Edmund Calamy

Edmund Calamy (1671-1732), Presbyterian minister, was the son and grandson of rejected nonconformist ministers. He studied at various schools and academies, and for a time at Utrecht. He returned to London in 1691 and then studied at Oxford for a time, preaching in nonconformist chapels. He returned to London in 1692 and was ordained in 1694. He worked for at time at Blackfriars, then with Daniel Williams at Hand Alley. In 1703 he became minister at Tothill Street, Westminster. In 1702 he published his Abridgment of Mr Baxter’s Narrative, which included his extensive list (with notices) of the excluded ministers at the time of the Restoration. Calamy continued to add to his chapter on the ejected ministers, eventually publishing it separately, but it was cumbersome to use in its various editions. Samuel Palmer republished it in 1775 as The Nonconformist’s Memorial, though it is not merely a reprint of Calamy, having many alterations, even errors, in it by Palmer. A. G. Matthews’s Calamy Revised (1934) sorts out both editions and restores Calamy. He was London’s leading Presbyterian voice after the death of Daniel Williams in 1716, especially in matters of public and political interest. He was essentially a Baxterian in theology, holding to the middle way between the extremes of Calvinism and Arminianism. Among his other works are Defence of Moderate Non-Conformity (1703-05), Inspiration of the Holy Writings (1710), and Thirteen Sermons Concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity (1722).