William Blackmore (24 June 1616 – ⁠1684) was an English

ejected minister The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England following the Stuart Restoration, Restoration of Charles II of England, Charles II ...

Life

Blackmore was born on 24 June 1616, the second son of William Blackmore of London, a member of the

Fishmongers' Company The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers (or Fishmongers' Company) is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precede ...

. His older brother, Sir John Blackmore, knight, was in the confidence of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

, and became governor of

St Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

after the Restoration. William was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

. He graduated with his BA in 1638 and his MA in 1641, although he is not mentioned by Anthony Wood.E. C. Vernon, 'Blackmore, William (1616–1684)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 7 Feb 2011
Having been ordained deacon he was appointed in December 1645 to the rectory of

Pentlow Pentlow is a village and civil parish in the Braintree (district), Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. It is just south of the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour, and nearby settlements include the villages of Foxearth and Cavend ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, sequestered from Edward Alston. On 1 September 1646 his resignation of Pentloe was accepted by the

Committee for Plundered Ministers The Committee for Plundered Ministers was originally established in late 1642 by the Presbyterian faction in the Long Parliament following the start of the English Civil War. In December 1642 the committee was formalised as a parliamentary committe ...

, and he moved to London, and became curate to

Thomas Coleman Thomas Coleman (1598–1647) was an English clergyman, known for his scholarship in the Hebrew language, which earned him the nickname ‘Rabbi Coleman’, and for his Erastian view of church polity. In the Westminster Assembly he was the cleri ...

('Rabbi' Coleman, who died March 1647) at St Peter's, Cornhill. He was ordained presbyter by the Fourth London Classis on 20 April 1647, but did not take the

covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

, and was duly presented to the rectory of St Peter's by the corporation of London on 13 May 1656, after the death in 1655 of William Fairfax, D.D., sequestered in August 1643. On 1 December 1646 the London presbyterians published a defence of their system, ''Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici; or the Divine Right of Church Government'' of which Blackmore wrote the part relating to ordination.

William Maxwell Hetherington William Maxwell Hetherington (4 June 1803 – 23 May 1865) was a Scottish minister, poet and church historian. He entered the university of Edinburgh but before completing his studies for the church he published, in 1829, 'Twelve Dramatic ...

(''History of the Westminster Assembly'' p. 288) describes the book as 'the most complete and able defence of presbyterian church government that has yet appeared.' In 1648 Blackmore was one of the scribes to the London provincial assembly. He signed (probably on 20 January 1649) the presbyterian remonstrance to

on the meditated death of the king. He was one of the thirteen clergy arrested on a charge of complicity in

Christopher Love Christopher Love (1618, Cardiff, Wales – 22 August 1651, London) was a Wales, Welsh Presbyterian preacher and activist during the English Civil War. In 1651, he was executed by the English government for plotting with the exiled Stuart cou ...

's plot in 1651; having been freed through the influence of his brother Sir John, he rendered assistance to Love during his trial. In 1662 Blackmore seceded with the nonconformists, and retired to

, where he lived on his ample means and gathered a small congregation. In April 1672 he was licensed as "a presbyterian teacher in his own house" in

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...

, near

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

. He died at Hare Street, a hamlet within a mile of Romford, in 1684, and was buried at Romford on 18 July.

Family

He married (1) on 1 May 1660 Mary Chewning, from

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, Kent, who died in November 1678, and (2) before 1681, Sarah Luttrell, who survived him. His only son, Chewning Blackmore, born on 1 January 1663, was educated for the ministry at the Rev. John Woodhouse's academy, Sheriff Hales, near

Shifnal Shifnal () is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 motorway and A5 (road), A5 road ...

, Shropshire, settled at

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

in 1688 as assistant to Thomas Badland (ejected in 1663 from

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, Walsall district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census of 49,587. It is ...

, Staffordshire, and died 1689), and remained there till his death on 2 August 1737. He married in 1694 Abigail (died in April 1734), daughter of Edward Higgins, and left two sons: (1) Francis, presbyterian minister at Evesham (1728–30), Coventry (1730–42), and Worcester (1743–61), and (2) Edward Chewning, presbyterian minister at Stoke, near Malvern.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackmore, William 1684 deaths People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Ejected English ministers of 1662 1616 births Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford