Daniel Neal

Daniel Neal (1678-1743), Independent minister, was best known for his History of the Puritans, 2 vols (1732-36). He studied for the ministry at Thomas Rowe’s dissenting academy at Newington Green, near London. He then studied in Utrecht and Leiden. He returned to London in 1703 and became an assistant to John Singleton in Aldersgate Street. He succeeded him in 1706 and moved the congregation to Jewin Street, where he remained until his death. Neal was friend to Doddridge and Watts. He married Nathaniel Lardner’s sister. He published a History of New England (2 vols) in 1720. His History of the Puritans was designed largely as an argument against the continuation of the Test and Corporation Acts. He argued that liberty was the outgrowth of Puritan thought and practice in the 17th c.