John Biddle

John Biddle (1615-1662), English religious reformer, born in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, and educated at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. Generally regarded as the founder of Unitarianism in England, Biddle was imprisoned for a short time in 1645 for having written a denial of the deity of the Holy Spirit. The published statement of this opinion was burned in 1647 by order of Parliament. Later publications of his views, which denied the doctrine of the Trinity, were also suppressed, and only by the intervention of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, did Biddle escape execution as a heretic. Thereafter he was imprisoned and he died in jail.