, Faber-Flood. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
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- Godfrey, Walter H. (1940). Survey of London Monograph 15, St Bride's Church, Fleet Street. Institute for Historical Research. Originally published by Guild & School of Handicraft. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- Gough, Richard (1700). Antiquities & Memoirs of the Parish of Myddle, County of Salop (1895 ed.). Shrewsbury: Adnitt and Naunton. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- Green, Mary Anne Everett, ed. (1876). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1650. London: Longman. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Helms, M. W.; Hampson, Gillian; Henning, Basil Duke (1983). "Booth, Sir George, 2nd Bt. (1622–84), of Dunham Massey, Cheshire.". In Henning, Basil Duke (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660–1690. Boydell and Brewer.
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- . Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Journal of the House of Commons: Volume 2, 1643–1644. Institute of Historical Research. 1802. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
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- Kelsey, Sean. "Booth, George". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2877. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- William, Lamont. "Blake, Thomas (1596/7–1657)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2583. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Newcome, Henry (1852). Parkinson, Richard (ed.). The Autobiography of Henry Newcome, M.A. Vol. 2. Manchester: Chetham Society. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Owen, Hugh; Blakeway, John Brickdale (1825). A History of Shrewsbury. Vol. 2. London: Harding Leppard. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- Owen, Hugh; Blakeway, John Brickdale (1825). A History of Shrewsbury. Vol. 2. London: Harding Leppard. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Palmer, Charles Ferrers (1845). The History of the Town and Castle of Tamworth. Tamworth: Jonathan Thompson. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Phillimore, William Phillimore Watts, ed. (1905). Shropshire Parish Registers: Diocese of Lichfield. Vol. 5. Shropshire Parish Register Society. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- Rigg, James McMullen (1889). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 19. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Shaw, William A. (1900). A History of the English Church during the Civil Wars and under the Commonwealth, 1640–1660. Vol. 2. London: Longmans, Green. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Tresswell, Robert; Vincent, Augustine (1889). Grazebrook, George; Rylands, John Paul (eds.). The Visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year 1623. Vol. 1. London: Harleian Society. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- Turner, G. Lyon, ed. (1911). Original Records of Early Nonconformity under Persecution and Indulgence. Vol. 1. London and Leipzig: T. Fisher Unwin. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
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