He was born on 7 March 1694 at
Great Salkeld,
Cumberland. He was educated at the grammar school of
Great Blencow, Cumberland, under Anthony Ireland, and prepared for the Presbyterian ministry in the academy of
Thomas Dixon at
Whitehaven. In 1716 he became minister of the dissenting congregation at
Kendal,
Westmorland. After Dixon's death (1729) he took up from 1733 the work of a
dissenting academy at Kendal, where he educated about 120 laymen, including
Jeremiah Dyson, and fifty-six divinity students, among whom was
George Walker. In 1743 he visited Edinburgh, where he was admitted M.A., and gained the degree of D.D. by public disputation on 27 May. His theology, and that of most of his divinity pupils, was
Arian. In 1751 his health failed; leaving his congregation and academy in charge of Richard Simpson, he went to
Hexham,
Northumberland, to stay with his eldest son, a physician. He died at Hexham on 8 June 1752, and was buried in the south aisle of
the abbey church, where was a mural monument to his memory. ==Works==