Oliver Heywood (minister) facts for kids

Oliver Heywood

Oliver Heywood (1630–1702) was a British Nonconformist minister. This means he was a Protestant who did not follow the rules of the official Church of England. He was one of many ministers who were forced out of their jobs because of their beliefs.

Biography

Early Life and Education

Oliver Heywood was born in March 1630 in Little Lever, near Bolton, Lancashire. His parents were strong puritans, meaning they wanted to make the Church of England simpler and more "pure."

Oliver went to Bolton Grammar School. Later, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, starting in 1647. While there, he was influenced by a preacher named Samuel Hammond. Oliver also joined a religious club with other students.

In 1650, he earned his first university degree. Soon after, he began to preach. His first sermon was in a village near Preston. He was then offered a job as a preacher at Coley Chapel, near Northowram in Halifax, Yorkshire. He accepted this job in November 1650, earning £30 a year.

Even though he was younger than the usual age, Oliver was officially made a minister on August 4, 1652. His younger brother, Nathaniel, was also a minister nearby.

When Oliver got married in 1655, he moved to Northowram. For many years, the church at Coley had not held a special religious service called Communion. Oliver brought this back every month in 1655. He also introduced church rules based on the Presbyterian way. This caused some disagreements among his church members. Despite this, he turned down offers to preach at other churches.

Becoming a Silenced Minister

Oliver Heywood supported the king, but he was also a Presbyterian. When the king returned to power in 1660 (this was called the Restoration), Oliver's problems began. The new vicar (a type of priest) in Halifax stopped baptisms in smaller churches. Oliver continued to baptize people, but he paid the vicar the usual fees.

In January 1661, his private prayer meeting was stopped by authorities. Some people in his church wanted to bring back the official Church of England prayer book. On August 25, 1661, a copy of the prayer book was placed on his pulpit. Oliver quietly moved it aside.

Because of this, Oliver was called to appear in York on September 13. After several hearings, he was officially stopped from being a minister in the York area on June 29, 1662. This happened just before a new law, the Uniformity Act, came into effect. This law required all ministers to follow the Church of England's rules.

Oliver kept preaching for a few more Sundays. Within a month of the new law, he was excommunicated. This meant he was officially removed from the church. The excommunication was announced publicly in Halifax and Bolton churches. People even tried to stop him from attending churches as a listener.

A Traveling Preacher

Even though the law said he was a "silenced" minister, Oliver Heywood kept holding secret religious meetings, called conventicles, in people's homes. This was against the law passed in 1664.

In 1665, the Five Mile Act was passed. This law said that ejected ministers could not live within five miles of their old church or a town. Oliver left his home but became a traveling preacher across the northern parts of England. He believed this law actually helped the Nonconformist cause because it spread ministers to new areas.

In 1668, he preached at Coley Chapel again to a very large group. He often appeared in official church pulpits during this time. However, on March 13, 1670, he was arrested after preaching near Leeds. He was released two days later, but his belongings were taken to pay a fine under a new law called the Conventicle Act.

In 1672, the king allowed some religious freedom. Oliver got two licenses to be a Presbyterian "teacher." One was for his own house in Northowram, and the other was for a house in Warley. Over a hundred of his former church members joined him in a new church agreement.

On October 29, 1672, he helped with the first official ordination (making someone a minister) by Presbyterians in the north since the king returned. When the licenses were taken away in February 1675, Oliver went back to his traveling work. It is said that in one year, he traveled 1,400 miles and preached 105 times, in addition to his Sunday duties.

In January 1685, he was found guilty of holding a "riotous assembly" (a noisy, illegal meeting) in his house. He refused to pay a fine or promise to behave, so he was put in York Castle prison until the end of the year.

Oliver approved of King James's declaration in 1687 that allowed freedom of religion. He immediately started building a meeting house in Northowram, which opened in 1688. He later added a school to it. This meeting house was officially allowed under the Toleration Act in 1689.

The "Happy Union"

In 1691, an agreement was made in London between Presbyterians and Congregationalists. This was called the "happy union." Oliver Heywood helped bring this agreement to Yorkshire. On September 2, 1691, he preached at a meeting in Wakefield where the "heads of agreement" were adopted. This meeting was the first of many where Nonconformist ministers in Yorkshire met to grant preaching licenses and arrange ordinations.

Death

In his last ten years, Oliver Heywood faced some challenges as some of his fellow ministers started to have different religious ideas. However, he kept up his own preaching work until late 1699. In 1700, his health got worse, and he was mostly confined to Northowram. From December 1701, he had to be carried to his meeting house in a chair.

Oliver Heywood died in Northowram on May 4, 1702. He was buried in a side chapel of Halifax Church. There is no monument there for him, but a memorial stone was put up by a family member in Northgate End Chapel, Halifax.

Family

Oliver Heywood married twice.

His first wife was Elizabeth Angier. They married on April 24, 1655. She died in 1661 at age 27. They had three sons:

• John, born April 18, 1656. He became a minister in Rotherham and Pontefract. He died on September 6, 1704.
• Eliezer, born April 18, 1657. He became a minister in Wallingwells, Nottinghamshire and Dronfield, Derbyshire. He died on May 20, 1730.
• Nathaniel, born August 7, 1659, but died shortly after on August 24, 1659.

His second wife was Abigail Crompton. They married on June 27, 1667. She died in 1707 and they did not have any children.