Daniel Burgess

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Daniel Burgess (1645-1713), English Presbyterian divine, was born at Staines, in Middlesex, where his father was minister. He was educated under Richard Busby at Westminster School, and in 1660 was sent to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, but not being able conscientiously to subscribe the necessary formulae, he quit the university without taking his degree.

In 1667, after taking holy orders, he was appointed by Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, to the headmastership of a school recently established by that nobleman at Charleville, County Cork, and soon after he became private chaplain to Lady Mervin, near Dublin. There he was ordained by the local presbytery, and on returning to England was imprisoned for preaching at Marlborough. He soon regained his liberty, and went to London, where he speedily gathered a large and influential congregation, as much by the somewhat excessive fervour of his piety as by the vivacious illustrations which he frequently employed in his sermons.

He was a master of epigram, and theologically inclined to Calvinism. The Henry Sacheverell mob gutted his chapel in 1710, but the government repaired the building. Besides preaching, he gave instruction to private pupils, of whom the most distinguished was Henry St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke.

His son, Daniel Burgess (d. 1747), was secretary to Caroline of Ansbach, Princess of Wales, and in 1723 obtained a regium donum or government grant of 500 half-yearly for dissenting ministers.