Alleine (Allen), Richard (1611-01-01 - 1681-12-22)

The son of Richard, rector of Ditcheat, Somerset, where he was born in c. 1611. He matriculated at St. Alban Hall, Oxford on 15 October 1630, aged 19. He gained his BA on 20 June 1631, and his MA from New Inn Hall, Oxford on 29 April 1634. He was ordained as a priest in 1633/4 and licensed to preach in Somerset in 1635. Thereafter he served as chaplain to Sir Ralph Hopton. In March 1641 he became rector of Batcombe, Somerset. He and his father were appointed as assistants to the commissioners of the parliament for ejecting scandalous ministers. However, when the Act of Uniformity, came he joined the "scandalous ministers" and was himself ejected from his living in 1662, termed "a preacher up of sedition, a zealous covenanteer [sic]". In 1672, he was licensed as a Presbyterian to preach in Beckington, Somerset. His book "Vindiciae pietatis, or, A vindication of godliness" was denied a license by Sheldon, but was published without in 1663 and again in 1664. This would be followed by two more volumes of the same work and other works. He died on 22 September 1681 at Frome, Somerset. His daughter, Theodosia, married another minister, Joseph Alleine and oversaw the publication of "The Life and death of ... Joseph Alleine" (London: 1671) to which Richard Alleine contributed a chapter.