Cartwright, THOMAS

Cartwright, THOMAS, Puritan divine, was born in Hertfordshire about 1535. He was compelled to quit Cambridge owing to his attachment to the Reformed doctrines, but returned on the death of Mary. He retired to Ireland (1565-67), and after his return in 1569 he was chosen Lady Margaret Divinity professor. His lectures here were too honestly critical of the polity of the church to be acceptable to the chief authorities, who, led by Whitgift, deprived him of his professorship, and subsequently of his fellowship. He travelled on the Continent, and on his return to England in 1572 he again became embroiled with the church and the government, and for his nonconformity suffered imprisonment several times. Again obliged to flee to the Continent, he was for a time pastor of the English church in Antwerp. On his return in 1585 he was once more committed to prison. He was one of the most influential Puritan teachers of his day. He died at Warwick, where he had become master of a hospital, 24th December 1603. He wrote A Confutation of the Rhemish Translation, Annotations on the New Testament, a criticism of Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, and works on Proverbs and the Gospels.