Lockyer, Nicholas (1611-03-25 - 1684-03-13)

Nicholas Lockyer, the son of William Lockyer of Glastonbury, matriculated from New Inn Hall, Oxford, in 1631; he graduated B.A. in 1633. He migrated to Emmanuel College, Cambridge and proceeded M.A. in 1636, returning to Oxford in 1654 to take his B.Th. Lockyer supported the parliamentarians during the civil war and occasionally preached to the Commons. He was appointed chaplain to Oliver Cromwell in 1649, and the following year was presented to the living of Farnham Royal. He was sent to Scotland to preach to parliamentary commissioners in 1651, where he offended Scottish presbyterians with his sermon (“A Little Stone out of the Mountain”, 1652) in favour of congregationalism. He served as preacher at Whitehall during Barebone’s Parliament in 1653 and as a commissioner for the approbation of public preachers in 1655. He was made provost of Eton College in 1659 and preached at the London parishes of St Benet Sherehog and St Pancras, Soper Lane during this time. He was expelled as provost of Eton upon the Restoration and fled to Rotterdam in 1666 to escape prosecution under the Act of Uniformity; he briefly returned to England in 1669 before returning the the Netherlands the following year after the publication of the pro-toleration tract “Some Seasonable and Serious Queries upon the Late Act Against Conventicles.” Upon his return to England he preached at St Michael Street, London before moving to Woodford in Essex. Lockyer died on 13 March 1685 in Woodford. He had six children — Cornelius, Aholiabah, Rebecca, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Abigail — with his wife, whose name is unknown.