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 as pastor of the presbyterian congregation in Spinner Lane, King's Lynn, Norfolk. In this charge he remained till his death, but his situation as a dissenting minister was not altogether happy; he felt himself ‘neither fit for church nor meeting.’ Tendencies to antinomianism distressed him; he preached on the subject to a ministers' meeting at Nottingham (26 June 1718), and had the warm approval of his brethren; but his congregation was divided on the matter. The disputes at Salters' Hall in 1719 [see ] led him to study both sides of the current trinitarian controversy, with the result that he thought James Peirce [q. v.] was in the right. He died on 18 Aug. 1727, aged 78, and was buried in St. Nicholas's Chapel, King's Lynn; his gravestone bears a Latin inscription written by his son William (see below).

Rastrick published ‘An Account of the Nonconformity of John Rastrick … in a Letter to a Friend,’ 1705, 8vo (the friend was Edmund Calamy [q. v.], and the letter is given as an appendix to Defence of Moderate Nonconformity, pt. iii. 1705, 8vo). In the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ xxiii. 1702–3, and xxxii. 1722–3, are three letters from Rastrick to Ralph Thoresby [q. v.], giving account of Roman coins and other antiquities found in Lincolnshire. Among Rastrick's unpublished manuscripts the Lynn historian Richards mentions and uses his ‘Plain and Easy Principles of Christian Obedience,’ and some poetical pieces of no merit (one of these Richards had printed in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1789). His name is sometimes spelled Raistrick.

(d. 1752), the only surviving son, succeeded his father as preacher to the Spinner Lane congregation, King's Lynn. He declined the pastorate, and seems to have been never ordained, exchanging with the Wisbech minister on communion days. He lived a very retired life, with a high reputation for personal excellence. He died early in August 1752, and was buried on 9 Aug. in St. Nicholas's Chapel, King's Lynn. He published a plan of King's Lynn, and views of its principal buildings. In the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ (xxxv. 1727–8) is a record of his observations of the aurora borealis for four years at King's Lynn. He prepared also an ‘Index eorum Theologorum aliorumque no 2257, qui propter Legem Uniformitatis, Aug. 24 Anno 1662, ab Ecclesia Anglicana secesserunt.’ Of this an autograph copy was presented (with a Latin dedication) to Edmund Calamy, D.D., and was lent by Edmund Calamy (1743–1816) to Samuel Palmer (1741–1813) [q. v.] A transcript, in two different hands, dated 1734, was in the possession of William Richards, LL.D. (1749–1819) [q. v.], and is now in St. Margaret's Library, King's Lynn.

[Rastrick's Account of his Nonconformity, 1705; Calamy's Account, 1714, p. 461; Gent. Mag. 1789, ii. 977, 1033; Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, 1802, i. xv. ii. 436 sq.; Richards's History of Lynn, 1812, ii. 1050 sq.; Monthly Repository, 1815, pp. 601 sq.; Graduati Cantabrigienses, 1823, p. 388; Miall's Congregationalism in Yorkshire, 1868, p. 341; Browne's Hist. Congr. Norf. and Suff. 1877, p. 345; extracts from Heckington Parish Register, per the Rev. E. G. Allison; information from the Rev. U. V. Herford, Lynn.] 

RASTRICK, JOHN URPETH (1780–1856), civil engineer, eldest son of John Rastrick, engineer and machinist, was born at Morpeth, Northumberland on 26 Jan. 1780, and was at the age of fifteen articled to his father. About 1801 he entered the Ketley ironworks in Shropshire to gain experience in the use of cast iron for machinery. Soon after he became a partner with Mr. Hazeldine of Bridgnorth, as a mechanical engineer, taking special charge of the iron foundry. During the partnership he continued to practise independently as a civil engineer. In 1814 he took out a patent for a steam engine (No. 3799), and soon engaged in experiments on traction for railways. In 1815–16 he built a cast-iron bridge, with 112-ft. span, over the Wye at Chepstow. On the death of Hazeldine about 1817, he became the managing partner in the firm of Bradley, Foster, Rastrick & Co., ironfounders and manufacturers of machinery at Stourbridge, Worcestershire, taking the principal engineering part in the design and construction of rolling mills, steam-engines, and other large works. At this time he designed ironworks at Chillington, near Wolverhampton, and at Shut End, near Stourbridge. In January 1825 he was engaged by the promoters of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, along with George Stephenson and others, to visit collieries in the north of England and report on their tramroads and engines. In the following April he was the first witness called before the parliamentary committee in support of the railway company, which was opposed by the canal companies. The evidence he gave on the use of locomotive engines helped to secure a favourable report. From that time he was employed to support in parliament a large portion of the principal lines of railway in the United Kingdom. In 1826 and 1827 he constructed a line