Early Life
From
Familia Minorum Gentium, Volume 1, page 1:
Joshua Kirby of Wakefield, co. York, Clerk; the first Preacher of the Cambden Lecture in that town; silenced by the
Act of Uniformity 1662; b. in London, bp. there 2nd June 1617; of New Inn Hall, Oxford; B.A. 1637; M.A. 1640; d. 9th June 1676, & was bur. in his own Garden at Wakefield. Will 30 May 1674; to each of my brother Curtis' daughters; to Thos. Roebuck's widow.
He was actually baptised on the 9th of June, at
St Stephen Walbrook in London. His parents were
Francis Kirby and
Susan Downing.
As mentioned above, Joshua went to Oxford in 1634; his
entry in
Alumni Oxonienses (which is keyed under 'Kirkby (Kerby)') reads:
s. Francis, of London, gent. New Inn Hall, matric. 20 June, 1634, aged 17; B.A. 19 Oct., 1637, M.A. 11 June, 1640; admitted to Merchant Taylors' school 1628, imprisoned for praying publicly for Charles I., became an eminent nonconformist, sequestered or intruded to rectory of Eastwicke, Herts, Oct. 1645, but resigned before May 1646, minister of Roade, Hants, 1646, curate of Putney 1648, lecturer of Wakefield, Yorks, 1650, where he died 21 June, 1676, aged 59. See Calamy, iii. 454; Robinson, i. 125; & Add. MSS. 15,669-70.
The
Wakefield And Alverthorpe Congregational Church History up to 1868 notes the following, sometimes contradictory, information:
Mention has been made of a congregation which was gathered at Alverthorpe. Rev. Christopher Richardson, ejected from Kirkheaton, retired to his own house, Lassell Hall, where he preached on Sundays, and held a lecture once a month. This must have been considerably after 1672, for after the issuing of the Act of Indulgence, Richardson preached for some time in Castle Hey, Harrington Street, Liverpool. Among the ejected ministers in the neighbourhood was the
Rev. Joshua Kirby, Camden lecturer at the parish church.
"This brave and conscientious man was expelled from one living because he could not sign the solemn league and covenant;' he was driven from another because he could not sign the agreement;' and from his lectureship at Wakefield parish church because he could, not obey the Act of Uniformity.' When he was in the south, he was imprisoned at Lambeth; when he came into the north, he was im prisoned at York. He would publicly pray for King Charles in exile in the days of the Commonwealth, and he would not pray at all out of the prayer-book in the days of the Monarchy. Kirby was a substantial preacher, quoting Scripture very abundantly in his sermons. He was a very holy man, of inflexible principle, and was remarkable for the plainness of his attire. After his removal by the Act of Uniformity, he preached in his own house. Heywood often visited and assisted him. He died under a sentence of excommunication June 12, 1676, æt. 59, and was buried in his own garden, as was his wife after him."
Kirby was, after his fashion, a poet. Many specimens of his verses are still extant. An example or two may be given:-
"It yields joy now, and will do evermore,
To go to prison on my Master's score;
Whose honourable cause and pleasant face
Made me forget a prison was disgrace.
I never knew what Heaven was till I knew
The favours which in prison God does throw.
Prisons declare what pulpits are forbid,
And truth breaks out the more, the more 'tis hid.'
Again-
"Shall I recant, and wheel about and turn,
That I may say, un worthy right hand burn ?
Shall I deny my Lord, in hope that I
May go with Peter, and weep bitterly ?
Shall I, the fury of a man to shun,
Under the terror of Jehovah run ?
Shall I, when God says preach, and men say nay,
Take time to study whether to obey ?
Shall I, to feed a carcase that must die,
Nourish a worm to all eternity ?"
...
Kirby died in 1677. After his death his widow [Mary Balam], who survived him for twelve years, continued to hold the meetings at her house.
Joshua married
Mary Balam and had eight children:
- Susanna, b. in London, married ___ Wilson of Wakefield
- Elizabeth, b. in London, married Samuel Sprint of Little Britain
- Phoebe, who married John Wadsworth of Horbury
- Camdena, b. at Wakefield and baptised 1653; married John Wordsworth/Wadsworth of Wakefield & Horbury1
- Welcome, bapt. 1655; married Samuel Wadsworth2
- Godsgift, bapt. 16583, died aged 28
- Twin, bapt. 1661; married John Raner of Cold-Heindley
- Joshua, died in infancy
FMG quotes a poem by Joshua about his children:
Mary did wisely choose the better part
Susanna did her own to Christ impart
Elizabeth religiously did live
Phoebe did succour unto many give
Camdena of my foundress remindeth me
Welcome expresses what a child should be
Godsgift both fathers names may bear and spread
Twin is the living monument of my dead
Joshua rejoiceth in his Saviour's name, Believeth,
Preacheth and suffers for the same.
Death
FMG has Joshua dying on the 9
th of June 1676; the
Wakefield Church History quoted above gives a date of 12
th of June which perhaps was actually the date of burial.
Footnotes
[1] Not clear if/how this John Wordsworth was related to the
John Wadsworth who married Camdena's sister
Phoebe.
[2] The elder brother of the
John Wadsworth who married
Phoebe, Welcome's sister
[3] For some reason,
FMG gives his baptism as 10 Jan 1637 which must be wrong because he appears to have been the sixth child (based on the order in the poem quoted above), not the first
1617 - 1676 (59 years)
