Thomas Helwys

Thomas Helwys was an English lawyer, Separatist and theologian associated with John Smyth and the dissenting congregations that fled religious persecution for Amsterdam. In the Netherlands he became involved in the emerging Baptist movement and later returned to England, where he argued that the state should not compel religious belief.

Thomas Helwys was an English Separatist and early Baptist leader who argued for liberty of conscience and helped establish the first Baptist congregation in England. Thomas Helwys also worked as Baptist leader and Religious-liberty advocate. Thomas Helwys was born in Nottinghamshire, England and died in London, England.

In Karen Haden’s Naming the Dead, The novel places Baxby among the English religious exiles of Amsterdam, including historical figures Thomas Helwys, John Smyth, John Robinson and William Brewster, whose communities contributed to the later Baptist and Pilgrim traditions.