Jennifer Farooq
ODNB (Article: 28888)
Born in Southampton, the son of Isaac Watts, clothier and dissenter, and Sarah (née Tanton). Educated at Thomas Rowe's Dissenting Academy in Little Britain, London, 1690-1694. DD from the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, 1728. Tutor to Sir John Hartopp's son at Newington, 1696-1702. Assistant pastor at the Mark Lane Congregationalist meetinghouse, London, 1699-1702. Pastor at Mark Lane, London, 1702-4. His congregation moved to Pinners' Hall, London in 1704, and then to Duke's Place, Bury Street, St Mary Axe, London in 1708. Joined by a co-pastor, Samuel Price, in 1713. Between 1712 and 1733, Watts divided his time between a house in London and Theobalds House, Hertfordshire, which were owned by Sir Thomas Abney. After Abney's death in 1733, he moved with the family to Abney Park, Stoke Newington, where he lived until his death.