George Abbot (author)

Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English George Abbot or Abbott (1604 – 2 February 1649) was an English lay writer, known as "The Puritan", and a politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1640 and 1649.<ref>He died on "Feb. 1648-9" see Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p. 1 in Template:Harvnb. This means he died 3 days after the execution of Charles I, which is usually recorded as having happened on 30 January 1649 not 1648 because at that time the new year was 25 March not 1 January (for a more detailed explanation see Old Style and New Style dates).</ref> He is known also for his part in defending Caldecote House against royalist forces in the early days of the English Civil War.<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref>

Life

Abbott was the son of George Abbott of York (died 1607) and his wife Joan Penkeston. While Alumni Cantabrigienses states that he matriculated at King's College, Cambridge in 1622, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography discounts the identification, for lack of evidence.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>Template:Acad</ref> He owned property in Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, and was a good friend of Richard Vines, minister at Caldecote some way to the east.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In April 1640, he was elected as a member of parliament (MP) for Tamworth in the Short Parliament.Template:Sfn

File:George Abbott tablet.jpg

Memorial tablet to George Abbot in Caldecote Church, 1656 engraving

In the English Civil War, Abbot worked closely in Warwickshire with his stepfather William Purefoy, and made a notable defence, with his mother Joan, of the Purefoy house at Caldecote, Warwickshire, gaining the family coverage in the London press.<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> On 15 August 1642, with eight men, his mother and maids, he held out for a time against Prince Rupert of the Rhine, with about 18 troops of horses and dragoons.<ref name="ODNB"/> In the aftermath of the Battle of Edgehill, in October of the same year, Richard Baxter moved to Coventry, and Abbot was one of those hearing him preach there.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Baxter in writing on the Sabbath referred to "my dear friend Mr. George Abbot".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In his memoirs Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, Baxter placed Abbot's defence of Caldecote House, where barns were burnt, in local context: royalists under Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton were attacking Warwick Castle, defended by John Bridges, and Coventry, defended by John Barker.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Abbot was re-elected MP for Tamworth in 1645 for the Long Parliament and held the seat until his death in 1649.Template:Sfn He died unmarried in his 44th year, and was buried in Caldecote church where his monument describes his defence of Caldecote.<ref name="ODNB"/>

Legacy

By his will, Abbot endowed a free school at Caldecote.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was supported by land left to it at Baddesley Ensor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Works

Abbot was a lay theologian and scholar. His Whole Booke of Job Paraphrased, or made easy for any to understand (1640), was written in a terse style, and his Vindiciae Sabbathi (1641) influenced the Sabbatarian controversy.Template:Sfn His The Whole Book of Psalms Paraphrased (1650) was published posthumously by Richard Vines, and dedicated to Joan Purefoy, his mother.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Mistaken identifications

Abbot has been confused with others of the same name and has been described as a clergyman, which he never was. His writings have been incorrectly attributed in some bibliographical authorities to a relation of George Abbot the archbishop of Canterbury. One of the sons of Sir Morris Abbot called George was also an MP in the Long Parliament but for the constituency of Guildford.Template:Sfn

References

• Template:Cite EB1911 Endnotes:
  • MS.collections at Abbeyville for history of all of the name of Abbot, by J.T. Abbot, Esq., F.S.A., Darlington;
  • William Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, 1730 p. 1099;
  • Anthony à Wood, Athenae Oxonienses (Bliss), ii.141, 594;
  • Cox, Literature of the Sabbath.
• Template:Cite DNB
• Template:Cite Notitia Parliamentaria

External links

• Template:Prdl

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