Nicholas Lockyer

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Nicholas Lockyer (1611–1685) was an English clergyman and Independent minister who supported Oliver Cromwell and later became a nonconformist. He was the son of William Lockyer of Glastonbury, Somerset.

He began his education at Oxford in 1631, studying at New Inn Hall and earning a BA in 1633. He moved to Cambridge in 1635, and in 1636 he took his MA at Emmanuel College.

When the Civil War began, Lockyer joined the Parliament’s side, taking the covenant and becoming known as a fiery preacher. He was often asked to give the fast sermon before the House of Commons. Cromwell made him his chaplain and in 1650 made him a fellow of Eton College. In 1651 Cromwell sent him to Scotland as a preacher with the parliamentary commissioners.

In 1653 he was made a member of a plan to eject and settle ministers; after that scheme failed, he was chosen as a commissioner for approving public preachers. He earned a BD at Oxford in 1654 and became Provost of Eton in 1659. After the Restoration he was ejected from his positions. He served as a preacher at St Pancras and as rector of St Benet Sherehog, London, but was deprived of these roles in 1662.

Lockyer refused to follow the Uniformity Act of 1662 and had to leave England, living in Rotterdam from 1666. In 1670 he left again after anonymously publishing Some Seasonable Queries upon the late Act against Conventicles, but he continued to exercise his ministry. He eventually settled at Woodford, Essex, where he died on 13 March 1685 and was buried at St Mary, Whitechapel. He left a son, Cornelius, and five daughters, and he owned considerable property.

He published three notable works around 1643. In 1651 he preached in Edinburgh on the visible church, later published as A little Stone out of the Mountain: Church Order briefly opened (Leith, 1652). This offended Scottish Presbyterians and was answered by James Wood in 1654. He also published two fast sermons delivered before the House of Commons in 1646 and 1659.