Richard Ashworth 

Richard Ashworth ministered to the Cloughfold Baptist Church in Rossendale from 1705 to 1751. He was the father of Thomas Ashworth, who succeeded him as pastor at Rossendale in 1751 (Thomas would later serve as pastor at the Baptist church at Gildersome from 1755 until his death in 1769). Richard Ashworth’s grandson was James Ashworth (see previous entry), who succeeded his uncle Thomas at Gildersome from 1771 to 1797. Another son of Richard Ashworth was Caleb Ashworth (1722-1775) (see entry above), who studied under Philip Doddridge at Northampton and was a correspondent of the Baptist poet, Anne Steele. When Doddridge died in 1751, the academy moved to Daventry and was headed by Caleb Ashworth, who had become an Independent in 1746 and was then ministering to the Independent congregation in Daventry.  See Theo Valentine, Concern for the Ministry: The Story of the Particular Baptist Fund 1717–1967 (Teddington: Particular Baptist Fund, 1967), 37; James S. Hardman, “Caleb Ashworth of Cloughfold and Daventry,” Baptist Quarterly 8 (1936-1937), 200-206.