1747–1817

Introduction

Born: Ap­ril 9, 1747, Hinck­ley, Lei­ces­ter­shire, Eng­land.

Died: Au­gust 10, 1817, South­ern­down, Gla­mor­gans­hire.

Buried: Lew­in’s Mead Cha­pel, Bris­tol, Eng­land.

Biography

Estlin’s ear­ly edu­ca­tion was un­dertak­en by his un­cle, John Pr­ior, vi­car of Ash­by-de-la-Zouch, and chap­lain to the Earl of Moi­ra.

In 1764, he en­tered War­ring­ton Aca­de­my, where the di­vi­ni­ty chair was filled by John Ai­kin.

In 1770, he ac­cept­ed an in­vi­ta­tion to be­come the col­league of Tho­mas Wright at the cha­pel at Lew­in’s Mead, Bris­tol. He be­gan his du­ties there in Jan­ua­ry 1771.

Estlin soon after­ward op­ened a school at St. Mi­chael’s Hill, Bris­tol, which met with great suc­cess, some of his pu­pils ris­ing to emi­nence in par­lia­ment and the pro­fess­ions.

His pu­pils held him in such es­teem that they ob­tained the de­gree of LL.D. for him with­out his know­ledge (Glas­gow, con­ferred 1807).

Samuel Tay­lor Co­le­ridge, Ro­bert South­ey, Jo­seph Priestl­ey, An­na Barbauld, and Ro­bert Hall were among his friends.

Estlin’s sight be­gan to fail around 1816. In 1817, he re­signed his pul­pit, re­ceiv­ing a large sum of mo­ney from his con­gre­ga­tion as a tes­ti­mo­ni­al. Af­ter preach­ing his fare­well ser­mon on June 22, he re­tired to a cot­tage he had built for him­self at his fa­vo­rite sum­mer haunt in South­ern­down, Gla­mor­gan­shire.

Works

Sources

Lyrics