Tewkesbury Academy

The Dissenting academy in Tewkesbury was an important centre of learning for the Protestant Non-conformists in the early 18th century. It was run by Samuel Jones, and its students included both Dissenters such as Samuel Chandler and those who became significant Establishment figures such as Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Secker and Joseph Butler.

The Dissenting academies were an important part of England’s educational systems. It was difficult for any but practising members of the Church of England to gain admission to the old universities: Cambridge and Oxford. English Dissenters included nonconformist Protestants who could not in good conscience subscribe to the articles of the Church of England, but also Quakers, Roman Catholics, and Jews. As their sons were debarred from preparing for the ministry or the professions in the universities, many of them attended the dissenting academies.

After finishing his education at Leiden, Samuel Jones moved to Gloucester, opening his academy in the Barton Street house of Henry Wintle, a Presbyterian. From the outset, the Academy was popular; over its short existence, it was to educate around one hundred students, mostly for the dissenting ministries, making it the largest academy of its type in the south of England. Jones's learning in Jewish antiquities and reformed theology encouraged students from across the country to attend his lectures.

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