Samuel Shaw

Samuel Shaw (1635–1696) was an English nonconformist minister. The son of Thomas Shaw, blacksmith, he was born at Repton, Derbyshire, in 1635. From Repton Grammar School he went to St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was admitted sizar, 23 December 1650, and graduated B.A.

In 1656 he was appointed master of the grammar school at Tamworth, Warwickshire. Before 15 September 1657 he was called to be curate of the chapelry of Moseley, under John Hall, vicar of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, brother of Thomas Hall. There being no classis in Worcestershire, he was ordained by the presbyterian classis of Wirksworth, Derbyshire, on 12 January 1658. Some months later he was presented by Oliver Cromwell to the sequestered rectory of Long Whatton, Leicestershire (a crown living). His approbation and admission by the Triers are dated 28 May 1658, and he took possession on 5 June. The sequestered rector was Henry Robinson, a half-cousin of William Laud and his death enabled Shaw to obtain a crown presentation under the great seal (1 September 1660), with the act of the Convention parliament passed in the same month making good his title without institution.

Next year, however, Shaw was removed (1661) from his living at the instance of Sir John Pretyman; he obtained no other benefice, and then the Uniformity Act 1662 disqualified him, as he refused to submit to re-ordination. He removed to Coates, in the parish of Prestwould, Leicestershire. Some relatives brought the bubonic plague there from London in 1665, and Shaw lost two children. At the end of 1666 he moved to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, and was appointed master of the grammar school there in 1668. Through Edward Conway, Earl of Conway, he obtained a licence (26 December 1670) from Archbishop Gilbert Sheldon, on a modified subscription (to the first, third, and first half of the second article, specified in the thirty-sixth canon of the Thirty Nine Articles). William Fuller, bishop of Lincoln, who admired Shaw’s book on the plague, added his own licence, on a subscription ‘dictated and inserted’ by Shaw himself. Thomas Barlow, who succeeded Fuller as bishop of Lincoln, was his correspondent.

Shaw’s school was successful, and his house was full of boarders, including several who became divines in the Church of England. He wrote comedies for his scholars, ‘which they acted for the entertainment of the town and neighbourhood at Christmas time.’ He rebuilt the schoolhouse, and erected a gallery in the parish church for his scholars. On the passing of the Toleration Act 1688, he licensed his schoolhouse for nonconformist worship, preaching only between church hours (at noon), and attending the parish church with his scholars.

Shaw was noted for extempore prayer, lasting two or three hours. He died on 22 January 1696.

The Works of Samuel Shaw

The Active Christian’s Companion. (409 pages)
[pdf epub mobi txt web via Internet Archive]
Contains the following:

  1. Immanuel (John 4:14) – pdf, 255 pp.
    by Samuel Shaw.
    Or, A discovery of true religion as it imports a living principle in the minds of men.
  2. Communion With God (1 John 1:3) – pdf, 45 pp.
    by Samuel Shaw.
  3. The Angelical Life (Matthew 22:30) – pdf, 43 pp.
    by Samuel Shaw.
  4. Communion With Christ – pdf, 61 pp.
    by John Flavel.

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2 thoughts on “Samuel Shaw

  1. I have the works of Samuel Shaw and I began typing them into modern English (Only updating to modern spelling). I stopped about a year ago half way through volume 1. I am just wondering if there is an interest at all in having this Puritan reprinted. If there is then I would be happy to continue working on it.

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