Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/431

  [Annual Biography and Obituary, 1824; Miller's Biographical Sketches of British Characters recently deceased, 2 vols. 1826, gives an account of the engraved portraits of Angerstein; Young's Catalogue of the celebrated Collection of Pictures of the late John Julius Angerstein, fol. London, 1823; Percy Anecdotes, Sholto and Reuben Percy, 1820; National Gallery Catalogue, Introduction to Foreign Schools.]  ANGERVILLE, RICHARD. [See .]

ANGIER, JOHN (1605–1677), nonconformist divine, was a native of Dedham, in Essex, where he was baptised 8 Oct. 1605. His father settled his and his three brothers' callings according to their boyish ambitions, and John at his own desire was brought up to be a preacher. Even at the age of twelve he was a grave child; but during his stay at Cambridge as an undergraduate of Emanuel College 'he fell off to vain company and loose practices.' After he had taken his B.A. degree his father died while he was from home, and whilst staying subsequently at his mother's house he came under the influence of John Rogers, of Dedham, one of the most forcible of the puritan preachers, who used to take hold of the supporters of the pulpit canopy and roar hideously to represent the torments of the damned. Angier resided for some time with Rogers, and afterwards with a Mr. Witham, who was a better scholar than preacher. Next we find him boarding, studying, and sometimes preaching, at the house of John Cotton, of Boston, which was a place of great resort for puritan divines. Here he met Ellen Winstanley, a native of Wigan, the niece of Mrs. Cotton, and married her at Boston church 16 April 1628. After the birth of his first son he had almost decided upon going with other ministers to New England; but before this intended departure he made a journey into Lancashire to his wife's relations. He preached a sermon at Bolton, and one of the hearers got from him a promise to preach at Ringley chapel, which he did. In spite of his swooning in the pulpit on this occasion, the Ringley people were determined to have Angier as their pastor, and in September 1630 he accepted their call, and settled with them. Ecclesiastically his case was a peculiar one. By the interest of Cotton he was ordained by Lewis Bayley, bishop of Bangor, but without subscription; and he remained a nonconformist to the Anglican ceremonies to the end of his days. His diocesan was Bridgman, bishop of Chester, who dealt with him in a spirit so mild as to provoke the rebuke of Laud. Angier was, however, suspended from Ringley after about eighteen months' service. Denton chapelry was at this time vacant by the suspension of its puritan minister, and the choice of the people was directed towards 'the little man' at Ringley, who settled with them in 1632, and remained their pastor, with some interruptions, caused by the troubles of the time, for more than forty-five years. He was twice excommunicated, and his congregation often were disturbed by the ruling powers. It was thought that he had some hand in a book reflecting on Laud, which was discovered at Stockport; but in his diary he professed his innocence of it. However, although subject to frequent annoyance, Angier escaped any greater persecution. His first wife, a pious and sickly woman, died in December 1642, leaving him a son and two daughters. By her deathbed suggestion Angier, a year later, married Margaret Mosley, of Ancoats, whose family were of great local consideration, and held the lordship of the manor of Manchester. They were married in 1643 'very publicly in Manchester church, in the heat of the wars, which was noticed as an act of faith in them both.' She died in 1675. Angier's own daughter, by his desire, was betrothed to Oliver Heywood, a month before their marriage in Denton chapel in 1655, and after the final ceremony he entertained about a hundred guests at his table, for he said he loved to have a marriage like a marriage. When the episcopal constitution of the church was abolished, he had many calls to places of greater moment than Denton, and his former congregation at Ringley endeavoured to recover him. The friendly contest between the two congregations was referred to the judgment of ministers, who decided that Angier should stay in his latest settlement. When the presbyterian form of church government was established in Lancashire, he often acted as moderator of the 'classis,' and attended the provincial assembly, and had ruling elders in his own congregation. His presbyterianism was of a moderate kind, and he incurred some blame amongst the more ardent brethren for the breadth of his views as to church discipline. He signed the document known as the 'Harmonious Consent,' issued in 1648, in which the presbyterian ministers denounce in no measured terms the notion of 'an universal toleration of all the pernicious errors, blasphemous and heretical doctrines broached in these times.' Whatever doubts he had as to episcopacy, he had none about monarchy; he testified against the execution of Charles I, and refused to sign the engagement to be true to the commonwealth of England as established