Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/109

 of the split. His personal orthodoxy is placed beyond question by his pamphlet of 1721, but he underrated the consequences of the division.

Oldfield had Benjamin Grosvenor, D.D. [q. v.], as his assistant at Globe Alley from 1700 till 1704. He then took the whole duty; but his congregation dwindled, till in 1721 it was revived by the appointment of Obadiah Hughes, D.D. [q. v.], as co-pastor. In April 1723 Oldfield was made one of the original agents for the distribution of the English regium donum. Late in life he had an apoplectic seizure, fell, and lost an eye. Otherwise he had good health, and under all reverses was patient and cheerful. He died on 8 Nov. 1729; funeral sermons were preached by William Harris [q. v.], and by Hughes. At Dr. Williams's Library, Gordon Square, London, are a crayon portrait of him, and an oil-painting, which is engraved in Wilson's ‘Dissenting Churches.’

He published five separate sermons (1699–1721), including a thanksgiving sermon for the union with Scotland (1707) and a funeral sermon for Fleming (1716); also: 1. ‘An Essay towards the Improvement of Human Reason in the Pursuit of Learning and Conduct of Life,’ &c., 1707, 8vo. 2. ‘A Brief, Practical and Pacific Discourse of God; and of the Father, Son, and Spirit,’ &c., 1721, 8vo; 2nd edit. with appendix, same year.

[Funeral sermons by Harris and Hughes, 1730; Calamy's Abridgement, 1713, pp. 551 sq. (documents connected with Oldfield's prosecution), and Own Life, 1830, i. 223, 264, 402, ii. 187, 363, 410 sq., 439, 465, 525; Protestant Dissenters' Mag., 1799, p. 13; Wilson's Dissenting Churches of London, 1808, i. 78, 1814, iv. 160 sq., 392; Dunton's Life, 1818, ii, 678 sq. (the ‘narrative of the Scotch commencement’ is untrustworthy); Bogue and Bennett's Hist. of Dissenters, 1833, ii. 213 sq.; Sibree and Caston's Independency in Warwickshire, 1855, pp. 34 sq.; Cat. of Edinburgh Graduates, 1858, p. 239; Waddington's Surrey Congregational Hist. 1866, p. 312; Jeremy's Presbyterian Fund, 1885, pp. 102 sq.; Manuscript Minutes of Nottingham Classis; extract from Carsington Register, per the Rev. F. H. Brett.]

 OLDFIELD, THOMAS (1755–1799), major royal marines, third son of Humphrey Oldfield, an officer in her majesty's marine forces, was born at Stone, Staffordshire, on 21 June 1756. His mother was a daughter of Major-general Nicholls, of the Honourable East India Company's service. His father died in America shortly after the affair of Bunker's Hill. Oldfied accompanied his father to America in the autumn of 1774, or in the following spring. He served as a volunteer with the marine battalion at Bunker's Hill on 17 June 1775. In this action he was twice wounded, and his wrist was permanently injured. After the action Oldfield accepted a commission in a provincial corps -it is believed Tarleton‘s legion. In 1775 he took up a commission in the royal marines which was intended for his brother, although it was by an error made out in his name.

Oldfield, who did not join the marines until the close of the American war, served with the 83rd regiment at the seige of Charleston, South Carolinia, in 1780. He was promoted to a first lieutenancy in the royal marines on 16 April 1778, and, being distinguished by his intelligence and gallantry, was placed on the stall of the quartermaster-general's department. As deputy assistant-quartermaster-general he was attached to the headquarters of the Marquis (then Lord) Cornwallis and to lord Rawdon (afterwards Marquis of Hastings). He was constantly engaged under their immediate eye, and the repeatedly bore testimony to his zeal, gallantry, and ability. Oldfield was taken prisoner with Lord Cornwallis at the capitalation of Yorktown.

At the termination of the war Oldfield went to England, and was quartered at Portsmouth, when he purchased a small place in the parish of Westbourne. He named it O1dfield Lawn, and it is still in possession of the family. In 1788 Oldfield went to the West Indies, returning in very bad health. In 1798 he was promoted captain, and again went to the West Indies in the Sceptre, 64 guns, Captain Dacres. In 1794 Oldfield commanded the royal marines landed from the squadron to co-operate with the army in the island of St. Domingo. Oldfield distinguished himself on every occasion that offered. In storming one of the enemy's works at Cape Nicholas mole, he was the first to enter it, and with his own hand struck the enemy's colours, which are now in possession of the family. He returned to England in the autumn of 1795 in precarious health.

In 1796 Oldfield was employed on the recruiting service at Manchester and Warrington. The following year he embarked on board the Theseus, 74 guns, and sailed to join the squadron under the orders of the Earl of Saincent of Cadiz. Upon the Theseus reaching her destination she became the flagship of Nelson, then a rear-admiral. Oldfield was engaged in two bombardments of Cadiz in June 1797, in one of which he was wounded while in the host with the admiral.

Immediately after the second bombard-