GEMMS IDGEMMS-PERSON-002934
NameJohn Tombes
Title
Gendermale
DenominationDissenter - Baptist/Presbyterian
Livedb. ca. 1602-10-10 - d. 1676-05-06 (old)
Linked Manuscripts
Linked SermonsSermon on Philippians 3:14 -- preacher (autograph: no)
Linked Reports
Associated PlacesSalisbury -- HomeAll Saints -- ParishBewdley -- ParishLeominster -- ParishMagdalen Hall -- Place of StudyTrinity College -- Place of StudySt Martin (Carfax) -- PostTemple Church -- PostWorcester -- Post
Source of DataJeanne Shami; David Robinson
Biographical Sources ConsultedBL Catalogue; ODNB
Other NoteEjected minister and religious controversialist opposed to infant baptism. Baptized in Bewdley, Worcestershire on 10 October 1602, the son of Edward Tombes, dyer. Matriculated from Magadeln Hall, Oxford; BA, 1621; MA, 1624; BD from Trinity, 1631. In 1623 he became catechism lecturer at Magdalen Hall and St Martin Carfax. He held those posts until 1630 when he became preacher at Worcester and then vicar of Leominster, Herefordshire. During this time he married an unknown woman with whom he had one son. His strong parliamentarian and Presbyterian sympathies forced his family to leave Herefordshire in 1642. He was made lecturer of All Saints, Bristol in January 1643, then, when Royalist advances forced his family to flee again, of St Gabriel Fenchurch in 1644. During this time, he publicly expressed his opposition to infant baptism, leading to a public disputation with Stephen Marshall on 30 December 1644. These views caused him to be removed from St Gabriel. He was made Master of the Temple in 1645, apparently with Marshall's influence, but the publication of his Two Treatises attacking infant baptism caused him to be removed from there as well. He returned to his native Bewdley in 1646 as curate of the chapel at ease there. He also established a small baptist congregation there and held another public disputation, this time with Richard Baxter. In 1650, he returned to the vicarage of Leominster, where he remained until ejection in 1662. He continued his involvement in controversies there but was also master of St Catherine's Hospital, Ledbury and commissioner for approbation of public preachers in 1654. In 1660 he married his second wife, Elizabeth Combs of Salisbury, where he retired after his ejection. He was licensed as a Presbyterian in 1672 and preached in his home, but his views estranged him from both Presbyterians and Baptists. Died 6 May 1676.
GEMMS record createdApril 05, 2020
GEMMS record last editedMay 11, 2020