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Revision as of 13:08, 5 May 2006
Joseph Priestley (March 13, 1733 – February 8, 1804) was an English chemist, philosopher, dissenting clergyman, and educator.
He is known for his investigations of carbon dioxide and the co-discovery of oxygen.
Early life and education
He was born in Birstall parish, six miles from Leeds, Yorkshire. He learned a variety of languages, both classical and modern, in his youth, including several Semitic languages. He also studied what was then known as natural history. The school he attended, Batley Grammar School, still exists, and it now has a junior and infants section for children between the ages of 2-10 named Priestley House.
In 1751 he entered Daventry, a school under the auspices of Nonconformist, and there his religious views took shape. He became an adherent of Arianism and a fervent abolitionist. In September, 1755, he started as a parish minister in Needham Market, Suffolk, though he was not officially ordained until 18 May, 1762.
Because he stammered and the parish was not suited to his heterodox ideas, nor did they want a bachelor for their minister, he was unpopular in his Suffolk parish and he ultimately went to Nantwich, Cheshire. He established a private school in connection with the church in Nantwich where he preached, and derived his income from that school.
London and USA
He next moved to London where he received an invitation to become morning preacher at Gravel Pit Chapel, Hackney. His three sons emigrated to the United States in 1793. The following June, Priestley followed them, seeking political and religious freedom. Although never naturalized, he lived in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, for the last decade of his life until his death at the age of 70.
Honours and extras
Priestley College in Warrington is a sixth form college (for 16–19 year olds) named in his honour. It is the largest sixth form college in Warrington, and within its main building, a statue of Joseph Priestley stands, watching over the students as they pass through the reception area.
The writer Hilaire Belloc was Priestley's great-grandson.
See also
External links
- The Joseph Priestley Society
- Joseph Priestley Information Website
- A comprehensive Biography at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
- A detailed biographical article from the Thoemmes Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers.
- Priestley Sixth Form College, Warrington, named for Joseph Priestley