Pierce, Edward (1631-01-01 - 1694-09-02)

Edward Pierce (alternatively Pierse) was born in Wales and matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford in 1650; he graduated B.A. in 1655 and proceeded M.A. in 1657. He was ordained priest in 1659 and may have taken up the rectorship of St Michael, Crooked Lane, London in the late 1650s. Pierce acted as vicar of St Sepulchre’s, Northampton between 1660 and 1663, although he as never formally instituted. He briefly served as vicar of Duston in 1662-3, resigning in 1663 to become rector of both Aldwincle All Saints and Cottesbrooke. He wrote against the persecution of dissent in the 1680s, publishing “The Conformists Plea for the Nonconformists” in 1681 and three further pleas in 1682 and 1683. He was married twice: first to Lucy (d.1665) and then to Elizabeth Langham (1632/3–1705), the latter of whom bore two sons and five daughters. Pierce died on 2 September 1694 at Cottesbrooke and was buried in the chancel of the church.