Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bold, John

1312389Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 05 — Bold, John1886Sidney Lee

BOLD, JOHN (1679–1751), divine, born at Leicester in 1679, entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1694, and proceeded B.A. in 1698. He was master of a small school at Hinckley, Leicestershire, from 1698 to 1732 (which brought him in 10l. a year), and was curate of Stoney Stanton near Hinckley (at a salary of 30l.) from May 1702 until his death on 29 Oct. 1751. Bold wholly devoted himself to the religious welfare of his parishioners, and, although without private means, lived so frugally that he was able out of his small income to relieve his necessitous neighbours, and to make several charitable bequests at his death. He was the author of: 1. ‘The Sin and Danger of neglecting the public service of the Church,’ 1745, which was frequently reissued by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 2. ‘Religion the most delightful Employment.’ 3. ‘The Duty of worthy Communicating recommended and explained.

[A very eulogistic memoir by the Rev. R. B. Nickolls is printed in Nicholls’s Illustrations, v. 130-42.]

S. L. L.