Ezekiel Blomfield

[1][2][3] While his parents were poor Ezekiel showed determination for acquiring knowledge and by the age of 10 he was collecting information for a ‘Table of Chronological Events' and a ‘System of Natural History.’ His interest in the phenomena of nature was influenced by reading Evenings at Home, which was a popular series of books by John Aikin and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld, which considered the principles of "botany, zoology, numbers, change of state in chemistry ... the money system, the calendar, geography, meteorology, agriculture, political economy, geology, [and] astronomy".

In 1796 Ezekiel decided to become to be a minister of the gospel and was accepted at the non-conformist Homerton Academy,[1][6] where he studied under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Fisher.

[7] After four years training at Homerton Academy Ezekiel accepted a congregation at Wymondham in Norfolk where he preached and established Sunday schools and missionary societies.

He wrote works commissioned by Charles Brightley, a printer of Bungay, Suffolk.

[1] Five of the daughters eventually migrated to New Zealand, another spent time in Tahiti; with four marrying missionaries: Ezekiel Blomfield published books on natural history and religious matters including: