5 Joseph Priestley and the Complexities of Latitudinarianism in the 1770s

Abstract This chapter examines one of the most significant ways in which, through his published work and unpublished correspondence, Priestley had constructed for himself a reputation as a forceful and at times acerbic author. Its chosen method of so doing involves a particular illumination of one of the best known religious and political phenomena of the 18th century: the affinity between Anglican latitudinarianism and Protestant dissent, an affinity developed in response to the perception of a common threat from high churchmen of the generation of Francis Atterbury (1663–1732) and Henry Sacheverell (1674?-1724). Even with the mid-century decline of party strife at the national level, many local constituency conflicts were still fuelled by a clash of interests between those of a high church persuasion, and an alliance of low churchmen and dissenters. It is argued that during the 1770s that alliance was placed under considerable pressure, and that the complexities which it involved can be illustrated by focusing on the controversy between Priestley and Benjamin Dawson (1729–1814), at that time the rector of Burgh in Suffolk.