John Biddle

Background

John Biddle was born at Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, Jan. 14, 1615.

Education

Biddle studied at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, taking an M. A. in 1641.

Career

At the age of twenty-six, John Biddle became headmaster of the Crypt Grammar School, Gloucester. He concluded from his studies that the doctrine of the Trinity was not supported by the Bible, and set about publishing his own views on the nature of God. He was imprisoned in Gloucester in 1645 for his views, but released on bail.

He was imprisoned again by Parliament in 1646 and, in 1647, while he was still a prisoner, his tract Twelve Arguments Drawn Out of Scripture was published.

After a short while he was again imprisoned, in Newgate, where he remained until amnestied by the 1652 Acting of Oblivion. Biddle and the Member of Parliament John Fry, who had tried to aid him, were supported by the 1649 Leveller pamphlet Englands New Chaines Discovered.

Biddle was strongly attacked by John Owen. In 1654-1655 he was again in trouble with Parliament, which ordered his book seized.

Oliver Cromwell exiled him to the Scilly Isles, out of the jurisdiction of any hostile English Parliaments.

He was released in 1658. He was imprisoned once more, and became ill, leading to his death. A biography of Biddle by Joshua Toulmin was published in 1789.

Biddle"s appeal for conscience was one of the major milestones of the establishment of religious freedom in England.

Achievements

• Biddle had attracted a group of followers in London, and this group is regarded as the first English-speaking Unitarian church.