Caleb Rotheram D.D. (1694–1752) was an English dissenting minister and tutor.

Life

He was born on 7 March 1694 at

Great Salkeld Great Salkeld is a small village and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, a few miles to the north east of Penrith and bordering the River Eden. It was in the historic county of Cumberland until local government reorg ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. He was educated at the grammar school of

Great Blencow Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

, Cumberland, under Anthony Ireland, and prepared for the Presbyterian ministry in the academy of Thomas Dixon at

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

. In 1716 he became minister of the dissenting congregation at

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

. After Dixon's death (1729) he took up from 1733 the work of a

dissenting academy The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, Protestants who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of educatio ...

at Kendal, where he educated about 120 laymen, including Jeremiah Dyson, and fifty-six divinity students, among whom was George Walker. In 1743 he visited Edinburgh, where he was admitted M.A., and gained the degree of D.D. by public disputation on 27 May. His theology, and that of most of his divinity pupils, was

Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...

. In 1751 his health failed; leaving his congregation and academy in charge of Richard Simpson, he went to

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, to stay with his eldest son, a physician. He died at Hexham on 8 June 1752, and was buried in the south aisle of the abbey church, where was a mural monument to his memory.

Works

Rotheram published ‘Dissertatio … de Religionis Christianæ Evidentia,’ &c., Edinburgh, 1743.

Family

His second son was in the army. His third son, Caleb (1738–1796), educated at Kendal (the academy ceased in 1753) and

Daventry Academy Daventry Academy was a dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It moved to many locations, but was most associated with Daventry, where its most famous pupil was Joseph Priestley. It had a high reputation, ...

, was ordained minister of Kendal on 21 April 1756; he was a friend and correspondent of

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...

, and was apparently the first unitarian minister who officiated (1781) in Scotland.See

William Christie (Unitarian) William Christie (1748–1823) was a Scottish Unitarian writer, one of the earliest apostles of Unitarianism in Scotland and America. Life Christie was a son of Thomas Christie, merchant and provost of Montrose, and uncle of Thomas Christie the ...

. His grandson,

Edward Rotheram Captain Edward Rotheram CB (27 December 1753 – 6 November 1830) was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy, who served for many years during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars. During his s ...

, was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy.

References

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Rotheram, Caleb 1694 births 1752 deaths Dissenting academy tutors Post-Reformation Arian Christians People from Great Salkeld 18th-century English Presbyterian ministers