HALL, ROBERT

born May 2, 1764, Arnesby, near Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng. died 1831 English Baptist minister, writer, social reformer, and an outstanding preacher. In 1790 Hall became pastor of a church at Cambridge, where he remained for 15 years and acquired a reputation for his fine, often outspoken sermons. He advocated freedom of the press, was influenced by the French Revolution to speak against corrupt government, and in 1791 defended the reformer and scientist Joseph Priestley in his criticism of institutional Christianity.