Thomas Belsham

Thomas Belsham (1750-1829), who became a Unitarian minister in 1789 after serving for some time as Headmaster of Daventry Academy. He assisted Joseph Priestley in the formation of a Unitarian college at Hackney in the ealry 1790s; after Priestley’s emigration to America in 1794, Belsham assumed the pastoral duties of the Unitarian congregation at Gravel-Pit in Hackney. In 1805 he succeeded John Disney at the Essex Street (Unitarian) Chapel, London, where he remained until his death in 1829. His most popular work was A Summary View of the Evidence and Practical Importance of the Christian Revelation (1807). He was a frequent contributor to the Quarterly Review, Gentleman’s Magazine, and the Monthly Repository.