William Aldridge

William Aldridge (1737 – 28 February 1797) was an English nonconformist minister.

Biography Aldridge was born at Warminster, in Wiltshire. At age 23 he decided to become a preacher of the gospel, and was admitted to Trevecca College in South Wales. There he completed a theological course. He received a license, and for a number of years preached in the chapels of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.

In September 1771 Aldridge was sent by Lady Huntingdon, with Joseph Cook, another Trevecca student, to Margate, in the Isle of Thanet. He had Richard Povah there as assistant, in his last years.

Death Aldridge died on 28 February 1797, and was buried in Bunhill Fields.

A narrative of the Lord's wonderful dealings with J. Marrant, a black Aldridge also edited John Marrant's account of his life, A narrative of the Lord's wonderful dealings with J. Marrant, a black. The circumstances were that Marrant was ordained in the Huntingdon Connexion in 1785, and related his experiences to Aldridge. More content was added later, in the 4th edition, and Elrod assumes that its source is the ordination sermon given by Marrant to the Countess of Huntingdon.

The work is an Indian captivity narrative, and it has been suggested that Aldridge's role accounts for the lack of discussion in the work of the issue of race, given that Marrant was an African American. Aldridge objected to later editions of the book (4th edition onwards). Henry Louis Gates Jr. comments that the work, first published in 1785, is inaccurately described as a slave narrative. It had seen 20 editions by 1835.