[2] Philip's mother, Elizabeth,[3] considered to have been the greater influence on him, was the orphan daughter of the Rev John Bauman (d. 1675),[4] a Lutheran clergyman who had fled from Prague to escape religious persecution, during the unsettled period following the flight of the Elector Palatine.

In England, the Rev John Bauman (sometimes written Bowerman) was appointed master of the grammar school at Kingston upon Thames.

Before Philip could read, his mother began to teach him the history of the Old and New Testament from blue Dutch chimney-tiles on the chimney place of their sitting room.

[1] In his youth, Philip Doddridge was educated first by a tutor employed by his parent then boarded at a private school in London.

Doddridge preached at the funeral of his older friend in 1750, remarking: "To him under God I owe even myself and all my opportunities of public usefulness in the church.

[7] With independent religious leanings, Doddridge declined offers which would have led him into the Anglican ministry or a career in law; and in 1719, with Clarke's support, chose instead to enter the Dissenting academy at Kibworth in Leicestershire.

Later that year, at a general meeting of Nonconformist ministers, Doddridge was chosen to conduct the academy being newly established a few miles away at Market Harborough.

Throughout the 1730s and 1740s Doddridge continued his academic and pastoral work, and developed close relations with numerous early religious revivalists and independents, through extensive visits and correspondence.

Through this approach he helped establish and maintain a circle of influential independent religious thinkers and writers, including Isaac Watts.

However, these multifarious labours led to so many engagements and bulky correspondence as to interfere seriously both with his preaching and academic duties (he had some 200 students to whom he lectured on philosophy and theology, in the mathematical or Spinozistic style).

Doddridge used this subscription-funded Youth's Scheme to attach a preparatory school to Northampton Academy, initially with six students.

[14] Doddridge worked towards a united Nonconformist body that would have wide appeal, retaining highly cultured elements without alienating those less educated.

His other well-known works include: The Family Expositor[15] (6 vols., 1739–1756); Life of Colonel Gardiner (1747); and a Course of Lectures on Pneumatology, Ethics and Divinity (1763).

John Wesley stated, in the Preface to his Notes on the New Testament, that he was indebted to "the Family Expositor of the late pious and learned Dr. Doddridge" for some "useful observations".