Introduction

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

• The Caus­es of the In­ef­fi­ca­cy of Pub­lic In­struct­ion Con­sidered (Bath: 1790)
• Evidences of Re­vealed Re­li­gion, and Par­ti­cu­lar­ly Chris­ti­a­ni­ty, 1795
• Discourses on Uni­vers­al Re­sti­tu­tion
• General In­struct­ions in the Doc­trines and Du­ties of Re­li­gion
• The Na­ture and the Caus­es of Athe­ism
• Familiar Lec­tures on Mo­ral Phi­lo­so­phy
• Psalms & Hymns, Adapt­ed to Pub­lic and Pri­vate Wor­ship, Col­lected for the Use of the So­cie­ty of Lew­in’s Mead, Bris­tol, 1806