The two figures who can be identified as among the earliest Baptists are John Smyth (1570–1612) and Thomas Helwys (?–1616). Smyth was an ordained Anglican priest who progressed through Puritan and Separatist stages. He studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge from 1586 and among his tutors was a later Separatist leader in Holland, Francis Johnson. In 1594 he was ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln and was elected a Fellow at Christ’s College. He became the leader of a group at Gainsborough, on the borders