Bridwell Library.

Thomas Haweis was born to Thomas and Bridgeman (Willyams) Haweis in Redruth, Cornwall, England on January 1, 1734. His father died in 1744, leading him to relocate with his mother to Carnanton, where they lived with her widowed brother and his son. Haweis attended Truro Grammar School under George Conon and then apprenticed briefly to a surgeon. After being converted under the preaching of Samuel Walker, Haweis felt called to ministry. He studied at Oxford beginning in 1755 and obtained ordination as a deacon in 1757. His first appointment was as Curate of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford. Although his Evangelical preaching raised controversy, Haweis was ordained a priest the following year. By 1762 he had gained many political enemies in Oxford. John Hume, the newly appointed Bishop of Oxford, expelled him from the city, promising to appoint him to another location of his choosing.

Haweis went to London and met a sympathetic friend in Martin Madan, who offered him a position as Assistant Chaplain in the Lock Hospital, a center for the treatment of venereal diseases. Through Madan he learned of an open position at the parish of All-Saints, Aldwincle, in 1764. This position he took and held for the rest of his life. Controversy continued to dog him: John Kimpton, who sponsored the position and had fallen into debt, attempted to oust him. Madan and others defended Haweis, while Kimpton was saved from debtors’ prison by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, who purchased the sponsorship of Aldwincle herself in 1768.

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