William Jay

William Jay (1769-1853) was a popular Independent minister at Bath (1789-1853). He began preaching as a teenager and became quite a sensation in London when he preached for Rowland Hill at the Surrey Chapel.  A moderate Calvinist, Jay was an active supporter of the London Missionary Society, the Religious Tract Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society.  Some of his most widely read works include The mutual duties of husbands and wives (1801), Morning exercises in the closet (1829), Evening exercises (1831), and several volumes of sermons and hymns. He began his ministry at Bath in January 1791 and continued there until January 1853. He delivered the funeral sermon for Marianna Attwater Head (see Timothy Whelan, Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, Volume 4) at the Baptist meeting at Bradford on 1 March 1832, the only funeral discourse for any member of the Steele/Saffery circle that appeared in print. Late in life he married the daughter of Marianna Head.