Belsham, THOMAS,

Belsham, THOMAS, a Unitarian theologian, was born at Bedford, 26th April 1750. The son of a dissenting minister and of a granddaughter of the first Earl of Anglesey, he was educated a Calvinist, and became pastor of an Independent congregation at Worcester in 1778, and head of the theological academy at Daventry in 1781. These offices he resigned in 1789, on embracing Unitarian views, and shortly after received the charge of a new theological academy at Hackney, which collapsed for want of funds in 1796. Before its extinction he succeeded Priestley in his pastoral charge of the Gravel-pit Unitarian Chapel, Hackney, and from 1805 till his death, 11th November 1829, filled the pulpit of Essex Street Chapel. Most of his numerous works are controversial. His doctrine regarding the person of Christ represents the purely 'humanitarian' view, as distinguished from the more nearly Arian sentiments of men like Channing. He published also Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1801); a memoir of his predecessor, Theophilus Lindsey (1812; centenary edition, 1873); The Improved Version of the New Testament (1808); and the Epistles of Paul translated (4 vols. 1822). See his Life by Williams (1833).—His brother, WILLIAM (1752–1827), was an active and voluminous writer of history and political tracts on the side of the Whigs. His principal work, written in a liberal spirit, and in a clear and simple style, was his History of Great Britain to the Conclusion of the Peace of Amiens (12 vols. 1806).