William Manning (Unitarian)
Encyclopedia
Life
He is tentatively identified (by John VennJohn Venn
Donald A. Venn FRS , was a British logician and philosopher. He is famous for introducing the Venn diagram, which is used in many fields, including set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science....
in Alumni Cantabrigienses
Alumni Cantabrigienses
Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900 is a biographical register of former members of Cambridge University which was edited by John Venn and his son John Archibald Venn and...
as well as Alexander Gordon
Alexander Gordon (Unitarian)
Alexander Gordon was an English Unitarian minister and religious historian. A prolific contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography, he wrote for it well over seven hundred articles dealing mainly with nonconformists....
in the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
) with William Manning (son of William Manning) who was born at Cockfield
Cockfield
Cockfield may refer to:*Cockfield, County Durham, a village in County Durham, England*Cockfield, Suffolk, a village in Suffolk, England*Cockfield Hall, near Cockfield, Suffolk*Cockfield railway station...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. This Manning was educated at Stowmarket
Stowmarket
-See also:* Stowmarket Town F.C.* Stowmarket High School-External links:* * * * *...
and admitted a sizar of Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
, on 25 October 1649, aged 16, Henry More
Henry More
Henry More FRS was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school.-Biography:Henry was born at Grantham and was schooled at The King's School, Grantham and at Eton College...
being his tutor. He was one of three brothers, all holding benefices till the Uniformity Act of 1662, and members, while beneficed, of congregational churches; John (died 1694), who entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...
, in 1633, and graduated M.A. in 1641, was perpetual curate
Perpetual curate
A Perpetual Curate was a clergyman of the Church of England officiating as parish priest in a small or sparsely peopled parish or districtAs noted below the term perpetual was not to be understood literally but was used to indicate he was not a curate but the parish priest and of higher...
of Peasenhall
Peasenhall
Peasenhall is a village and a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District, in the English county of Suffolk. It was the location of the Peasenhall Murder.- Amenities :...
, Suffolk; Samuel was perpetual curate of Walpole, Suffolk
Walpole, Suffolk
Walpole is a village and a parish in Suffolk, England. Walpole has a chapel called Walpole Old Chapel and a primary school called Cookley and Walpole CEVC Primary School. The village is on the River Blyth. Nearby settlements include the town of Halesworth and the village of Cookley. It is in the...
. William was perpetual curate of Middleton, Suffolk
Middleton, Suffolk
Middleton is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately north-west of Leiston, north east of Saxmundham and from the Suffolk coast. The village is on the B1122 east of Yoxford and had a population of 359 at the 2001 census....
, and ejected for nonconformity by the Act of 1662.
William Manning at that date settled at Peasenhall, and took out a license under the indulgence of 1672 as a congregational teacher in his own house there; his brother John, who remained at Peasenhall after his ejection, took out a similar license. According to Gordon Manning seems to be the only instance of a Congregational minister ejected by the Uniformity Act 1662 who later adopted fully Anti-Trinitarian views. In 1686 he published a small volume of sermons, broad in spirit, but evangelical in doctrine. He was in the habit of preaching occasionally at Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
, Suffolk, and this brought him into acquaintance with Thomas Emlyn
Thomas Emlyn
Thomas Emlyn , English nonconformist divine.-Life:Emlyn was born at Stamford, Lincolnshire and served as chaplain to the presbyterian Letitia, countess of Donegal, and then to Sir Robert Rich, afterwards becoming colleague to Joseph Boyse, presbyterian minister in Dublin...
, who in 1689 was chaplain at Rose Hall to Sir Robert Rich, a member of the presbyterian congregation at Lowestoft. Manning and Emlyn both read William Sherlock
William Sherlock
Not to be confused with William Sherlock William Sherlock was an English church leader.-Life:He was born at Southwark, and was educated at St. Saviour's School and Eton, and then at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1669 he became rector of St George's, Botolph Lane, London, and in 1681 he was appointed a...
's Vindication of the Trinity (1690). Manning made up his mind in favour of Socinianism
Socinianism
Socinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...
, and argued strongly for it in his correspondence with Emlyn, which began on Emlyn's removal to Dublin (1691), and lasted till Manning's death.
Manning then looked for converts with some success, carrying a large part of his Peasenhall congregation with him, but failing with John Hurrion, at that time student for the ministry (1698) at Heveningham
Heveningham
Heveningham is a village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located four miles south-west of Halesworth, in 2005 it had a population of 120....
, near Walpole. His chief local opponent was Nathaniel Parkhurst, vicar of Yoxford
Yoxford
Yoxford is a village in the east of Suffolk, England close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve , Aldeburgh and Southwold.-Location and features:...
, Suffolk.
He became very deaf, and gave up preaching (before 1704). He died on 13 February 1711, aged (as was said) 81, and was buried at Peasenhall on 15 February. He was married in 1652; his wife Priscilla died on 14 June 1710, aged 80.