History of Quakers in Britain and Ireland

This article follows on from the one on Early Quaker History, and deals with Quakerism in Britain and Ireland after 1658. The Quakers had emerged as an organised movement between 1652 and 1654. By 1658 that movement had spread over the whole of England, made inroads into Scotland and Ireland, started to establish itself in America and continental Europe, and had its first major scandal when James Nayler made a symbolic entrance into Bristol in a manner considered blasphemous. It was still an expanding movement with the beginnings of organisation.

17th century

The trial of James Nayler was followed by a period of increased but unsystematic persecution. During this period the travelling ministers succeeded in continuing their proselytising work, though under greater difficulties. At the same time the political scene entered a period of uncertainty with the death of Oliver Cromwell followed, within a few months, by the collapse of the Protectorate. George Fox's advice, not always heeded, was to keep clear of the factions which now started disrupting the country. The London leadership of the Quaker movement, among whom Edward Burrough was prominent, tried to influence whichever was the government of the time in a continued radical direction, but the strength of feeling in favour of stability through a restored monarchy was too strong.

The Restoration at first made very little difference to the level of hostility with which the Quakers had to deal, but in 1661 Venner's revolt, though no Quakers were involved, led to the banning of Quaker and Baptist meetings, as well as those of the Fifth Monarchists who were responsible. The Quaker leaders issued the Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent People of God called Quakers, considered the first expression of the "Peace Testimony", and stating: "... the Spirit of Christ which leads us into all truth will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world." Despite this, the Cavalier Parliament passed the Quaker Act (and subsequently two Conventicle Acts), enabling systematic persecution which brought the growth of the Quaker movement to a standstill. Among the leading ministers, Burrough and Richard Hubberthorne died in prison. The story of the children of Reading continuing to hold the Quaker meeting on their own has passed into Quaker mythology. The persecution eased slightly after 1677 with the fall of the Clarendon government. In Scotland and Ireland there was the same story of persecution according to locality. In the Aberdeen area, for example, even though a former Provost of Aberdeen, Alexander Jaffray, was convinced, the persecution was severe.

At the same time as the persecution, there was a major dispute within the Quaker movement, basically about the prescriptive attitude of the leadership in general and George Fox in particular. The dispute centred on the person of John Perrot (though he departed for America in the middle of it) and on the issue of whether men should remove their hats when prayer was offered.

Despite this episode, the trend towards institutionalisation and centralisation continued. In 1666 George Fox was released from imprisonment in Scarborough castle and soon set about travelling the country establishing Monthly Meetings, often covering the area of a county, overseen by Quarterly Meetings covering a wider area. He also established Women's Meetings, with welfare functions. The Second Day Morning Meeting held weekly for all recognised ministers present in London that week, was established in 1672 and largely controlled the publications issued in the name of Friends as well as carrying out other co-ordinating work. Gradually, the London Yearly Meeting of Quakers from all over England and Scotland emerged as the final decision-making body, with the Meeting for Sufferings dealing with matters in the intervals between.

Around 1675, there was a split in the movement, usually called the Wilkinson-Story Separation, though the main leaders as it developed were John Story and William Rogers. It mainly took the form of a protest against the discipline imposed by the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, and also against the Women's Meetings Some Quakers in Wiltshire and other areas withdrew into separate meetings, but these did not last.

On the accession of James II, Quakers presented to the new king a petition showing that at that time there were 1460 Quakers in prison. The list shows considerable variation from one county to another. Yorkshire, admittedly the largest county, had the largest number, 279, more than twice any other, while neighbouring Derbyshire only had one. Yorkshire was followed by Devon with 104, and Bristol (listed separately though not a county), 103. In the north-west Quaker heartland, Lancashire had 73, Westmorland five, and Cumberland 22. The list is also significant in demonstrating the strength of Quaker organisation: the system of sending accounts of "sufferings" to London enabled them to produce statistics of this nature. The petitioning produced some results, though the king could not get laws repealed. William Penn for English matters, and Robert Barclay for Scottish both had influence at court, and this helped with individual cases brought to their attention.

The major change to the legal persecution of English and Welsh Quakers came after the Glorious Revolution in 1689 with what is usually called the Toleration Act: "An Act for exempting Their Majesties' Protestant subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the penalties of certain laws". For most people this required taking an oath attesting their protestantism and loyalty to the regime, but those with scruples against swearing could make Declarations. The act was negative in nature: it removed penalties, but not the liability to pay tithes. It did not enable dissenters to hold public office or attend universities. The restrictions resulted in Quakers and other dissenters using their energies (and capital) in other directions, including trade, technology and scientific enquiry.

A system similar to the one of Quarterly and Monthly Meetings was extended to Ireland in 1669,by George Fox working with prominent Irish Friends. Here, as in England, there was persecution depending very much on the inclination of the local men in power. The events following the 1688 Revolution brought dangers of another sort, with Quakers attempting to remain neutral non-combatants (though with a natural protestant bias) in the War of the two kings, frequently having goods taken by all the differing parties in succession, as conflicts went to and fro. The war was followed, however, by comparative toleration, and this resulted in growing prosperity, to the extent that certain Quaker leaders, Edmundson among them, started a movement to try to restore a spiritual simplicity. Ireland developed its own Yearly Meeting as the autonomous decision-making body, unlike Scotland, which remained part of London Yearly Meeting.

George Fox died in 1690. The leading figure in the leadership of the movement was now George Whitehead, though William Penn was the one most in the public eye. Whitehead, who lived to 1723, had been among the first "Publishers of Truth". He was a controversialist, a legal expert, and an effective lobbyist, but was one to consolidate the position of Quakers rather than take it forward. From now on the Quakers were anxious not to be seen as subversive, trying instead to conciliate the monarchy and parliament. One of the rewards of this was a change in the law enabling them to make declarations in courts, rather than swear oaths. In 1715 this liberty was extended to Scotland.

The most remarkable Friend of the end of the 17th century was John Bellers, who continued the social tradition of the early Friends by attacking the treatment of poor people and making proposals to improve their situation. His ideas anticipated those of Robert Owen, who was enthusiastic about Bellers, and also Marx's labour theory of value, but the only practical effect was that Quakers in Bristol and London set up Workhouses of their own.

Quietism

British Quakers, from being a sect with revolutionary ideas, settled down to become a mostly prosperous, mostly inward-looking body. One revolutionary idea they still clung to, that they could live under the direct guidance of God, though the individual's perception of that guidance had to be tested by the wider community. The term "quietism", which has been applied to this period, differed from the continental (Catholic) quietism. It was basically non-activist. For instance, John Kendall, a Colchester Quaker, wrote in 1763: "As we are not able, by our weak capacities, to judge of things rightly, the best way for us is to leave the event to the disposal of the all-wise Providence."

Because Quakers in financial difficulty could apply for help, and orphaned children were also given support, it became necessary to define the membership, which began to be recorded. The practice of "disownment" — proclaiming that someone was not in unity with the main body of Friends — had been in use since the earliest years, but now it had additional applications. Previously acknowledged members could be disowned for various faults, including disorderly walking, bankruptcy, and marrying non-Quakers, though as the discipline was applied by Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, practice varied. To try to cope with this variation, in 1782 London Yearly Meeting agreed to publish extracts of minutes and other guiding documents, for the use of Meetings. This was the beginning of what British Quakers term their "book of discipline".