Samuel Wesley (10 February 1690 or 1691 – 6 November 1739) was a poet, teacher and an Anglican cleric. He was the eldest of the Wesley brothers—with younger brothers John and Charles—but did not play a notable role in the nascent Methodist movement.
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Birth
Wesley was the eldest son of the cleric and poet Samuel Wesley and of Susanna Annesley Wesley. He was the brother of John Wesley and Charles Wesley. He was born in Spitalfields, London in either 1690 or 1691. He said he was 18 years old in 1711 and he wrote a letter in which he said he was born in 1690. His tombstone said he died in his 49th year, which would put his birth in 1691.
Education and career
Wesley was educated at Westminster School before entering Christ Church, Oxford in 1711 where he received a B.A. degree in 1715 and a M.A. in 1718. He was ordained and became head usher at Westminster School for 20 years (from 1713 to 1733). After that he was master of Blundell's School, Tiverton, Devon, where he died after a short illness on 6 November 1739. He is buried in the Tiverton churchyard.