Life

The son of Peter Seddon, dissenting minister successively at Ormskirk

Ormskirk

Ormskirk is a market town in West Lancashire, England. It is situated north of Liverpool city centre, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston.-Geography and administration:...

 and Hereford

Hereford

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

, he was born at Hereford on 8 December 1725. The Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 John Seddon

John Seddon (Unitarian)

-Life:The son of Peter Seddon , dissenting minister at Penrith, Cumberland , and Cockey Moor in the parish of Middleton, Lancashire , he was born in 1719 at Lomax Fold, Little Lever, in the parish of Bolton, Lancashire. On his father's death, Seddon's education was undertaken by the congregation of...

 (1719–1769), with whom he has often been confused, is said to have been a second cousin. He was entered at Kendal Academy in 1742, 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 went on to Glasgow University, where he matriculated in 1744, and was a favourite pupil of Francis Hutcheson

Francis Hutcheson

Francis Hutcheson may refer to:*Francis Hutcheson *Francis Hutcheson -See also:*Frank Hutchison, blues musician*Francis Hutchinson, British clergyman...

 and William Leechman

William Leechman

-Life:The son of William Leechman, a farmer of Dolphinton, Lanarkshire, he was educated at the parish school; theT father had taken down the quarters of Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, which had been exposed after his execution on the tolbooth of Lanark...

. On completing his studies he succeeded Charles Owen, D.D., as minister of Cairo Street Chapel, 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...

, Lancashire, where he was ordained on 8 December 1747. Soon after his settlement the Percival family left the established church and attached themselves to Seddon, thought to be a liberal divine of Arian

Arian

Arian may refer to:* Arius, a Christian presbyter in the 3rd and 4th century* a given name in different cultures: Aria, Aryan or Arian...

 views. Seddon gave private tuition to Thomas Percival

Thomas Percival

Thomas Percival FRS FRSE FSA was an English physician and author, best known for crafting perhaps the first modern code of medical ethics...

.

After the closure of the private academies at Kendal (1753) and Findern

Findern

Findern is a village in south Derbyshire. Although a railway runs through it, there is no station, the nearest stations are Willington, Pear Tree and Derby...

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

 (1754), a project was launched in July 1754 for establishing in the north of England a dissenting academy by subscription. Seddon was one of the most active promoters of the scheme; it was due to him that the final choice fell upon Warrington rather than upon Ormskirk. On 30 June 1757 he was elected secretary, and when the academy opened at Warrington on 20 Oct. he was appointed librarian. As secretary he did not get on well with John Taylor, who had been appointed to the divinity chair; the trustees, however, sided with Seddon against Taylor. Discipline was always a difficulty at Warrington; with a view to better control, in 1767 the office of ‘rector academiæ’ was created, and bestowed upon Seddon. At the same time he succeeded 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...

 in the chair of belles lettres; his manuscript lectures on the philosophy of language and on oratory, in four quarto volumes, were presevred in the library of Manchester College, Oxford.

Taylor's difference with Seddon originated in a controversy respecting forms of prayer. On 3 July 1750 a meeting of dissenting ministers took place at Warrington to consider the introduction of ‘public forms’ into dissenting worship. A subsequent meeting at Preston on 10 September 1751 declared in favour of ‘a proper variety of public devotional offices.’ Next year the ‘provincial assembly’ appointed a committee on the subject; a long controversy followed. On 16 October 1760 a number of persons in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, headed by Thomas Bentley

Thomas Bentley (manufacturer)

Thomas Bentley was an English manufacturer of porcelain, known for his partnership with Josiah Wedgwood.-Life:He was born at Scropton, Derbyshire, on 1 January 1731. His father, Thomas Bentley, was a country gentleman of some property...

, agreed to build a chapel for nonconformist liturgical worship, and invited several dissenting ministers to prepare a prayer-book. Taylor declined, and wrote strongly against the scheme. Seddon warmly took it up. On 6 January 1762 he submitted ‘the new liturgy’ to a company of dissenters at the Merchants' coffee-house, Liverpool. This compilation, published 1763, as A Form of Prayer and a New Collection of Psalms, for the use of a congregation of Protestant Dissenters in Liverpool, is often described as Seddon's work; he edited it, but had two coadjutors; of its three services, the third was by Philip Holland

Philip Holland (minister)

-Family and education:The eldest son of Thomas Holland, he was born at Wem, Shropshire. His grandfather, Thomas Holland , had been a member of the first presbyterian classis of Lancashire, and was ejected from Blackley Chapel, Lancashire, by the Uniformity Act 1662...

; the remaining contributor was Richard Godwin (1722–1787), minister at Gateacre, near Liverpool. The book was used in the Octagon Chapel, Liverpool

Octagon Chapel, Liverpool

The Octagon Chapel, Liverpool was a nonconformist church in Liverpool, England, opened in 1763. It was founded by local congregations, those of Benn's Garden and Kaye Street chapels...

, from its opening on 5 June 1763 till 25 February 1776, after which the building was sold, and converted into St. Catherine's Church. Seddon declined to become the minister of the Octagon Chapel, and in his own ministry practised extemporary prayer.

Seddon was a main founder (1758) of the Warrington public library, and its first president. He was the first secretary (1764) of the Lancashire and Cheshire Widows' Fund. He died suddenly at Warrington on 23 January 1770, and was buried in Cairo Street Chapel. He married, in 1757, a daughter of one Hoskins, equerry to Frederick, prince of Wales, but had no issue. His wife's fortune was invested in calico-printing works at Stockport

Stockport

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...

, and lost. She survived him. A selection from his letters and papers was edited by Robert Brook Aspland

Robert Brook Aspland

Robert Brook Aspland was an English Unitarian minister and editor. To be distinguished from his father Robert Aspland .-Life:...

, in the Christian Reformer

Christian Reformer

The Christian Reformer was a British Unitarian magazine edited by Robert Aspland....

(1854 pp. 224 sq., 358 sq., 613 sq., 1855 pp. 365 sq.).