Thomas Hooker was born 435 years ago (1586) in Leicestershire, had a talent for public speaking that propelled him all the way to Connecticut, annoying authorities on several continents along the way.
He was the pastor (lecturer, technically) of what is now Chelmsford Cathedral, but Puritanism was too uptight even for the English, so he skedaddled to the Netherlands and migrated on to Boston, settling at first in Cambridge, Mass. His congregation split off as soon as it could get away with it, and founded what is now Connecticut in the late 1630s.
He and 'Mr. Hooker's Company' were strongly in favor of letting more men vote on issues involving government, and so are credited with planting the first seeds of democracy in the American colonies.
In recognition of this, near Chelmsford Cathedral there is a blue plaque fixed high on the wall of a narrow alleyway, opposite the south porch, that reads: "Thomas Hooker, 1586–1647, Curate at St. Mary's Church and Chelmsford Town Lecturer 1626–29. Founder of the State of Connecticut, Father of American Democracy."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hooker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelmsford_Cathedral