Life

The son of Peter Seddon (1689–1731), dissenting minister at Penrith

Penrith

Penrith may be:*Penrith, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia**Penrith Panthers, rugby league team**Penrith Stadium, home ground of the Penrith Panthers**Penrith Bears, ice-hockey team**City of Penrith, local government area...

, Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

 (1717–19), and Cockey Moor in the parish of Middleton, Lancashire

Middleton, Lancashire

Middleton is a village and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, between Heysham and Overton. It had a population of 521 recorded in the 2001 census....

 (1719–31), he was born in 1719 at Lomax Fold, Little Lever

Little Lever

Little Lever is a large village within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is southeast of Bolton, west of Radcliffe, and west-southwest of Bury....

, in the parish of Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

, Lancashire. On his father's death, Seddon's education was undertaken by the congregation of Cross Street, Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. He was at Stand

Stand, Greater Manchester

Stand is a village in Greater Manchester, England near Radcliffe. It is a residential area. There is no agreed origin of the name....

 grammar school under William Walker; then at the Kendal Academy (entered 1733) under Caleb Rotheram

Caleb Rotheram

-Life: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...

; and at Glasgow University, where he matriculated in 1739, and is said to have graduated M.A., but of this there is no record.

On leaving Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 he became assistant at Cross Street to Joseph Mottershead

Joseph Mottershead

-Life:The son of Joseph Mottershead, yeoman, he was born near Stockport, Cheshire, on 17 August 1688. He was educated at Attercliffe Academy under Timothy Jollie, and afterwards studied for a year under Matthew Henry at Chester....

, and was ordained on 22 October 1742. He was a preacher of facility and power, and pursued an independent line in theology. Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...

, when at Warrington

Warrington

Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

 (1761–8), speaks of Seddon as ‘the only Socinian in the neighbourhood.’

Seddon embodied his views in a series of six sermons, of which the first was preached on 27 May 1761. A contemporary account describes the excitement produced by his utterances; his outspokenness won for him increased respect, though he made few converts. The sermons were not published till 1793; but they anticipated the historical argument of Priestley. Seddon lived on good terms with neighbouring clergy, especially with John Clayton

John Clayton (divine)

John Clayton was an English clergyman, divine, early Methodist, and Jacobite supporter.-Life:He was the son of William Clayton, bookseller, of Manchester, and was born 9 October 1709. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and gained the school exhibition to Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1825...

 the Jacobite.

After a long illness he died on 22 November 1769, and was buried in Cross Street Chapel. He married, in 1743, Mottershead's eldest daughter, Elizabeth (died 1765), and left a son, Mottershead Seddon. His library was sold on 26 February 1770.

Works

He edited, with preface, ‘The Sovereignty of the Divine Administration,’ &c., 1766, by Thomas Dixon (1721–1754). His ‘Discourses on the Person of Christ,’ Warrington, 1793, were edited with ‘An Account of the Author,’ by Ralph Harrison

Ralph Harrison

-Life:The son of William Harrison, presbyterian minister of Chinley, Derbyshire, was born at Chinley on 10 September 1748. In 1763 he entered Warrington Academy, of which John Aikin was divinity tutor...

, at the suggestion of Joshua Toulmin

Joshua Toulmin

Joshua Toulmin of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian , Baptist , and then Unitarian congregations...

.