Documents reveal the early days of Quakers

It was a faith that found a following in the north counties and of course, the large 16th century manor house of Swarthmoor Hall, considered to be the cradle of Quakerism, is located at Ulverston, which isn’t a million miles from here.

Quakers are members of a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s. The formal title of the movement is the Religious Society of Friends and there are about 210,000 Quakers across the world.

A hand-written report from a Whitehaven meeting for June 15, 1800, tells of concerns about the behaviour of some, when a Friend dies. “Their houses are kept open for the entertainment of their neighbours; thereby making the occasion rather more like a time of festivity, than of mournful yet instructive meditation,’’ it records.

The meeting, which was “sorrowfully affected’’ by the practice, strongly recommended that it should be discontinued and that the houses of the deceased be kept “as still as circumstances will permit”.

“On the day of interment a select rather than a wider invitation be made and that refreshment be furnished in such moderation as may not unfit the attendants for deeply pondering the uncertainly of time and the necessity of a preparation for an awful eternity,’’ it advises. The document is signed by one Joseph Watson and is addressed to a William Miller of High Street, Whitehaven – presumably so it could be brought to the attention of members at other Quaker meetings.

Mr Miller, who had a tannery business, was a leading Quaker and anti-slavery campaigner, and had his son John Fletcher Miller MA, PhD, (1816-1856), Fellow of the Royal Society – the first person to record rainfall in the Lake District – baptised at Pardshaw Quaker meeting house.

Another document sets out a list of questions to be answered by ministers and elders in a bid to check whether members are living their lives in the Quaker faith. Dating from around 1790/1800 it asks whether they are diligent in attending meetings and bring their families with them and “Are they careful to rule their own houses well and to bring up their families in plainness of speech, behaviours and apparel?’’

In the year 1800, on June 15, one Isaac Bragg, clerk to the Whitehaven Quakers, recorded answers to these ‘Queries’ writing that “Meetings for worship and discipline are kept up and by several Friends attended duly and near the time appointed but a deficiency continues in others, particularly on first day afternoons and weekdays. Unbecoming behaviour in general avoided, yet at times something of drowsiness appears.’’

Asked whether ministers and elders are “preserved in love and unity one with another, harmoniously labouring for the advancement of truth and the spreading therof?’’Mr Bragg responds: “It does not appear but that Friends are preserved in love towards each other, no differences subsist at present and we trust friends are careful to avoid and discourage talebearing and detraction.’’

An old charter from 1791 provided guidelines for how Quakers should live, and was to be read out at least once a year at each of the men’s and women’s quarterly and monthly meeting.

It calls on Friends to “make a will and to observe moderation in their homes and manner of living. Friends everywhere are advised to endeavour to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.’’

The “Advice and Queries’’ documents and others belong to Mrs Jean Sanders of Whitehaven, who finds old papers can reveal an interesting insight into local history.

Quakers believe that there is a direct relationship between God and each believer; that every human being is of unique worth and contains something of God – ‘the light of God’. They regard all human beings as equal and worthy of respect and believe all contain goodness and truth. A written list of beliefs is considered inappropriate. Quakers feel people should follow their 'inner light' rather than external rules, seek religious truth in inner experience. They place great reliance on conscience as the basis of morality.

Swarthmoor Hall, near Ulverston, dates back to 1541 and is regarded as the cradle of Quakerism and was originally owned by George Fell a major landowner in the Furness district.

It was inherited by Judge Thomas Fell who lived in it with his wife Margaret, and the couple would often hold prayer sessions at home and listen to travelling preachers, including George Fox, the son of a weaver, born in 1624 in Leicestershire.

Fox’s ideas that the trappings of established religion were unnecessary and corrupting to God’s notions of equality were thought dangerous and he was subjected to persecution and imprisonment.

He built up a strong following, however, and Margaret Fell found Fox’s ideas persuasive. Judge Fell continued to attend Ulverston church but allowed his home to be used as a meeting house for the Quakers, so called because they would “quake or tremble in awe of God”. He died in 1658.

George Fox travelled throughout Britain as a dissenting preacher, for which he was often persecuted by the authorities.

Fox married the widowed Margaret Fell, who became a leading figure in the movement, accompanying her husband on his travels. As Fox’s ministry increased he undertook tours of North America and Europe between which he was imprisoned for over a year. He spent the final decade of his life working in London to organise the expanding Quaker movement.

Swarthmoor Hall is accepted as the birthplace of the Quaker movement and became its first headquarters and northern home. In time Quakerism was to permeate the British Isles, the Americas and Europe.

Fox died in 1691, Margaret in 1702, age 87. The Fells’ youngest daughter, Rachel, by then Mrs Abraham, inherited the hall and it was sold in 1759. Over the next 150 years it was used by a variety of tenant farmers and part of it was pulled down, but it has remained a place of pilgrimage for Quakers.

In 1912 a direct descendant, Emma Abraham, bought it and restored it sympathetically and it has been maintained by the Friends since 1954 when the Quakers bought it from Emma’s nephew. The Great Bible at the house is one of the oldest artifacts.

The Quakers of the 17th century were the natural refuge of those who disagreed with the Presbyterian organisation of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. They were persecuted and imprisoned, George Fox himself having been thrown into Carlisle jail for preaching in the Cathedral there.

The Quakers refused to pay their tithes – a yearly sum levied to support the local vicar – and also refused to take any oath, believing that there should be only one standard of truthfulness and that this should be adhered to at all times. These beliefs resulted in them being repeatedly fined or imprisoned. They were meticulous record- keepers and noted all the persecutions of their members in a Book of Sufferings.

By 1689 with the Act of Grace, granted by King William and Queen Mary after their accession to the throne, Quakers were free to worship as they pleased.

In Britain there are 17,000 Quakers, and 400 Quaker meetings for worship each week, and 9,000 people in Britain regularly take part in Quaker worship without being members.

Historically there were Quaker communities at Pardshaw and Pardshaw Hall, near Cockermouth (George Fox preached on Pardshaw Crag in 1650 drawing huge crowds), Keswick, Allonby, Carlisle, Wigton and Kendal, besides Whitehaven. And today there is still a presence in Whitehaven, where the Friends Meeting House is situated between the police station and the former Methodist church on Scotch Street, and meetings are held there on the first and third Sunday of every month from 10.30am. All welcome.

From The Times, Saturday, May 5, 1792: “The yearly meeting of the people called Quakers, which is alternately in the counties of Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland, and Westmorland, was holden at Whitehaven last week, and was attended by great numbers of the society from the counties before mentioned, and also several from Ireland.”

Piper’s Court, High Street, Whitehaven, is named after Matthew Piper’s Marine School which was on the site. The school was built in 1818 from a bequest by Piper, a Quaker, to form a school for the education of local boys in nautical studies opened in 1822. There was also a Piper’s soup kitchen on Mill Street, to nourish those in need.*In July 2010 police were called to the West Street Quaker meeting house in Wigton where members staged a sit-in over plans to sell the 180-year-old building.