Edward Blakely

Edward Blakely, a furrier, lived in London Street, Norwich. He was possibly a relation of John Rix Blakeley, a former midshipman who was converted though the ministry of James Browne, pastor of the Congregational church at North Walsham, near Worstead. Blakely soon developed questions about baptism, and to resolve his doubts, traveled to Norwich to study Greek and Hebrew under Kinghorn. He eventually accepted believer's baptism and joined Kinghorn’s congregation at St. Mary's in April 1814. He returned home and joined the Baptist church at Worstead, working as a schoolmaster, teaching in the Sunday school, and conducting village preaching. In 1832 he became pastor at Worstead, but his service was short-lived; he died in 1837 at the age of forty-eight. See Pigot and Co.'s Royal National and Commercial Directory, 495; Baptist Magazine 30 (1838), 77, 415-420, 462-466; Maurice F. Hewitt, “Early Days at Worstead,” Baptist Quarterly 11 (1942-1945), 172-174.