John Ryland

On 13 September 1767 he was baptised in the River Nene, near Northampton, and, after preaching at small gatherings of Baptists from 1769, was formally admitted into the ministry on 10 March 1771.

Until his twenty-fifth year he assisted his father in his school at Northampton, and in 1781 was associated with him in the charge of his church.

He joined, on 2 October 1792, in founding the Baptist Missionary Society, and acted as its secretary from 1815 until his death at Bristol on 25 May 1825.

[1] A convinced Calvinist throughout his life, Ryland moved from the high Calvinism of his father[2] to an evangelical Calvinist position, under the influence of his long-term correspondent John Newton,[3] and the writings of the American theologian Jonathan Edwards.

Ninety-nine Hymns and Verses on Sacred Subjects, mainly from unpublished manuscripts, with a biographical sketch, were published in 1862.

His second wife was Frances, eldest daughter of William Barrett of Northampton, whom he married on 18 June 1789.