John Locke

 John Locke is regarded as possibly the most influential English language philosopher and political theorist. His works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism.  His ideas had an influence on the development of many important psychological concepts and provided inspiration for the European Age of Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States.

John Locke was born in the village of Wrington on 29th August 1632 and baptised the same day in All Saints Church.  He probably spent his childhood in the hamlet of Belluton near Pensford. Locke attended Westminster School and Christ Church College, Oxford where he studied, among other things, medicine and later became a tutor at the University.  In 1666 he met Anthony Ashley-Cooper, later the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, who became his friend and patron. Locke became Shaftesbury’s aide and personal physician.  In 1675 Locke travelled to France for health reasons and because his personal safety was threatened, as Shaftesbury had lost favour with King Charles II.  He lived in France until 1679.  While he was there he studied the work of various French philosophers. 

After trying unsuccessfully to exclude the Catholic James II from becoming king after Charles II, Shaftesbury fled to exile in the Netherlands in 1682 where he died the following year.  Locke travelled to the Netherlands in 1683 and stayed there until after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when King James II was overthrown in favour of the Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary.  When Locke returned to England in 1689 he made his home with the family of his close friend Damaris Masham at High Laver in Essex and lived there until his death on 28th October 1704.  He is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church, High Laver.

John Locke’s major works were Letters concerning Toleration (1689, 1690 and 1692), Two Treatises of Government (1689), An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690); Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693) and The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695).

Bust of John Locke in the south porch of  All Saints Church, Wrington

Stone in Wrington Churchyard marking the site where the house in which John Locke was born, once stood.  It was demolished in the 19th century.

John Locke wrote his own obituary, which was originally located above his grave, but was later moved inside High Laver Church to preserve it.

Plaque at High Laver Church explaining why John Locke's obituary was moved

John Locke’s grave at All Saints Church, High Laver, Essex

Plaque above John Locke’s grave acknowledging his contribution to the Constitution of the United States of America

Bust of John Locke in the Temple of British Worthies at Stowe Gardens, Buckinghamshire