Nesbitt (Nesbet, Nisbit), John (1661-10-06 - 1727-10-22)

John Nesbitt was born in Northumberland on 6 October 1661. He enrolled at Richard Frankland’s academy in c.1674-75 before attending Edinburgh University; he is likely the “John Nisbett” who graduated from Edinburgh in March 1680. He served as usher at a school in Bishop’s Hall, Bethnall Green kept by Thomas Walton, and worked as a tutor the Richardson family in Mile End. In 1684 he was arrested on suspicion of complicity with the Rye House Plot and was imprisoned in Marshalsea for four months; he left for the Netherlands upon his release, where he occasionally preached to the English congregation at Utrecht in 1688. Nesbitt returned to London after the Revolution, becoming a member of Stepney Independent Church in 1690. In 1691 he became pastor of the Independent church in Hare Court, Aldersgate Street, London, where he remained for thirty years. He was appointed manager of the Common Fund in 1692 and was elected to a merchants’ lectureship at Pinners’ Hall in 1697. He published six sermons and collaborated on “A Declaration Against Antinomian Errors” (1699). Nesbitt died on 22 October 1727 at age 66 and was buried at Bunhill Fields. He was survived by his wife Elizabeth (née Chauncy) and their son Robert Nesbitt (d.1761). Note regarding linked sermons: The connection to Pinners' Hall is based on the DWL cataloguer's conjectures regarding MS 24.150. MS. 28.13 identifies him as Independent (i.e. Congregationalist) pastor of the church at Hare Court, Aldersgate St., London.