Description

Henry Newcome (1627-1695), was an English nonconformist preacher and activist. His ministry was exceedingly popular. He became a member of the first presbyterian classis of Lancashire, and sat as delegate in the Lancashire provincial assembly in 1658 and 1659. The Restoration was fatal to his preferment. The constitution (1635) of Manchester collegiate church, which had been subverted in 1645, was restored, and three new fellows were installed (17 Sept. 1660). He remained in Manchester till the Five Mile Act came into force (25 March 1666), and then removed to Ellenbrook, in Worsley parish, Lancashire. He took out a licence (21 April) under the indulgence of 1672, and preached publicly, first in his own house, and then in a licensed barn (at Cold House, near Shudehill) after evening church hours. These services were interrupted in 1674 and discontinued in 1676, but he remained in Manchester, performing such private ministrations as he could. By the 1690's Newcome had abandoned his presbyterianism, and entered into a ministerial alliance on the basis of the London union of 1690.