various regiments, retiring from the 13th foot as captain and brevet-major in 1821. He accompanied Sir Robert Thomas Wilson to Spain in 1823, to take part in the abortive Spanish revolutionary movement. Afterwards he accepted employment in the navy of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, where he made the acquaintance of Captain John (afterwards Sir John) Hindmarsh [q. v.], who was also in the pasha's service. When the colony of South Australia was established, and Hindmarsh was chosen governor, Light was appointed surveyor-general, and set out in advance to select a site for the city of Adelaide. He left England with his survey staff in the Rapid on 1 May, and arrived out on 30 Aug. 1836. Hindmarsh arrived on 28 Dec. 1836, and three days later the site of the new city was decided upon. In the course of the following year, through disputes with the acting commissioners, Light resigned his post, and became head of the firm of Light, Firmin & Co., which undertook the survey of Port Adelaide, the brig Rapid being lent by the government for the purpose. Light died in 1838, soon after the arrival of the new governor, Colonel George Gawler [q. v.] His remains lie in a vault beneath an obelisk erected by a few friends, the earliest colonists of South Australia. His dying wish was to be regarded as the founder of Adelaide, and a written statement to that effect was, it is understood, placed in his coffin.
Light published ‘A Trigonometrical Survey of Adelaide,’ ‘Views of Adelaide,’ and ‘A Plan of Adelaide.’
[Balfour's Indian Cycl.; Philippart's Roy. Mil. Cal. 1820; Heaton's Australian Biog. under ‘Light’ and ‘South Australia;’ Brit. Mus. Catalogues.]
LIGHTFOOT, HANNAH (fl. 1768), the beautiful quakeress. [See under George III]
LIGHTFOOT, JOHN (1602–1675), biblical critic, born at the rectory-house of Stoke-upon-Trent 29 March 1602, was second son of Thomas Lightfoot, at the time curate of Stoke and subsequently rector of Uttoxeter from 1622 till his death on 21 July 1658 in the eighty-first year of his age. His mother was Elizabeth Bagnall, of a well-known family settled at Newcastle-under-Lyme, who died 24 Jan. 1636–7, aged 71. After attending the school of Mr. Whitehead at Morton Green, Congleton, Cheshire, he entered in June 1617 Christ's College, Cambridge, where his tutor was Dr. William Chappel [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Cork. He distinguished himself in classical scholarship at college, and gave promise of high gifts of oratory. After graduating B.A. he spent two years as assistant at a school in Repton, Derbyshire, taught by his old master, Whitehead. Then, taking holy orders, he was appointed to the curacy of Norton-in-Hales, Shropshire, where he became acquainted with Sir Rowland Cotton of Bellaport, who appointed him his domestic chaplain, and encouraged him in the study of Hebrew and the cognate languages. When Cotton, shortly afterwards, removed to London, Lightfoot followed him. He next became rector of Stone, Staffordshire, where he remained about two years. In 1628 he removed to Hornsey, Middlesex, chiefly with a view to easy access to the rabbinical treasures of Sion College. Here, in 1629, he wrote his first work, ‘Erubhim, or Miscellanies, Christian and Judaical,’ penned for recreation at vacant hours, dedicating it to his patron, Sir Rowland Cotton. From this date his pen was seldom idle. In September 1630 he was presented by Cotton to the rectory of Ashley, Staffordshire, where he ministered with exemplary diligence. He built a study in his garden, in which he devoted all his spare time to researches in Hebrew. He took the parliamentary side in the civil war, and in June 1642 resigned the living of Ashley in favour of his younger brother, Josiah, and settled in London. In 1643 he obtained the rectory of St. Bartholomew's, near the Exchange, London, residing in Moor Lane. He was a member of the Westminster Assembly, and took a prominent part in the debates, siding with the Erastian section on questions of church government, and as a presbyterian boldly resisting what he called ‘the vehemence, heat, and tugs’ of the independents. He was frequently invited to preach before the House of Commons, and his vindications of the presbyterian position made him popular with the members of that religious persuasion. In 1644 he received the rectory of Great Munden, Hertfordshire, which he held till his death. When noting in his register the execution of Charles I on 30 Jan. 1648–9, he added the word ‘murder'd.’ In November 1650 he was appointed by the parliamentary visitors of Cambridge master of St. Catharine Hall, in succession to the ejected Dr. William Spurstow (Heywood and Wright, Cambridge Transactions, ii. 531). In 1652 his university conferred on him the degree of D.D., when he took for the subject of the customary thesis, ‘Post canonem Scripturæ consignatum, non sunt revelationes expectandæ.’ In 1654 he became vice-chancellor. While holding this office, he pronounced at the commencement of 1655 a panegyric on
