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Joseph Priestley

Name: Joseph Priestley
Born: 13th March 1733
Died: 8th February 1804 aged 70
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About Joseph Priestley

Priestley, Rev. Joseph (1733-1804)
Dissenting Minister, Scientist, Author, Republican

He was born at Birstall near Leeds 13th March 1733. After four years at a Dissenting Academy at Daventry, in 1755 he became Presbyterian Minister at Needham Market. In 1758 he moved to Nantwich, and in 1761 became a tutor at the Warrington Academy. He met, and became a correspondent with Benjamin Franklin, and in 1766 he was Elected F.R.S. In 1767 he moved to Leeds where he was Minister of the Unitarian Chapel at Mill Hill, and where he took up the study of chemistry. Whilst at Leeds he was one of the leading figures in the establishment of The Leeds Library, a private Subscription Library which still exists today. He left Leeds to become literary companion to Lord Shelburne, whom he accompanied on a continental tour. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1772 and to the St. Petersburg Academy in 1780, in the same year he became minister of a chapel at Birmingham. Here he was a prominent member of the Lunar Society, a meeting for gentlemen which met on the night of the full moon in order to have light to see their way home. Other members included Josiah Wedgwood. His political leanings in supporting the French Revolution led to a mob at Birmingham breaking into his house and destroying his library and laboratory. He then moved to Hackney near London and in 1794 he removed to America, where he was heartily received at Northumberland in Pennsylvania, one of his sons was already living nearby. He died in America 6th February 1804, and is looked upon as one of the Founding Fathers of America.
This year (2004) is the 200th anniversary of his death, and various celebrations are taking place both in Leeds, Birstall, Birmingham and later in the Autumn in Philadelphia.

Submitted by Alan Longbottom

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