author
Samuel Wesley
1662–1735
An Anglican clergyman, poet, and controversial prose writer, he is remembered both for his own lively literary work and as the father of John and Charles Wesley. His career moved from dissenting beginnings to the rectory at Epworth, where family life and faith would leave a lasting mark on English religious history.
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About the author
Born in 1662, he was educated first in dissenting circles and then at Exeter College, Oxford, after breaking with the nonconformist path of his family. He became known early as a writer, publishing Maggots in 1685, a witty collection that helped announce his literary voice.
He later entered the Church of England and, from the late 1690s, served as rector of Epworth in Lincolnshire. Alongside parish work, he kept writing poetry and prose, including The Life of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, a large devotional poem that showed both ambition and strong religious feeling.
He died in 1735, but his place in history reaches beyond his own books. As the husband of Susanna Wesley and the father of John and Charles Wesley, he stands close to the roots of the Methodist story, while still being a noteworthy writer in his own right.