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Life
?1635-1685; Baptist nonconformist; b. Brinny nr. Cork; of Catholic parents; educated by a benevolent landlord; employed as clerk to pilchard fisherman who persuaded him to convert bringing him into so much obloquy that he moved to England; dg. of Baptist minister and did translations for a living; wrote the Plea for the Non-Conformist (1683) a part of which was construed as libel, resulting in his imprisonment in Newgate, where his wife and children died of starvation and then, finally he too; also issued A Narrative of the Sufferings of T.D. (1684); the Plea was frequently reprinted, one edition bearing a preface by Defoe, scourging Dissenters for their meanness in not paying the £67 for his release (1685), written during imprisonment. [CAB] DIW