Belsham, Thomas

BELSHAM, THOMAS: English Unitarian; b. at Bedford Apr. 26, 1750; d. at Hampstead Nov. 11, 1829. He finished his studies at the Dissenting Academy of Daventry and in 1770 became teacher there; in 1778 he became minister of an independent chapel at Worcester, but returned to Daventry as teacher and preacher in 1781. Having adopted Unitarian views he resigned in 1789, and was professor of divinity at the college of Hackney until it ceased to exist in 1796. In 1794 he succeeded Dr. Priestley as minister of the Gravel Pit Unitarian Chapel at Hackney, and in 1805 became minister of the Essex Street Chapel, London. He published much, sermons, controversial writings, and general theological works, including Elements of the Philosophy of the Mind and of Moral Philosophy (London, 1801); Letters to the Bishop of London in Vindication of Unitarians (1815); The Epistles of St. Paul Translated, with an Exposition and Notes (2 vols., 1822); he was principal editor of The New Testament in an Improved Version upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation; with a critical text and notes critical and explanatory (1808). American Unitarianism (4th ed., Boston, 1815) is extracted from his Memoirs of the Revd. T. Lindsey (London, 1812).

Bibliography: J. Williams, Memoirs of Thomas Belsham, London, 1833; DNB, iv, 202–203.