Law, William (1686-03-25 - 1761-04-09)

William Law was born in King’s Cliffe, Northamptonshire in 1686 (bap. 3 February 1687) to Thomas Law (d.1714), grocer and chandler, and his wife Margaret Farmery (d.1718). He was admitted sizer of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1705, graduating B.A. in 1708. He was ordained deacon in 1710, elected fellow of the college in 1711, and proceeded M.A. in 1712. His degrees were temporarily degraded after he spoke favourably about to the Pretender James Stuart in a tripos speech delivered in 1713, although his M.A. was restored the following month. He was licensed as curate at Haslingfield in 1711; he was appointed moderator for 1714-15 and Barnaby lecturer in rhetoric for 1715. In 1716 he refused the abjuration oath, losing his fellowship and his ecclesiastical career. From 1723-37 Law served as private tutor to Edward Gibbon in Putney. He was ordained priest by nonjuring bishop Henry Gandy in 1728, retaining all the while his Jacobite allegiance. Law was a prolific writer on spiritual topics; from 1737 onwards his works reflect the influence of the German protestant mystic Jacob Boehme, of whom Law was a devotee. He left London and retired at King’s Cliffe in 1740. He collaborated on charitable initiatives with the widow Elizabeth Hutcheson, founding a school for poor girls in 1727 and a library of pious books for public use in 1752. Law died on 9 April 1791 in King’s Cliffe and was buried in All Saint’s churchyard.