Dimsion 
 Section- 
 
EVESHAM FRIENDS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 OLDEN TIME. 
 
Jfatsimiles of ^ignatutjes of fib of t^e €arlg 
 
 Edward Pitway, Mayor of Evesham in 1648, was ejected 
 from the Corporation in 1655. The Society of Friends met for 
 worship jn his house for nearly 20 years (see pp. 71, 86, 104). 
 
 Stephen Pitway, son of Edward Pitway, endm'ed many 
 imprisonments for conscience sake (see Chapter IV.). 
 
 Before becoming Friends, John Woodward, James Wall, 
 and Thomas Cartweight ' ' were soldiers long in the service 
 of the Commonwealth, and at Worcester fought for outward 
 liberty" (see p. 57). 
 
 Thomas Cartwright was the first to open his house for 
 Friends' meetings in Evesham (see pp. 21, 58). 
 
EVESHAM FRIENDS 
 OLDEN TI^]^: ''^ 
 
 A HISTOEY 01" "EVESHAM MONTHLY MEETING OF 
 THE SOCIETY OF FEIENDS;" 
 
 WITH NOTES ON " WOKCESTEESHIEE QUAETEELY MEETING," 
 AND THE 
 
 "CIRCULAK YEARLY MEETINGS FOR THE SEVEN WESTERN COUNTIES." 
 
 Compiled from Original Records and other Sources 
 
 ALFEED W. BROWN 
 
 " The Quaker of the olden time 1 
 
 How calm and firm and true, 
 Unspotted by its wrong and crime. 
 
 He walked the dark earth through. 
 The lust of power, the love of gain 
 
 The thousand lures of sin 
 Around him, had no power to stain 
 
 The purity within." 
 
 Whittieb. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 West, Newman & Co., Printers, 54, Hatton Garden. 
 
 1885. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 
 
 This little book is designed to throw some 
 light upon the early history of Nonconformity in 
 the Borough of Evesham. It does not profess 
 to contain a judicial account of the rise of 
 Quakerism, or of the relation borne by the early 
 Quakers to contemporary society and their suc- 
 cessors of to-day. The details it presents are of 
 a purely local character, and the reader must 
 refer to Barclay's 'Inner Life of the Keligious 
 Societies of the Commonwealth,' or to some other 
 standard history of the Society of Friends, if he 
 is desirous of acquainting himself more fully 
 with the causes of Quakerism, its doctrines, and 
 internal government. 
 
 My thanks are due to the many kind friends 
 who have rendered me assistance in the prepa- 
 ration of this volume. I am especially indebted 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 to Thomson Sharp, of Eatington ; to Herbert 
 New, of Evesham ; to Hem-y Newman, of 
 Leominster; to Thomas Westcombe, of Worcester; 
 to the Rev. B. W. Stannus, M.A., Rector of 
 Arrow; and to the London "Meeting for Suffer- 
 ings" for permission to examine several old works 
 in the Devonshire House Library. 
 
 The greater part of Chapter III. was delivered 
 in the form of a Lecture in the Evesham Insti- 
 tute, on February 24th, 1885, Mr. J. S. Slater 
 in the Chair. 
 
 I am alone responsible for the opinions expressed. 
 
 A. W. B. 
 
 CoTSWOLD House, Evesham, 
 May, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory, 
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Humphrey Smith, 
 
 14 
 
 The founder of Quakerism in Evesham ; his 
 rehgious experience, travels, sufferings, and 
 death, including his "Vision of the Great Fire 
 of London." 
 
 " The Sufferings, Tryals and Purgings of the 
 
 The Persecutions of the Society of Friends at 
 Evesham in 1655 ; with notes on the Evesham 
 Prisons, and the Old Booth Hall. Also biogra- 
 phical sketches of George Hopkins, Vicar of All 
 Saints during the Commonwealth ; and Sir 
 Robert Atkyns, Recorder of Evesham. 
 
 Thirty Years of Persecution 103 
 
 The sufferings of the Society of Friends in 
 Evesham and its neighbourhood, between 1656 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Saints at Evesham." 
 
 54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 and 1689. 
 
viii 
 
 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Viscountess Conway, of Eagley Hall. . . 124 
 Her descent, marriage, life at Ragley, corre- 
 spondence with Dr. Henry More and the early 
 Quakers, and ultimate conversion to Quakerism ; 
 including account of her death, and particulars 
 respecting her place of burial at Arrow; with 
 notes on the Finch and Conway families. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Evesham Monthly Meeting (1667 [?]— 1812). . 139 
 The establishment of the Quaker Discipline in 
 Worcestershire ; with extracts from the proceed- 
 ings of " Worcestershire Quarterly Meeting " and 
 "Evesham Monthly Meeting." 
 
 The Yearly Meeting of Wales, the " Northern 
 Yearly Meeting," and the " Circular Yearly 
 Meetings for the Seven Western Counties." 
 (1720—1786.) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Ten Associated Meetings 186 
 
 Evesham, Broadway, Netherton, Pershore, 
 
 Bishampton, Naunton Beauchamp, Laight 
 
 Green, Rudgeway, Redditch, and Alcester. 
 The local Property and Endowments of the 
 
 Society of Friends. The Stanley and Marshall 
 
 families ; &c. 
 
 Conclusion, 
 
 227 
 
EVESHAM FRIENDS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 OLDEN TIME. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 "Their chief est care and business was so to accommodate 
 all their actions, as that they might seem not to introduce any- 
 new upstart religion, but to resemble the ancient Primitive 
 Church." — Gerard Croese on the Early Friends (1696). 
 
 The " Morning Star of the English Reformation** 
 arose in the reign of King Edward III., in the person 
 of John Wicldiffe. He translated the Bible into the 
 language of the people, and began to spread the 
 doctrines of the Reformation by his sermons and 
 writings. After a life spent in doing battle with the 
 errors of Rome, he closed his days in peace ; but his 
 enemies revenged themselves by unearthing his ashes,, 
 and scattering them upon the little rivulet, the Swift„ 
 a tributary of the Warwickshire Avon. " Thus," says. 
 
 B 
 
2 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Thomas Fuller, "this brook did convey his ashes 
 into the Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the 
 narrow sea, and this into the wide ocean. And so 
 the ashes of Wicldiffe are the emblem of his doctrine, 
 which is now dispersed all the world over." 
 
 The first to perish at Smithfield for his unfaltering 
 allegiance to the principles of Protestantism was 
 William Sautre, Eector of St. Oswithes, London ; 
 and the second was " a native of Evesham, Thomas 
 Badby by name, and by occupation a tailor."* It is 
 probable that one of Wickliffe's " poor priests " had 
 visited the town, and that his out-spoken appeals 
 had convinced Badby of the unscripturalness of some 
 of the dogmas of Eome. Suspected of heresy, Badby 
 was dragged before the Bishop of Worcester, in 
 whose presence he boldly declared " that after the 
 sacramental words spoken by the priests to make the 
 body of Christ, the material bread remains upon the 
 altar as in the beginning, neither is it turned into 
 the very body of Christ."! Branded as "an open 
 and public heretic," the unflinching tailor was next 
 examined before Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and a number of 
 other ecclesiastics. The Primate besought him, 
 ♦'by the bowels of Jesus Christ," to recant his 
 opinions ; but he firmly refused to do so, and a 
 room in one of the friars' houses was prepared 
 for his custody. 
 
 * May's ' History of Evesham,' p. 405. 
 t Foxe's ' Book of Martyrs.' 
 
Introductory. 
 
 3 
 
 On the 15tli of March, 1409, Badby once more 
 stood face to face with his persecutors in St. Paul's 
 Church, London, and " still held and defended his 
 opinions ; and said that while he lived he would 
 never retract the same." His sentence was accord- 
 ingly sealed, and the Archbishop delivered him over 
 to the secular power. That same afternoon he was 
 led to the stake, and placed inside an empty barrel 
 upon the wood. The prior of St. Bartholomew's, 
 Smithfield, then arrived upon the scene, bearing in 
 solemn state " the sacrament of God's body," which 
 he showed to the prisoner, and enquired how he 
 believed in it. Badby replied, " that he knew well it 
 was hallowed bread, and not God's body." Fire was 
 then applied to the faggots. As he felt the first 
 pangs of torture, the martyr called upon the Lord 
 for mercy ; whereupon the Prince of Wales, who was 
 standing by, ordered the barrel to be removed, and 
 the flames quenched. Badby was then promised a 
 yearly allowance from the royal treasury if he would 
 renounce his heresy ; but he ' ' refused the offer of 
 worldly promises, being no doubt more vehemently 
 inflamed with the Sph'it of God than with any 
 earthly desire." "Nothing abashed at their torments, 
 he persevered to the end, — not without a great and 
 most cruel battle, but with a much greater victory." 
 Thomas Badby" s noble assertion of the rights of 
 conscience in the face of an arrogant and tyrannical 
 hierarchy deserves to be held in remembrance by the 
 * Foxe's ' Book of Martyrs.' 
 
4 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 people of Evesham, as well as by all lovers of 
 religious liberty."' 
 
 When we speak of the spiritual darkness of 
 mediaeval times, we must ever remember that 
 
 man's conscience lived, spoke, and groaned during 
 the long dominion of Popery, and, like a plant 
 growing among thorns, it often succeeded in forcing 
 a passage through the obstacles of traditionalism, to 
 blossom in the quickening sun of God's grace."! 
 The lamp of learning shone brightly in the cloister, 
 and works of priceless value were handed down to 
 animate and enlighten generations yet unborn. A 
 passion was developed for the cultivation of the fine 
 arts ; schools and universities were founded ; and 
 the sufferings of the needy and infirm were alleviated 
 by the kindly ministrations of the charitable monks. 
 — '* Divers and many pore, needy, lame, and impotent 
 people" flocked from "the towne and the countrey 
 nigh adjoining" to receive " daily succor and relief" 
 at the * ' Monasterye of our Lady Virgin and Seynt 
 Ecgwin of Evesham." The abbots of Evesham 
 were, with few exceptions, men of upright conduct 
 and outwardly blameless lives. They were well 
 versed in ecclesiastical literature, and they devoted 
 themselves to enriching the architectural magnifi- 
 
 * ' ' Another evidence of the spread of Lollardism in the 
 diocese is found in the charge against one John Lacy, vicar of 
 Chesterton, in Warwickshire, for ' receiving and harbouring ' 
 Lord Cobham." — ' Diocesan History of Worcester,'' p. 103. 
 
 t D'Aubigne's ' History of Keformation,' iv., p. 34, 
 
Introductory, 
 
 5 
 
 cence of their splendid monastery. Held in just 
 esteem by rich and poor alike, they successfully 
 resisted the flood of corruption and licentiousness 
 which overwhelmed many monastic institutions ; 
 and we may thankfully believe that not a few of 
 them looked beyond the wearisome ceremonial of 
 their Church, and in their hearts repudiated its 
 unchristian doctrines and its pious frauds. 
 
 The dissolution of the Mitred Abbey of Evesham, 
 in 1539, marks the close of an important epoch in 
 the religious history of the town. The supremacy of 
 Eome was at an end. Priestly authority had received 
 its death-blow. The Scriptures were rescued from 
 oblivion by the hand of the Keformers, and a copy of 
 Cranmer's Bible was placed in All Saints Church for 
 the use of the parishioners. The peculiar doctrines 
 of spiritual, as opposed to ecclesiastical, Christianity 
 were revived and proclaimed in the hearing of the 
 people. Men began to exercise the great right and 
 duty of private judgment ; their intellectual powers 
 were awakened, and spiritual affections which had 
 long lain dormant were at last aroused into healthy 
 activity. 
 
 Leland, the antiquary, who visited Evesham soon 
 after the demolition of the abbey, refers to the 
 existence of the two parish churches, and adds, 
 ''whither the people of the towne resort." For 
 many years rehgious sentiment appeared to fluctuate 
 between Popery and Protestantism. Ancient usages 
 and superstitions are clung to with gi-eat tenacity, 
 
6 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 and it should not be hastily assumed that the 
 Protestant form of worship was immediately sub- 
 stituted for the Eomish mass. The images, shrines, 
 pictures, and all the other paraphernalia of Popery 
 may have been speedily removed ; but it is more 
 likely that they remained untouched for a consider- 
 able time. The former inmates of the convent — 
 some of whom, doubtless, remained in Evesham — 
 must have long maintained their influence over the 
 townspeople ; and it would appear from the Latin 
 inscription upon the grave-stone of Eobert Wyllys 
 (appointed incumbent of All Saints in 1545) that the 
 pulpit still gave its sanction to one at least of the 
 errors of Kome : — "Pray for the souls of Eobert 
 Wyllys and Agnes his wife ; upon whose souls may 
 God have mercy." * 
 
 The Eeformation did not give birth to an era in 
 which the professing Christians of England returned 
 en m,asse to the primitive simplicity of apostolic times. 
 It brought forth a form of "national" religion, 
 purified from the grosser abuses of the past, but still 
 resting upon a worldly and unscriptural foundation. 
 Papal Supremacy gave place to Eoyal Supremacy. 
 The Church was linked to the State, and the 
 sovereign made " supreme governor in all spiritual 
 and ecclesiastical things and causes." As the martyr 
 Barrow ironically exclaimed, " All this people with 
 all these manners were in one day, with the blast of 
 Queen Elizabeth's trumpet — of ignorant Papists and 
 * Brass on tomb in All Saints Church. 
 
Introductory. 
 
 7 
 
 gross idolaters — made faithful Christians and true 
 professors." Liberty of conscience existed more in 
 name than in reality, for religious uniformity was 
 enforced under the severest penalties. The Acts of 
 Conformity presented a formidable barrier to the 
 progress of vital Christianity, and many honest 
 seekers after truth fell victims to their iron grasp. 
 But the Word of God cannot be bound by the decrees 
 of courts and councils. Earnest and enlightened men 
 contended zealously for purer forms of faith and 
 worship, and their efforts resulted in the establish- 
 ment of a few little Christian societies upon a free 
 and independent basis. Some time elapsed, however, 
 before Nonconformity took deep root in England, 
 sending out " her boughs unto the sea, and her 
 branches unto the river." 
 
 The period succeeding the accession of the Stuarts 
 was marked by an almost unparalleled amount of 
 controversy upon a great variety of religious topics. 
 The issue of the Authorised Version of the Bible 
 gave fresh strength to the revolt against Popery, and 
 awakened a livelier interest in religion. No question 
 affecting the soul's eternal destiny escaped the notice 
 of contending theologians. Men everywhere discussed 
 the value of appointed rites, and the best forms of 
 church discipline and government, — too often to the 
 exclusion of more vital considerations. A strong 
 party in the Church of England favoured the 
 retention of Popish practices, while the Puritans 
 strove with even greater determination to secure a 
 
8 Eveshmn Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 thorough and godly reformation" from the errors 
 and abuses of the past. Despairing at length of 
 witnessing the fulfilment of their hopes, many 
 earnest Puritans left their native land, and sought 
 civil and religious liberty on the shores of America. 
 Notwithstanding the hostility of the King, however, 
 the way was preparing for a mighty triumph of 
 Puritanism over Episcopacy. 
 
 It is needless to review at length the causes which 
 led to the Civil War and the downfall of the 
 monarchy. Keligious strife raged with unabated 
 fury, and the persecuting tendencies of the High 
 Church party only added fuel to the flames, exciting 
 an opposition which amounted almost to fanaticism. 
 Charles I. placed himself in direct antagonism to the 
 principles of popular government, plunging the whole 
 country into confusion and dismay. It was a critical 
 moment for the cause of Christianity. The Puritan 
 remnant, drained of its best blood, was getting into 
 the sear and yellow leaf; and the Independents, 
 Baptists, and other sects, who were at one time 
 thoroughly and remarkably spiritual, were growing 
 worldly, political, and vainglorious ; the evangelical 
 professors had come to feel that they were numerous 
 and powerful, they had an opportunity of grasping 
 the carnal sword, they embraced that opportunity, 
 and from that moment very many of them lost the 
 spirituality for which they had been eminent. The 
 danger was lest the evangelical sects should quietly 
 settle down into one State Church, make a scramble 
 
IntrodiLctory . 
 
 9 
 
 for the good things of the Ecclesiastical Establish- 
 ment, and preach each one after its own fashion, in 
 the numbness of death rather than in the power of 
 life."* This danger was, however, averted by the 
 appearance of fresh witnesses to the Truth. 
 
 George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, commenced 
 his ministry in the year 1647. He resembled Elijah 
 in the rapidity of his movements, and in the fearless 
 determination with which he denounced idolatry 
 and sin ; but his writings show him to have been a 
 man of child-like tenderness, a true " son of consola- 
 tion," overflowing with love and sympathy for all. 
 Although only an ill-educated Leicestershire shoe- 
 maker, he believed it to be his mission to proclaim 
 the freedom and sph'ituality of the Christian religion, 
 and to gather together a " peculiar people, zealous of 
 good works." A few extracts from his Journal will 
 show still further the nature of his mission : — 
 
 " I was sent to turn people from darkness to light, 
 
 that they might receive Christ Jesus I was 
 
 to turn them to the grace of God, and to the truth 
 in the heart, which came by Jesus ; that by this 
 grace they might be taught, which would bring them 
 
 salvation I saw that Christ died for all men, 
 
 and was a propitiation for all ; and enlightened all 
 men and women with his divine and saving light." 
 
 " I was to bring people off from all their own 
 ways, to Christ the new and living way ; and from 
 their chm*ches, which men had made and gathered, 
 * C, H. Spurgeon on George Fox, 1866. 
 
10 
 
 Evesham FHends in the Olden Time. 
 
 to the church in God, the general assembly written 
 in heaven, which Christ is the head of ; and off from 
 the world's teachers, made by men, to learn of 
 Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life ; 
 . . . . and off from all the world's worships, to 
 know the spirit of truth in the inward parts, and to 
 be led thereby ; that in it they might worship the 
 Father of spirits, who seeks such to worship him. 
 .... I was to bring them off from all the world's 
 fellowships, and prayings, and singings, which stood 
 in forms without power ; that their fellowship might 
 be in the Holy Ghost, and in the Eternal Spirit of 
 God ; that they might pray in the Holy Ghost, and 
 sing in the Spirit and with the grace that comes by 
 Jesus, making melody in their hearts to the Lord." 
 
 I was to bring people off from Jewish ceremonies, 
 and from heathenish fables, and from men's inven- 
 tions and worldly doctrines, .... and all their 
 beggarly rudiments, with their schools and colleges 
 for making ministers of Christ, .... and from all 
 their images and crosses, and sprinkling of infants, 
 with all their holy days (so called), and all their vain 
 traditions which they had gotten up since the 
 apostles' days, which the Lord's power was against ; 
 in the dread and authority of which I was moved to 
 declare against them all." 
 
 This was a glorious mission for any man to 
 undertake, and right nobly did Fox address himself 
 to it, delivering his message to rich and poor, to 
 Jesuits and Puritans, to judges and magistrates, to 
 
Introductory. 
 
 u 
 
 priests and soldiers. " Persecuted but not forsaken, 
 cast down but not destroyed," "in stripes above 
 measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft," 
 be laboured on with unflagging energy, and lived 
 to witness a remarkable revival of primitive 
 Christianity which made itself felt in every part 
 of the land. The origin of some of the Common- 
 wealth sects can be traced to a disordered fancy or 
 a wild delusion ; but Quakerism was wholly different 
 in its nature and its aims. As Gerard Croese 
 truthfully remarked, it was the constant aim of the 
 early Friends " so to accommodate all their actions 
 as they might seem not to introduce any new 
 upstart religion, but to resemble the ancient 
 Primitive Church," and in this they achieved an 
 undoubted success. 
 
 George Fox and his co-workers gave especial 
 prominence to the doctrine of the Inward Light, 
 and the work of the Holy Spirit in the regeneration 
 of mankind, insisting upon the necessity of a 
 personal deliverance from the power of sin and 
 Satan. In opposition to the Calvanistic theology 
 which was current in their day, they proclaimed 
 the universality of saving grace, and saw that 
 although an ocean of darkness and death " still 
 covered the earth, yet that " an infinite ocean of 
 Light and Love flowed over the ocean of darkness," 
 and that in this "the infinite love of God" was 
 manifest to all. To them " the Church" was not " a 
 mixed multitude " of good men and bad, much less 
 
12 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 *' an old house made up of lime, stones and wood." 
 It was " the pillar and ground of truth, made up of 
 living stones, a spiritual household," of which Christ 
 was the Head. As men of truth, they could not 
 swear ; as followers of the Prince of Peace, they 
 could not fight.-- As pilgrims and strangers on the 
 earth, they abjured its fashions and renounced its 
 spirit, devoting themselves to the one grand purpose 
 of their lives — the breaking down of formal ecclesi- 
 asticism and the establishment of the Kingdom of 
 God in the hearts of men. 
 
 The early Quakers protested against State 
 Churches, as being in their very nature at variance 
 with the spirit of Christianity. They opposed set 
 forms of worship, and rejected rites and ceremonies, 
 believing that the only true baptism was the Baptism 
 of the Holy Ghost, and the only real communion 
 
 the soul's Communion with the Eternal Mind." 
 They objected to a human priesthood, and scorned 
 the idea that a university education and the im- 
 position of episcopal hands were the essential 
 
 * " Whether military service was lawful for a Christian at all, 
 was, at the time of the Reformation, one of the most keenly 
 debated questions ; and considering the force of opinion 
 arrayed on the negative side, its ultimate decision in the 
 affirmative is a matter of more wonder than it is generally 
 
 thought to deserve The views on this subject of the 
 
 Mennonites and Quakers were but what at one time seemed 
 not unlikely to have been those of the Reformed Church 
 generally." — War and Christianity, by J. A. Farrer (Gent. Mag. 
 Sept. 1884). 
 
Introductory. 
 
 13 
 
 qualifications of a minister of the Gospel. They 
 endeavoured to apply their Christian principles to 
 the conduct of their business, and in their inter- 
 course with their fellow-men they strove to show 
 equal respect to all, refusing to recognize such social 
 distinctions as appeared to them to be a scandal to 
 the Truth. It was to be expected that such views 
 and practices would excite the most strenuous oppo- 
 sition, and that Church and State would combine to 
 prevent the spread of doctrines which threatened to 
 revolutionize the land, — not indeed by the force of 
 arms, or by the secret plottings of political enthusiasm, 
 but by their own effectual working deep down in the 
 individual soul. 
 
 It is the purpose of this book to review the history 
 of this remarkable movement in the town and vale 
 of Evesham, to record the mistakes and excesses, as 
 well as the sufferings and triumphs of its promoters, 
 and to call attention to some of the causes which 
 contributed to its sad decay. It will be seen that 
 while Early Quakerism was comprehensive in its 
 spirit, elastic in its arrangements, and progressive 
 in its aims, the Quakerism of a later day was marred 
 by exclusiveness, formality, and traditionalism. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 HUMPHREY SMITH. 
 
 " Christian saw the picture of a very grave person, and this 
 was the fashion of it : It had eyes lifted up to heaven, the best 
 of books in its hand, the law of truth was written upon its lips, 
 the world was behind its back, it stood as if it pleaded with 
 men, and a crown of gold did hang over its head." — ' Pilgrim's 
 Progress.'' 
 
 The light of history does not reveal the first 
 beginnings of Nonconformity in the county of 
 Worcester. Great movements have often had their 
 origin in obscurity. The Kingdom of God itself 
 came " not with observation," and it is therefore no 
 matter for surprise that we are unable to trace the 
 earliest expressions of dissatisfaction with the 
 established religion. Nonconformist principles had 
 taken deep hold in many parts of the country long 
 before the breaking out of the Civil War ; but the 
 Dissenting Churches of Worcestershire cannot be 
 said to have acquired a separate existence before the 
 time of that sanguinary struggle. 
 
 In 1641 the County Magistrates petitioned Par- 
 liament in favour of " the continuance of the church 
 government, and establishing the liturgy and uniform 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 15 
 
 service of God amongst us," and alluded to "the 
 insolencies and extravagancies which have been 
 lately introduced by divers sects and schisms, and 
 many dangerous doctrines publicly vented." On the 
 8rd of August, 1642, the Grand Jury drew up a 
 declaration "to defend and maintain the Protestant 
 religion against Popish recusants, Anabaptists, and 
 all other separatists," and this was assented to by 
 the High Sheriff, Lord Coventry, and many other 
 county justices/'' The Anabaptists are stated by 
 Calamy to have had a congregation at Bewdley ; 
 Baxter says that they " consisted of some (but fewer) 
 sober, peaceable persons, but withal of abundance 
 of young, transported zealots, and a medley of 
 opinionists." 
 
 The growing strength of the Puritan party was 
 locally evinced in 1640 by the will of Alderman 
 Eudge, of London, who bequeathed £400 to the 
 churchwardens of Evesham for the maintenance of 
 a lecturer " to preach the word of God in the parish 
 church every Sunday afternoon, or upon some 
 wwking day in every week, for ever." The first 
 lecturer was to be selected by four eminent Non- 
 conformist divines in London, namely, Gouge, 
 Calamy, Burton, and Culverwell. Provision was 
 made for the application of the fund towards the 
 relief of the poor in case the lecture " should be 
 prohibited by authority, or otherwise cease." f 
 
 * Noake's 'Worcester Sects,' p. 89. 
 
 f 'Diocesan History of Worcester,' p. 234. 
 
16 Evesham FHmds in the Olden Time. 
 
 The establishment of Presbyterianism in 1644 was 
 signalised by the expulsion of a great many of the 
 Episcopal clergy. Some few Worcestershire clergy- 
 men remained in office throughout the Common- 
 wealth, while others "lingered about their old 
 parishes, ready to discharge in secret any of the 
 church-offices which might be required at their 
 hands." The Puritan preachers were not unnaturally 
 regarded as intruders by the more loyal members of 
 their flocks ; but they soon acquired positions of 
 commanding influence and authority, and, although 
 sadly lacking in charity for their opponents, they 
 eloquently upheld the standard of the truth. The 
 persecutions described in the next chapter clearly 
 illustrate the intolerant zeal of the Puritan party. 
 George Hopkins, incumbent of All Saints, Evesham, 
 during the Commonwealth, is regarded by some as 
 " the father of the Evesham Presbyterians." He 
 was ejected for Nonconformity in 1662. 
 
 Dealing next with the Independents, we find that 
 they took possession of Worcester Cathedral soon 
 after the Parliamentary forces had entered the city^ 
 and that they appointed as "preacher at the 
 College," one Simon Moore, who was formerly 
 chaplain to Lord Wharton. On one occasion Moore 
 prevented Baxter from preaching an assize sermon 
 before the Judges, because he preached against the 
 State. Baxter was then in the height of his fame, 
 and he employed his great influence in endeavouring 
 to secure some basis of agreement between the 
 
Humphrey SwitJt. 
 
 17 
 
 contendingparties which surrounded hhu. His"Agi-ee- 
 ment for Church Order and Concord" was signed, among 
 others, by Joseph Baker and Thomas Juice (or Jewkes), 
 Independent ministers of Worcester. The ' Judgment 
 and Advice of the Assembly of the Associated Ministers 
 of Worcestershu-e, held at Worcester, August 6, 1658, 
 concerning the endeavours of Ecclesiastical Peace 
 and the waies and meanes of Christian Unity,' was 
 signed by Eichard Baxter ; John Boraston (pastor of 
 the church at Bewdley ) ; Thomas Wright, Hartlebury ; 
 Giles Collyer, Blockley ; George Hopkins, Evesham ; 
 and Joseph Trebell, of Church Lench. This pamphlet 
 exhorted Christians to sink their minor differences, 
 and to cultivate charity one towards another. Several 
 leading Independent and Presbyterian ministers in 
 Worcester were ejected under the Act of Uniformity 
 in 1662. Simon Moore was obliged to quit the 
 cathedral, and " after Bartholomew Day, through 
 the fury of the justices and the people, he was forced 
 to leave Worcester." Among the ejected ministers 
 was Thomas Badland, of Willenhall in Staffordshire, 
 who returned to his native city of Worcester in 1663, 
 and became pastor of the first distinct Independent 
 congregation in Worcestershire, meeting for worship 
 in a room at the lower end of Fish Street.''' From 
 this time the Independents — or Congregationalists, 
 as they were afterwards called — took up a position 
 in the forefront of the battle for religious liberty ; 
 and after the passing of the Toleration Act, their 
 
 * Noake's ' Worcester Sects,' chap. ii. 
 
 c 
 
18 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 churches, "walking m the fear of the Lord, and in 
 the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." 
 
 Next to the Independents came the Baptists, 
 whose religious principles were advanced in Worces- 
 tershire hy courageous, persevering, and devoted 
 men. During the Commonwealth several Baptist 
 preachers occupied church livings in this county. 
 Baxter says that *' Coppe baptised more than any 
 other man I ever heard of, witness Warwickshire, 
 Oxford, and part of Worcester." The most noted 
 among the Baptist leaders in this part of the country 
 was John Tombes, the " Priest Tombs," with whom 
 George Fox held so warm a controversy at Leominster 
 in 1659. Tombes was born at Bewdley in 1603, and 
 educated at Oxford, where he mastered the Greek 
 and Hebrew languages, and attained to the position 
 of lecturer at Magdalen Hall. He afterwards became 
 a popular preacher, and formed Baptist churches at 
 Bewdley, Leominster, and Hereford. He also laboured 
 at Boss, Worcester, Ledbury, Bristol, and other places, 
 " argued in Latin with the Assembly of Divines, and 
 had the best of it in a public disputation with Baxter, 
 which took place at Bewdley on New Year's Day, 
 1649, before a crowded audience. After a chequered 
 career, during which he held several church livings, 
 lectureships, &c., was ejected, fled from place to 
 place, robbed, and once narrowly escaped with his 
 life, he retired to Salisbury at the Eestoration, 
 married a rich widow, conformed to the church 
 (though only as a lay communicant), and died at the 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 19 
 
 age of seventy -three." Among Tombe's converts was 
 Mr. Eccles, who was known as "the boy preacher," 
 being only about sixteen years old when he com- 
 menced his ministry. He became pastor of the 
 earliest Baptist congregation in Worcestershire, that 
 of Bromesgrove, which was established between 1650 
 and 1660. William Pardoe, of Worcester, and 
 Eobert Brown, of White Ladies, Aston, were also 
 instrumental in furthering the Baptist cause. The 
 former was "a worthy,' humble, self-denying preacher, 
 and a great sufferer for religion — a very useful man, 
 and blessed with great success in his ministerial 
 work." Brown was residing at Westmancote in 
 1679, but he also laboured at Worcester and other 
 places.! 
 
 Although the Baptist societies were formed on an 
 independent basis, it was found desirable to unite 
 them into district Associations, or " General Meet- 
 ings," to which " messengers" were appointed from 
 the associated churches. As early as 1653 a union 
 of this kind was effected, and in 1655 the "Midland 
 Association " was established, comiDrising Warwick, 
 Moreton, Bourton-on-the-Water, Alcester, Tewkes- 
 bury, Hook-Norton and Derby. The Baptist Church 
 at Worcester first assumed an organised form in 
 1658, under the pastorate of Thomas Fecknam. It 
 was united to the Midland Association in the follow- 
 ing year. The Pershore church is believed to have 
 
 * Noake's ' ^Yorcester Sects,' p. 154. 
 
 + Palmer's ' Nonconformist Memorial,' iii., p. 413. 
 
20 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 been founded soon after the Battle of Worcester in 
 1651, The Association meetings took into con- 
 sideration the spiritual wants of the allied societies, 
 and made provision for the ministry where this was 
 needed." 
 
 The Baptists suffered terribly under the oppressive 
 laws against nonconformity, which came into effect 
 soon after the Restoration. Their society at 
 Worcester was broken up for eight successive years, 
 and the pastor, Thomas Fecknam, lay in prison 
 three years for refusing to take the oath of allegiance. 
 William Pardoe, pastor of the General Baptist 
 Congregation at Worcester, was kept in gaol for 
 nearly seven years, and Eccles of Bromesgrove was 
 arrested while preaching, " greatly abused, and put 
 into a dungeon in Worcester gaol." The Midland 
 Association meetings were either discontinued or 
 held in secrecy until relief was found under the 
 Toleration Act of 1689, when the Baptists took steps 
 to re- organize their associations throughout the 
 country. The churches comprised in the Midland 
 Union were then as follows : Warwick, Moreton, 
 Tewkesbury, Hook Norton, Alcester, Bromesgrove, 
 Dymock (Now Upton), Hereford (including Leo- 
 minster), and Kilby in Leicestershire.- Although 
 there were several persons " convinced of believer's 
 baptism " residing in or near Evesham during the 
 
 * Noake's ' Worcester Sects,' pp. 148, 162. 
 + Noake's ' Worcester Sects,' p. 161. 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 21 
 
 latter part of the seventeenth century, regular 
 services were not commenced in this town until 
 1704, when a barn in Bengeworth was secured, 
 and preaching arranged for once a month. The 
 church was fully settled under the Rev. Jacob Mower 
 in 1732. 
 
 Gathered largely out of the before-mentioned and 
 other sects, and second to none in evangelical fervour, 
 came the Society of Friends. It is not easy to 
 discover the precise time when they held then- first 
 religious meetings m Worcestershire ; but it appears 
 that " many" were meeting together " in the fear of 
 the Lord" at the house of Thomas Cartwright, at 
 Evesham, in the year 1655, about seven years after 
 George Fox commenced his public ministry. These 
 individuals had doubtless heard the principles of 
 Friends expounded fii-om the lips of one of the 
 itinerant preachers.- 
 
 The earliest records inspire the belief that this 
 evangehst was none other than the famous 
 Humphrey Smith, who may therefore be regarded 
 as the founder of Quakerism in the Borough of 
 Evesham. No memoir of this remarkable man has 
 ever been published, and for this reason his name 
 has not been emblazoned with sufficient honour 
 upon the long roll of Quaker worthies, while his 
 
 * In 1720 Worcestershire Q. desired each Mo. Meeting to 
 inquire " what publick Friends came first into our county, and 
 what sufferings ensued, either corporeal or by imprisonment." 
 No record remains pf these interesting investigations. 
 
22 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 deeds have been well nigh forgotten in the town 
 where he laboured and suffered so long.''' 
 
 It is believed that Humphrey Smith was born in 
 the neighbourhood of Little Cowarne, not far from 
 Bromyard, in Herefordshire.! From incidental 
 allusions to himself in his address to Parents of 
 children upon the face of the whole earth," | we are 
 enabled to picture him as a boy of unusual spiritual 
 discernment, fond of solitude, and early given to 
 serious thought about the great problems of religion. 
 He thus refers to the tenderness of conscience which 
 he then felt : — 
 
 My heart was much affected therewith, and 
 tears were as my meat and drink night and day ; 
 and often was my heart refreshed with love from 
 God, when I came unto that which came from Christ, 
 who said, ' Come unto Me,' and ' Suffer little children 
 to come unto Me.' But many despised my tears, 
 not knowing, as they said, what was the matter with 
 me ; and much provocation was used to get me out 
 
 of that condition Yet something of God in 
 
 me was not wholly overcome, and the first words, 
 
 *In Bickley's ' George Fox and the Early Quakers ' (p. 277), 
 Humphrey Smith is rightly spoken of as one of the " most 
 eminent and useful adherents " of Quakerism. F. A. Budge 
 has penned a good sketch of H. Smith in the 'Friends' 
 Quarterly Examiner,' 1873, p. 534. 
 
 + The name of Smith does not, however, occur in the parish 
 register of Little Cowarne and Ullingswick. 
 
 I " Written by a Member of Christ, whose love was to little 
 children, and so is mine " (p. 123, Collected Works). 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 23 
 
 according to Scripture, that pierced my heart and 
 remained with me, were, ' He hath filled the hungry 
 with good things, and the rich hath he sent empty 
 away.' " 
 
 The little Herefordshire lad soon found the joy of 
 communing with his Heavenly Father, and laid his 
 childish fears and troubles upon One who was mighty 
 to comfort and deliver. 
 
 " I did often pray to God (believing there was a 
 God, though I knew him not) ; even earnestly did 1 
 pray with tears, and my heart was opened with His 
 
 love And sometimes as I went along the way, 
 
 when it came into my heart, then should I even beg 
 and cry with many tears, and had boldness towards 
 God, as to^'ards a familiar Friend, though in much 
 submission and fear as one unworthy, because I had 
 sinned against Him." 
 
 Trained in such a school as this, Humphrey 
 Smith was not slow to perceive the uselessness of 
 merely outward observances. " When I was a child, 
 the Light of Christ in me did let me see the 
 abominations of the priests' practices, and did speak 
 against their way of sprinkling infants, and said 
 * I should never stand as a godfather to any.' 
 Whereat a man swore at me, and said, ' It was a 
 pity anyone did it for me.' But I said ' It mattered 
 not if they had never done it, for I was never the 
 better ' (though I had never heard any one speak 
 against these things, nor did I until many years 
 after)." 
 
24 Evesliam. Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 This strangely meditative boy loved to ramble 
 alone among the woods and orchards surrounding 
 his native village, holding converse with the great 
 Creator, and reading Nature's book with thoughtful 
 eye. Sometimes, doubtless, he would climb a 
 breezy hill top, and sit down awhile to watch the 
 distant landscape, noting how the showers of spring 
 spent themselves upon the long ridges of the Black 
 Mountain, or how the storms of winter swept over 
 the far-off Eadnor Forest, leaving its summit white 
 with snow. Or he would look eastward to where the 
 quickly fleeting shadows chased each other along 
 the Malvern Hills, — those barrier- walls of Nature, 
 hiding what was to him an unknown land. Little 
 did he know that not far beyond them he would one 
 day lie a " prisoner of the Lord." 
 
 Humphrey Smith's parents did not perceive that 
 he was being taught in the school of Christ, and 
 they used their utmost endeavours to dissuade him 
 from his practice of waiting upon God. " My silent 
 sitting like a fool, my father hath often called 
 ' studying,' and hath sharply reproved me for it, 
 saying, by way of reproach, ' I would surely study to 
 be some great preacher or another.' And my mother 
 hath come to me hundreds of times, both when I 
 was a child and a man, and in her pity hath laid 
 hands on me, and bid me not sit ' studying ' so, for 
 surely I would make myself a fool. And so, having 
 not any that was sensibla to that tender principle of 
 God in me, to cherish that, or be a help to me in it. 
 
Humphrey Smith, 
 
 25 
 
 .... the earth and darkness got entrance in me 
 more than before, and so I became in after years as 
 a child of wrath, disobedient to God." 
 
 In the following sentences — full of deep instruc- 
 tion to those who have just entered on the Christian 
 life — Humphrey Smith explained the cause of his 
 declension from the things which he had learned: — 
 
 " I was led out from my true Guide, by the 
 which at first I could pray with the Spirit with 
 sighs and tears : — which being led out from, and 
 the tender motions of it quenched, then after I grew 
 up I was taught to say prayers, and some prayers 
 tliat others learned out of books, and this they laid 
 upon me to say every night : but I found that was 
 just as a dry heath, instead of as a honeycomb 
 before. 
 
 " And so being led on in a form, and to look after 
 things and teachers without, the light within became 
 darkened, and my understanding of the Son of God's 
 
 love shed abroad in my heart I began to 
 
 look after priests and sermons, and thought to have 
 found the true thing again there ; but as true as the 
 Lord God of heaven and earth liveth, they did me 
 more harm than all the rest, and led me farther 
 from my Teacher, and fi-om the sense of feeling 
 after God, .... so that I grew much into that 
 knowledge which pufifeth up, and did indeed increase 
 my sorrow." 
 
 Humphrey Smith had exchanged the inward 
 knowledge of the Truth for a mere empty profession 
 
26 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 of it, and it was not long before his heart became 
 altogether divided, and his affections set upon those 
 things which ''perish with the using." 
 
 From Humphrey Smith's own writings,-- we learn 
 that he took a farm near Little Cowarne, and for the 
 time became engrossed in his worldly pursuits. In 
 later years he referred to his long neglect of higher 
 aims, saying that his heart was then fixed upon 
 ''earthly things," "being very fierce in labouring 
 therein for the getting and increasing of the fruits of 
 the earth," as though the acquisition of wealth was 
 the " one thing needful." " The love of the world," 
 he wrote, " prevailed against God, and children, 
 wife, farms and oxen hindered from the kingdom. 
 .... My goods I loved more than Christ." 
 
 About this time the Civil War broke out, and 
 Humphrey Smith, like many another yeoman, threw 
 himself fearlessly into the fray. We are told that 
 he was " a friend to the Parliament's army from the 
 first arising of them, and afterwards ventured his 
 naturall life, and suffered much loss by the King's 
 army."! 
 
 After the close of the war, he aspired to become a 
 minister of the Gospel, and, being encouraged to do 
 
 * ' Man driven out of the Earth and Darkness by the Light, 
 Life and Mighty Hand of God,' written in Winchester Gaol, 
 1658. This contains (1) " Concerning my call out of the 
 World, or my going out from my House, Country, and outward 
 employment"; and (2) "Concerning my publick Preaching, 
 and something of what followed." 
 
 + The Cruelty of the Magistrates of Evesham. 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 27 
 
 so by many who were loud in his praise — among 
 whom he ' * stood up as a tall cedar in the height of 
 profession," — he became a public preacher, and was 
 " admired by hundi-eds " of shallow-minded people. 
 George Fox says that he was once '* a priest,"* but 
 we must not conclude from this that he ever occupied 
 a livmg, for he express^ informs us that he "denied 
 all gifts and rewards," and that he entered upon the 
 work of preaching " mth a great zeal for God," and 
 "in a real intent to do good." On one occasion, 
 when a justice offered him a handsome maintenance, 
 he indignantly declined it, saying, " I shall rather 
 go in sheepskins and goatskins, and eat bread and 
 drink water." Whatever the ecclesiastical standing 
 of this self-made preacher may have been, he became 
 "a man of note," and was allowed to deliver his 
 sermons from the pulpits of the churches in 
 Herefordshire. The village squires and local 
 justices came to hear him speak, and the farmer 
 fi'om Little Cowarne was quite the talk of the 
 comitry side, and not a little lifted up in himself 
 at the success which appeared to attend his 
 effort s."^' 
 
 * " Who had been a Priest, but was now become a free 
 minister of Christ."— G. F. Journal, ed. 1694, p. 168. 
 
 + During the Commonwealth "some of the benefices were 
 still retained by their old Episcopalian incumbents ; a con- 
 siderable number were held by Independents ; and a few were 
 filled even by persons belonging to some of the many minor 
 sects that now swarmed in the sunshine of the Protector's 
 all but universal toleration. For some time, indeed, the 
 
28 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 But the time had come for a mighty change to 
 be wrought in him, and httle by Httle the process 
 of conviction and enHghtenment went on, until he 
 saw at last that he had assumed the office of an 
 ambassador for Christ without a commission from 
 the court of heaven. 
 
 " For the love of the world, which is enmity 
 to God, remained in me, and the root of iniquity 
 was not removed out of my heart ; . . . . and so 
 my preaching did not bring home souls to God, 
 though I informed their minds of many things, 
 which many knew not before. Yet this brought 
 not forth fruits of obedience unto God, and so all 
 ■came to little. For the people remained in their 
 sins, and received not power to come out of them ; 
 neither came they out of the fashions and customs 
 of the world, nor to be separated from the unclean. 
 Neither did they come to the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, which purifies the heart ; for unto 
 that I was not then come myself." 
 
 This conclusion having been come to, Humphrey 
 Smith did not long continue in the dangerous path 
 of unbidden prophecy, and he boldly announced at 
 his last service at Stoke Bliss, "My mouth is 
 ■stopped for the present, but if ever the Lord should 
 open my mouth again, I shall preach indeed." 
 
 The discipline of soul most trying to flesh and 
 
 pulpits appear to have been opened to any of the laity who 
 were esteemed to possess an edifying gift of utterance." — 
 Pict. Hist, of England, iv., p. 494. 
 
Humph reij Smith. 
 
 29 
 
 blood had now to be experienced. To quote from 
 his own words : — 
 
 ' ' The Lord did command me to follow Him in 
 obedience to His wilh and to declare against all 
 um'ighteousness of men. And I then saw clearly 
 in the eternal Hght and foresight of God the 
 hardships, cruelties, whippings, imprisonments, and 
 dungeons, which have been since in part upon this 
 
 body fulfilled And at that time did the 
 
 powerful life of God break through me with such 
 unspeakable love, that I was even willing to leave all 
 and walk with God. 
 
 '* But how contrary it was to my own will in 
 leaving my employment and outward business in the 
 world, let all judge who knew my conversation, and 
 saw my eagerness and contrivances therein. . . . ^ 
 I say again, it was much contrary to my sti'ong will 
 to leave these things and the love of them, and be 
 taken from it with £150 loss, and be exposed to- 
 want, revilings, stonings, and all manner of cruel 
 torture, and for me i that ruled over many and was 
 respected by many) to become a servant of all, and 
 
 the offscouring of all I reasoned that I 
 
 should be esteemed a madman, and that peoi)le 
 would not beheve me, and that I was not fit, and 
 many such things. Then the word of the Lord was 
 spoken in me, saying, ' Who is he that openeth the 
 mouth ? Is it not I the Lord.' Then with the 
 constraining power of God's eternal love I began to 
 be willing. 
 
80 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 " But when that was a httle over, the Tempter 
 being near, I reasoned concerning my wife and 
 children, how they should be provided for ; and 
 presently the promise of the Lord was that they 
 should be cared for, and His promise was to me that 
 he who converteth souls to God should shine as the 
 stars for ever. And when I had received these words 
 into me I was overcome with the refreshings of God, 
 and made willing to undergo all tribulations, if in 
 my whole life I did convert one soul to God, seeing 
 and feeling the redemption of one soul to be so 
 
 precious But when I looked at my outward 
 
 things, and how first to settle them in order, I was 
 by temptations made afraid that it was a delusion, or 
 something of the Devil transformed as an angel of 
 light, and between both I was in much trouble and 
 distress, not knowing what to do, having not then 
 known any called Quakers, nor any such operations 
 in any man in those dayes. 
 
 " At last, reasoning about outward things, I 
 resolved not to leave them, and not to obey that 
 which called me out of the world. And to write in 
 short, I did strive and joyn with all the powers of 
 darkness that I could, and used all means possible to 
 drive the power of God from me, and the thoughts 
 of Him and His works out of my mind ; and it had 
 been just if His Spirit had never strived more with 
 me, but left me to be cut off for ever. 
 
 *' And now mark what for my rebellion did justly 
 follow. My outward goods became a prey and a 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 31 
 
 spoil to unreasonable men, and the Lord also dried 
 up all my springs within, so that I could neither 
 pray or believe, but concluded that I was accursed 
 from God for ever. And being in a sad, miserable 
 condition, I resolved to write a warning to all people, 
 that they might take example by me, and never 
 resist the Spirit as I had done. But before I could 
 write, the Lord had compassion on me, and lifted my 
 soul out of the horrible pit, and staid me with His 
 
 hand for a time But going out again from 
 
 that I resolved to keep two kingdoms some time 
 longer, and therefore much trouble followed me 
 within, and wasting, loss, shame and destruction 
 upon things w^ithout. 
 
 " Often times I was afraid that this power of God 
 in me would come to an end, and that then I might 
 return to my outward employment with great loss, 
 and that then, instead of doing service for God, I 
 might bring a reproach upon His blessed Name, and 
 men say, ' I began to build and am not able to 
 finish' ; and this also kept me back very much. 
 But such was the everlasting love of the Lord that 
 His hand was heavy upon me, and there was no way 
 for me to escape. I must be obedient, and bow 
 
 under it, or be cut off for ever And some 
 
 time after I told my wife and family, with heaviness 
 and tears, that I had abode with them in the way of 
 the world so long as possible I could, and that I 
 must give my life to serve the Lord." 
 
 " Jesus Christ did call Matthew from the receipt 
 
82 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 of custom to follow Him, and Peter and John from 
 their employment of fishing, and made them fishers 
 of men, and Paul also left his employment, and was 
 obedient to the heavenly vision : and those then 
 became a wonder and a gazing-stock to many, — yet 
 they continued travelling through many countries, 
 preaching the word of God with boldness. And so, 
 the Lord did not only call, but thrust me forth out of 
 the world into His harvest ; and this was of God, 
 and the operation of His powerful word." 
 
 From this season of trial and purging Humphrey 
 Smith came forth a new man. He had lost his life, 
 but in doing so he had found it. He had forsaken 
 wife, children, and lands, but he was to receive a 
 hundredfold more. " Kiches more excellent than 
 the royalty of diadems, or the purest gold, or the 
 most renowned glory," were now, he tells us, his 
 continual portion. " Gathered into the one fold of 
 blessed hai^piness," he was " passified and cooled 
 with the over- spreading streams of God's free love," 
 and enjoyed " the rest that never can be shaken." 
 
 His ministry commenced once more, — this time in 
 the demonstration and power of the Holy Ghost. 
 He threw in his lot with " the Christian people called 
 Quakers," and among them he laboured for a few 
 short years with a remarkable measure of abiding 
 success. 
 
 Before leaving Herefordshire, Humphrey Smith 
 had some interesting communications with a neigh- 
 bouring clergyman on the subject of tithes. This 
 
Hiwiphreij Smith. 
 
 33 
 
 clergyman, named Edmund Skipp," wrote to him, 
 saying, "Brother Smith, the Lord hath done a 
 strange work in me, and I shall alter strangely this 
 day. Therefore pray earnestly for me, and make 
 what haste thou canst to come to me." The con- 
 versation which ensued strengthened Skipp in his 
 determination to give up receiving tithes for preach- 
 ing, but he appears to have been a half-hearted, 
 unstable man, and in a short time he changed his 
 mind upon the question, being unprepared to face 
 the consequences of yielding obedience to his con- 
 victions. He apologised for his vacillating conduct 
 by saying, "I have not faith enough to carry me 
 through, and I believe the Devil will steal all that I 
 have away from me again." He afterwards wrote a 
 book against Friends, entitled, ' The Quaker's 
 Blazing Star, or the World's Wonder, with an 
 Astronomical Judgment given upon the same ; set 
 forth by Edmund Skipp, a preacher of the Gospel at 
 Bodenham in Herefordshire ' (4to, 1655). Humphrey 
 Smith replied with much point and vigour.! 
 
 The command was now given to God's anointed 
 messenger, " Go and I will be with thee, and teach 
 thee what thou shalt say." So he bade farewell to 
 his wife and family, and went forth in faith to do 
 
 * In 'The Peculium ' (p. 177, note) Skipp is called "a 
 Baptist preacher." 
 
 + H. Smith's reply was entitled, ' The Wandering Star 
 discovered, and his False Light Comprehended and made 
 Manifest.' (Coll. Writings, p. 68). 
 
 D 
 
34 Evesliam Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 battle with the powers of darkness, "not knowing 
 whither he went." It was probably in the summer 
 of 1655 that he commenced his jom-neyings, and his 
 steps were soon turned towards the town of Evesham. 
 In the next chapter we shall see what sort of recep- 
 tion was accorded to the man, and to the message he 
 proclaimed. 
 
 From Worcestershire Humphrey Smith travelled 
 into Devon, with the intention of visiting some who 
 were in prison for their allegiance to the truth. 
 Great havoc had been made among the gatherings of 
 Friends in Devon and Cornwall, and the tidings of 
 the persecution had brought together a number of 
 brethren from other parts of the country, who went 
 up and down, comforting the sufferers, and en- 
 couraging them to maintain their testimony to the 
 last. Alarmed at the influence exerted by these 
 self-denying labourers, the county justices issued an 
 order that " all Quakers travelling without a pass " 
 should be treated as "vagrants," and placed under 
 arrest. More than twenty persons were accordingly 
 lodged in Exeter gaol, Humphrey Smith being of the 
 number.'''' 
 
 While a prisoner at Exon, in 1656, Humphrey 
 Smith prepared two striking j)amphlets, one con- 
 taining ' A Warning to the Priests, Magistrates, 
 Eulers, and Inhabitants of Exon,' and the other an 
 account of ' The Efiects of the Priests' Ministry in 
 Devonshire.' In the latter the clergy were plainly 
 
 * Besse, i. p. 149. 
 
Humphrei/ Smith. 
 
 35 
 
 charged with being the real authors of the per- 
 secution. 
 
 Liberated at length from Exeter gaol, Humphrey 
 Smith journeyed into Hampshire, and early in 1657 
 was arrested while holding a meeting in the house of 
 John Read, at Poulnar, near Eingwood, two travellers 
 who were j)resent being also taken into custody. 
 Their names were xVnthony Mellidge and William 
 Bayly. (The Mittimus is given in ' Besse's Sufferings,' 
 Vol. i.). When the Assizes came round the three 
 prisoners were sent to the House of Correction. 
 Humphrey Smith's wife went before the Judges, but 
 her pleadings were in vain, and fourteen weeks 
 passed away before a discharge was ordered by a 
 Parliamentary Committee.''^ 
 
 Anthony Mellidge had made the acquaintance of 
 Humphrey Smith when the latter was in Exeter 
 gaol, and they now started together in the direction 
 of Poole. When they reached Corfe m the evening 
 they decided to spend the night at the house of 
 Anthony's widowed mother. Several neighbours 
 came in, and Humphrey Smith " was moved of the 
 Lord to speak to them." But " as he was speaking 
 the word of God with boldness," a number of 
 drunken men rushed in, headed by the Priest, the 
 Mayor, and the Bailiff. The Priest " acted like a 
 sorcerer, making signs with his fingers in a scoffing 
 manner, and Pilchard Jones, who was called Bailiff, 
 
 * ' The Fruits of the Unrighteousness and Injustice brought 
 forth by the Eulers in Hampshire,' 1658. 
 
36 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 spake hastily in a rage, and so at last forced 
 Humphrey Smith to stop." A long discussion 
 followed, in which the clergyman was completely 
 silenced. " Then were many people that were come 
 in very quiet again, and attended to what was spoke 
 to them, and many confessed to the Truth, and 
 departed all peaceably." 
 
 The next morning Jones the Bailiff dragged the 
 two travellers to his own alehouse (''for he was a 
 beer brewer"), and set a watch over them. Then he 
 sent them to Justice Eoger Clavil, before whom 
 Priest Gibbens, of Corfe, and Priest Pitfield appeared 
 *'to lay snares for them." A mittimus interlined 
 with false accusations " was prepared, and the two 
 sufferers were condemned to undergo another painful 
 imprisonment. Eichard Jones kept them in his beer- 
 shop that night, but "haled them out of bed before 
 the sun was up," and rode with them to Dorchester, 
 shamefully abusing them on the way.* It so hap- 
 pened that " that faithful elder and ancient minister 
 of Jesus Christ," Ambrose Rigge, was sent to 
 Dorchester gaol at the same time. He says in his 
 Journal (p. 13) : — " When I came to that prison I 
 found my dear brother, Humphrey Smith, there. A 
 terrible sickness, which some called the plague, 
 swept away most of the prisoners. Humphrey 
 Smith took the sickness, and was very near death ; 
 
 * See ' A true Eelation of Anthony Mellidge, sometime called 
 a Captain, now in scorn called a Quaker,' written in Dorchester 
 gaol, 1656. (Devonshire Ho. Lib.). 
 
Humphreij Smith. 
 
 37 
 
 unto whom I was greatly helpful. He was not 
 willing to take anything but fi'om me ; but the Lord 
 raised him up again. Joseph Coale and 'W'ilham 
 Bayly were prisoners also ; but we were all preserved, 
 and delivered by the mighty arm and power of God." 
 
 Dm-ing this captivity Humphi-ey Smith penned an 
 expository tract, entitled, ' The first and second 
 Priesthood declared, according to the Scriptm*es.' 
 
 In October of the same year (1657) we find our 
 friend once more at his work, preaching the "^'ay of 
 Life to the people of Hawkchurch. Here again he 
 was molested by the parish priest, who di-agged him 
 before a magistrate, demanding that he should be 
 turned out of the village. This was promptly done, 
 but not until the imresisthig victim had been severely 
 scourged. 
 
 Such a succession of sufferings would have damped 
 the ai-dour of most men ; but Humphrey Smith was 
 not easily cowed by the threatenings of Priests and 
 Justices, and his repeated imprisonments only served 
 to make him more bold and persistent. Nothing 
 datmted by his adversaries, he entered upon fresh 
 fields of service, and was now joined by Samuel 
 Curtis, of Periot, " a clothier of considerable trade, 
 wealth, and reputation.'"* They went to the town of 
 Chard together, and commenced preaching to a crowd 
 in the open market-place. Fresh troubles awaited 
 
 * Samuel Curtis was an able minister in the West of England. 
 See his sufferings (Besse, Vol. I., pp. 150, 166, 582, 587, 589, 
 594, 604—5). 
 
88 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 them there. They were rudely interrupted by the 
 officers of the law, who whipped them as "rogues 
 and vagabonds," and drove them away. 
 
 Soon after this occurred they were stopped on the 
 road near Axminster by "a wicked man from Hawk- 
 church," who came riding " with much violence, and 
 a tithing-man behind him with a warrant to appre- 
 hend Humphrey Smith and any vagabond person 
 wandering in his company." Both the evangelists 
 were taken before John Hodder, Priest of Hawk- 
 church, and Thomas Bampfield, "called a Justice." 
 Samuel Curtis was well known in the neighbourhood 
 as a most respectable tradesman, and was then only 
 seven miles from his own home, but, notwithstanding 
 this, he was treated with the greatest indignity. 
 Humphrey Smith and himself were stripped naked 
 in a close adjoining the house, and cruelly beaten in 
 the presence of a crowd of people. Their books and 
 papers were taken away, and officers were directed to 
 accompany them out of the district. 
 
 We next find Humphrey Smith endeavouring to 
 hold a meeting at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, but the 
 " rude multitude " daubed the Friends with " dirt, 
 and dung, and the filth of the town, and cast many 
 great stones at them." Hundreds of men " com- 
 passed them about with shouts and houps, following 
 them into a house, they being not willing to go forth, 
 least there should have been blood shed."- 
 
 * See ' The Lcamentable Sufferings of the Church of God in 
 Dorsetshire,' 1G5U. (Devonshire Ho. Lib.). 
 
HiDnplirey Smith. 
 
 39 
 
 For a time we lose sight of Humphrey Smith in 
 his wanderings, but he seems to have returned into 
 Hampshire, and to have been " the first, in scorn 
 called a Quaker, that ever had a publick testimony 
 for God in the town of Andover." " Not long after" 
 he was cast into the common gaol at Winchester, 
 where he was doomed to lie for more than twelve 
 months. During the whole of this year (1658) he 
 shared his dungeon with James Potter,'-' and occa- 
 sionally held a meeting with Friends who came to 
 see him. Edward Waldren, of Andover, has left an 
 account of one of these meetings. He says in his 
 ' Testimony concerning Humphrey Smith ' : — 
 
 " I hearing that in this prison was that faithful 
 servant of the Lord [H. Smith] , and having longing 
 desire to see him, went with some of Andover that 
 used to visit him, — which day I hope will never be 
 forgotten by me. I have cause forever to praise, the 
 Lord in the behalf of this tender, innocent, faithful 
 man, for through the great mercy and loving-kindness 
 of God was he an instrument in convincing and 
 turning me from the world's by-paths to the Light 
 of Jesus, the Way of the Lord, and Path of the 
 just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect 
 day." 
 
 Humphrey Smith's health was soon affected by the 
 close atmosphere of the "filthy prison," and at one 
 time he was so ill that he took leave of those around 
 him, and " lay down in the Father's love, not feeling 
 * See account of J. Potter's imprisonments (Besse, i., p. 229). 
 
40 Kcesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 sorrow or pain," his friends hardly knowing whether 
 he breathed or not. Whilst thus awaiting the final 
 summons, he saw " things unutterable." Heaven 
 itself was oj)ened before him, and two angels stood 
 by his side to bear him away to eternal rest. But 
 the end was not yet come, and he was restored for 
 a time," " for the work of the Lord amongst the sons 
 of men." 
 
 Eecovering his strength he pre^Dared a number of 
 ejiistles to Friends in different parts of the country. 
 He also addi'essed some powerful warnings to his 
 persecutors, — the * Just Complaint of the Afflicted, 
 to be delivered to the Judge of the Sessions at 
 Winchester,' being especially full of solemn exhorta- 
 tion and entreaty. 
 
 Passing on from this first long confinement at 
 Winchester, we find the next notice of his movements 
 in the following words : — 
 
 " Anno. 1659. Humphrey Smith was taken out 
 of a meeting at Poole and sent to prison."* George 
 Fox had visited Poole four years before this occurred, 
 and, as the result of his preaching, a "great gathering " 
 had been formed of those * ' who were turned to the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, then* Kock and Foundation, their 
 Teacher, and Saviour." Humphrey Smith was 
 ministering to this interesting assembly when he 
 was rudely seized, and hurried off to the nearest 
 dungeon. 
 
 In the following year he appears to have visited 
 * Besse, i., p. 167. 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 41 
 
 his old home at Little Cowarne, for an epistle is 
 included among his writings, dated from Broome- 
 yard, in Herefordshire, the 4th of the 3rd Month, 
 1660." 
 
 Shortly afterwards a pamphlet came forth from the 
 press, describing a wonderful vision which he had 
 seen of the destruction by fire of the City of London. 
 Eeaders of Church history are well aware that in all 
 ages some of God's servants have at times discerned 
 with remarkable clearness the advent of His judg- 
 ments upon individuals or upon nations. Dwelhng 
 beneath the shadow of His wings, and walking con- 
 tinually in the light of His countenance, they have 
 been made deeply sensible of the motions of His 
 will. Many of the early Friends received Divine 
 intimations of impending dangers, their lives being 
 thus preserved from the greatest peril. Nor should 
 it be forgotten that " visions " were announced as 
 among the spiritual phenomena of the Christian 
 dispensation, and that their occurrence is frequently 
 recorded in the annals of the early Church. 
 
 George Fox saw several visions concerning the 
 partial destruction of the metropolis. He beheld the 
 city "lie in heaps and the gates down," just as he 
 saw it " several years after, lying in heaps, when it 
 was burned." In 1664, when a prisoner in Lancaster 
 Castle, he perceived the angel of the Lord, "with a 
 glittering sword stretched southward, as though the 
 Court had been all on fire. Not long after the wars 
 broke out with Holland, the sickness broke forth, 
 
42 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 and afterwards the fire of London, so the Lord's 
 sword was drawn indeed."* 
 
 Thomas Briggs, a Lancashire Friend, also had a 
 foresight of the coming disaster, and he proclaimed 
 in the midst of Cheapside "that unless London 
 repented, as Nineveh did, God would destroy it."t 
 
 Two days before the memorable conflagration of 
 1666, a Friend named Thomas Ibbott, from Hunt- 
 ingdonshire, went up to London in great haste, and, 
 alighting from his horse, ran through the streets 
 towards Whitehall, with his clothing in great dis- 
 order, scattering his money hither and thither, and 
 crying out to the people that he had seen in a vision 
 that the city would be laid waste by fire, and that 
 *' so should they run up and down, scattering their 
 money and their goods, half undressed, like mad 
 people, as he was a sign to them."| 
 
 Humphrey Smith's account of his vision is printed 
 in the collection of his writings (p. 193). It is in 
 part as follows : — 
 
 "The Vision of Humphrey Smith, which he saw 
 concerning the City of London in the 5th 
 
 * Journal, ed. 1694, pp. 204, 295. See also p. 199. 
 + Sewel's Hist., p. 462. 
 
 \ See G. F.'s Journal, ed. 1694, p. 305. Also the fuller 
 account in ' The Christian Progress of George Whitehead,' 
 1725, p. 314. I have been informed that just before the great 
 fire in Chicago, a Friend residing in that city predicted the 
 advent of some overwhelming trouble, and went so far as to 
 say, pointing to a large block of buildings, that not one stone 
 should be left upon another. 
 
Humphreij Smith. 
 
 43 
 
 Month, in the Year 1660, being not Icng 
 the King came in : — 
 
 " Concerning the great City of London. 
 
 "As to the City herself, and her suburbs, and all 
 that belonged to her [I beheld] a Fire kindled therein, 
 but she knew not how, even in her goodly places, and 
 the kindling of it was in the Foundation of her 
 buildings, and there was none could quench it, and 
 the burning thereof was exceeding great, and it 
 burned inward in a hidden manner, which cannot be 
 expressed ; and the Fire consumed Foundations 
 which the City stood upon, and the tall buildmgs 
 fell, and it consumed all the lofty things therein, and 
 the fire searched out all the hidden ^Dlaces, and 
 burned most in secret places. 
 
 " And as I passed through her streets, I beheld 
 her state to be very miserable, and very few were 
 those that were left in her, w^ho were but here and 
 there one, and they walked as mournful dejected 
 People, and the fire burned everywhere, so that there 
 was no escaping of it ; and thus she became a 
 Desolation, and as an Astonishment ; for the burning 
 was sufi'ered of God for her Chastisement, and could 
 never be quenched nor overcome ; and the Fire con- 
 sumed all things, both Stone and Timber, and it 
 burned under all things, and under all Foundations, 
 and that which was lifted up above it fell down, and 
 the Fire consumed it, and the burning continued ; 
 for, though the Foundation was burnt up, and all the 
 
44 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 lofty part brought down, yet there was much old 
 stuff, and part of broken desolate Walls and Buildings 
 in the midst, which the fire continued burning 
 against ; and that which was taken, as to make use 
 of, which yet escaped the fire, became useless in 
 man's hand, as a thing of nought. And the Vision 
 hereof remained in me as a thing that was secretly 
 showed me of the Lord. 
 
 " And now let her Wise men find out the matter, 
 ■and her Prudent men read, and her Divines (so 
 ■called) interpret the Vision (and let her know that 
 her day is at hand), and let every one of them look 
 to their own ways."- 
 
 This warning voice was probably regarded at the 
 time as nothing more than the raving of a religious 
 fanatic ; but it was surely remembered six years 
 later when the fierce flames, fanned by a high easterly 
 wind, spread with astonishing rapidity among the old 
 wooden houses, reducing no less than four hundred 
 streets to a heap of smouldering ashes. It is worthy 
 •of notice, in connection with the above account, that 
 Clarendon makes use of the following expression : — 
 
 There was never any probable evidence that there 
 
 * Then follows a long prophetical denunciation against the 
 city, commencing : — "O City of London! thy Sin hath been 
 •exceeding grievous and thy Iniquities beyond measure." After 
 this comes a description of a vision — " Concerning Oliver 
 Cromwell, and his son Eichard (now called) Protectors, before 
 the downfall of either of them." A postscript follows, remind- 
 ing the inhabitants of London of the ancient prophecies 
 against the Jews. 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 45 
 
 was any other cause of that woful fire than the dis- 
 pleasui-e of God Almighty." (Life). 
 
 It now remains for us to recount the last sad 
 scenes of Humphrey Smith's eventful life. His 
 wi-itings show him to have been at Chalfont, in 
 Buckinghamshire, in " 11th Month," 1660, and at 
 Coggeshall, in Essex, in July, 1661. After visiting 
 Friends in and about London, he informed some of 
 them that he had " a narrow path to pass through," 
 and that he " saw that he should be imprisoned, and 
 that it might cost him his life." Like St. Paul on 
 his last journey to Jerusalem, he was impressed with 
 the fact that bonds and afflictions " awaited him. 
 
 Bidding his hiends an aftectionate farewell Hum- 
 phrey Smith set out for the West of England to 
 visit his son, pm*posing at the same time to renew 
 his acquaintance with the meetings of the Society in 
 Hampslnre and Dorsetshire. But he had proceeded 
 no further than Alton when he was arrested by a 
 body of armed men, and taken before the Deputy- 
 Lieutenants of the county, "both great enemies ta 
 God's truth," who " without pity or compassion, 
 equity or justice, committed him to the stinking 
 close prison at Winchester." The mittimus was 
 drawn up as follows : — 
 
 " Southton fs. 
 " To the Keeper of His Majesty's Gaol at Winton, 
 or to his sufficient Deputy, Greeting, 
 "You shall herewith receive the Body of Humphrey 
 
46 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 Smith, who was taken at an unlawful Meeting at 
 Alton, bemg a Eingleader and one of the Chief of 
 the Quakers, who travelleth the country to seduce 
 the People, and disturb His Majesty's Peace, contrary 
 to the Law in that Behalf made and provided. These 
 are therefore in His Majesty's Name to will and 
 require you forthwith, that you receive the Body of 
 him the said Humphrey Smith into your Custody, i 
 and him to detain in your said Gaol until he shall 
 be delivered from thence by the Order of Law. 
 
 " Given under our Hands and Seals at Alton, the 
 14th day of October, in the thirteenth year of His 
 Majesty's Keign, Anno Dom. 1661. 
 
 " John Norton, 
 
 " Humphrey Bennett." 
 
 Upon his arrival at Winchester, Humphrey Smith 
 was placed in the same ''streight, noisom, and 
 unsavoury " dungeon which he had occupied in 1658. 
 His friends were frequently denied the privilege of 
 seeing him, and the only Christian intercourse he 
 enjoyed was when Nicholas Complin* and several 
 other good men were also imprisoned within the 
 same walls. His behaviour amongst these was 
 
 * "An upright just man of good repute" was Nicholas 
 Complin. He was imprisoned at Winchester in 1662. In 
 May, 1663, he was again arrested, and at the next Assizes 
 was fined £10, and sent back to prison. He was still under 
 supervision when his death took place. (See Besse, i., 
 pp. 233—4). 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 47 
 
 comely : yea, as a father takes care for his children, 
 so was his care and oversight. Even such as were 
 not Friends in the prison were made to speak well of 
 him : he was so innocent m his conversation towards 
 all people." His privations were meekly endured, 
 and he did not complain even when the worst 
 criminals snatched his food away, and otherwise 
 ahused him. 
 
 "In order to leave them without excuse in the 
 day of the Lord," Humphrey Smith wrot^ to the 
 Deputy-Lieutenants, pointing out how illegally they 
 had dealt with him, and replying in detail to the 
 false charges contained in their order of committal. 
 They forthwith despatched some men to the prison, 
 who robbed him of all his papers, and rifled his 
 pockets and boxes. 
 
 "W^hen the Sessions drew nigh he laid his sufierings 
 before " some of those called Justices," but without 
 success ; for, although a few were disposed to release 
 him, the majority decided otherwise, and the more 
 hard-hearted among them said, " Let him rot there." 
 Humphrey Smith then appealed to Judge Terril, 
 " who before had been pretty moderate to Friends " ; 
 but the only answer he received was that he should 
 be liberated " if he would find bail for his good 
 behaviour and appearance at the next Assizes." 
 Conscious of his innocence, he refused to submit to 
 such a dishonourable proposal, preferring to remain 
 a prisoner than to accept his liberty on terms lik 
 these. 
 
48 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Thus a whole year passed away, and once more 
 Judge Terril came on the Western Circuit. Humphrey 
 Smith again seized the opportunity to demand that 
 justice should be done to him. At the conclusion of 
 the Assizes he was called to the bar, and the Judge 
 repeated his former judgment. To this the prisoner 
 replied that he had lain in gaol for more than fourteen 
 months, and that as yet no one had attempted to 
 prove his guilt. Judge Terril responded that if he 
 would undertake to hold no more meetings he should 
 at once be set at liberty. This, of course, was out 
 of the question, and upon his signifying the same 
 he was put aside and others called. But as the 
 Judge was leaving the court, Humphrey Smith said 
 from the dock, where he stood among the felons, 
 " Friend, remember that I have been above a year 
 in prison, and no breach of any law has been proved 
 against me ! " This appeal was unheeded, and the 
 gaoler hurried him away. 
 
 During this last captivity his peace and content- 
 ment were very great, and his mind was much 
 occupied with consoling thoughts of future glory. 
 He says in the postscript to his * One hundred and 
 forty-four lines of Praise ' : — " As I was walking 
 alone in my close prison at Winchester, upon the 
 24th of the 5th month, 1662, in much quietness, 
 meekness, and inward refreshings, these lines began 
 to run gently through me, with melody in my heart 
 to the Lord." [A few lines are here given] . 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 49 
 
 *' My heart shall sing of Thee who doth my soul defend, 
 Whose life hath saved me, who didst my wayes amend. 
 
 ** Oh ! let me now rejoice and praise the Lord my strength, 
 Who long hath been my choice, and drawn my dayes in 
 length. 
 
 Oh ! that I might express with heart, with tongue, or pen. 
 His sweet delightsomeness, reserved for upright men. 
 
 " His lambs He still doth lead. His little ones Hell teach ; 
 The hungry have His bread, the thirsty He'll refresh. 
 He Cometh as the dew in heat of summer time 
 Upon His plants below, that forth their fruit may shine. 
 
 *' He never doth forsake His dear and little flock. 
 Who of that bread partake that's hidden in the rock ; 
 The heavens and the earth He with Himself doth fill ; 
 He dwelleth in our hearts, and doth reveal His will. 
 
 " He's alwayes near at hand from trouble to deliver, 
 He's joyned wdth His in hand to live with them for ever. 
 Oh ! praise Him all ye saints, who feel His vertue near. 
 Unto Him still give thanks, who is our Father dear. 
 
 " Let Friends rejoyce in fear ; let fear in love abound ; 
 Let thousands more draw near, for we the pearl have found ; 
 Let all m patience dwell, and in the Lord still trust. 
 That we in love excell, — in which with you I rest." 
 
 Although hindered fi'om publicly proclaiming the 
 Gospel, Humphrey Smith occupied his time at 
 Winchester in preparing epistles full of Christian 
 instruction. The tenderness of his spirit is shown 
 in his touching addresses " To the Lambs of Christ," 
 *' To the meek and open-hearted Flock of Heaven,"" 
 and " To the despised, rejected, and persecutad 
 
 E 
 
60 Evesham Friends in the Olden Times, 
 
 Lambs of Christ in the county of Dorset." A letter 
 is also preserved among his writings (p. 336) For 
 my nearly related Friend Elizabeth Smith, at Little 
 Cawerne," . . . . " that thee and others may hear 
 from me, and know that I remain in the service of 
 God, and in faithful long sufferings for the Gospel 
 of His Son." 
 
 Three weeks after his last appearance at the 
 Assizes, Humphrey Smith was taken ill with ague, 
 which was quickly followed by fever, and it was 
 soon seen that he had not long to live. When 
 lying upon his deathbed he said, " My heart is 
 filled with the power of God. It is good for a man 
 at such a time as this to have the Lord to be his 
 friend." Soon after he prayed in his agony, *' Lord, 
 Thou hast sent me forth to do Thy will, and I have 
 been faithful unto Thee in my small measure, which 
 Thou hast committed unto me ; but if Thou wilt yet 
 try me further. Thy will be done." Also he said, 
 "I am the Lord's, let Him do what He will." 
 AVhen near his end, he lifted up his heart for 
 those who, to the number of some hundreds, had 
 been converted under his ministry, praying " that 
 God would be their Teacher," and that *' the Lord 
 would deliver His people from their oppressors." 
 His last words were, " Oh Lord, hear the inward 
 sighs and groans of Thine oppressed. Hear me, 
 Oh Lord, uphold and preserve me. I know that my 
 Eedeemer liveth. Thou art strong and mighty, Oh 
 Lord." "He continued sweetly sensible unto the 
 
Humphrey Smith. 
 
 51 
 
 end, and died in perfect peace " on the 4th of 
 May, 1663. 
 
 Well might Nicholas Complin say : — " Thou re- 
 nowned judge in Israel, thou valiant souldier of 
 the Lamb's host, peace is thy portion for ever ! 
 Blessings will fill thy house, and fruitfulness will 
 attend thy seed, as they abide in the counsel of 
 Him who was the Bishop of thy soul. Are thy 
 famous works ever to be forgotten ? Is thy holy, 
 innocent, pure life to be buried in oblivion? Oh! 
 what saith my soul ? Nay ! nay ! let it be had in 
 living remembrance among the followers of the 
 Lamb, and let it be written upon the tables of 
 their hearts, even to all generations. 
 
 Twenty years after his death took place, some 
 of Humphrey Smith's writings were issued in the 
 form of a quarto volume, entitled : — 
 
 " A Collection of the several Writings and faithful 
 Testimonies of that suffering Servant of God, and 
 patient Follower of the Lamb, Humphrey Smith ; 
 who died a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus in 
 Winchester Common Gaol the 4th day of the 3rd 
 Month, 1663. — London : Printed and sold by Andrew 
 Sowle, at the Crooked Billett in Holloway Lane, near 
 Shoreditch, 1683." — (A copy is in the Devonshire 
 House liibrary). 
 
 N.B. — In Joseph Smith's Catalogue of Friends' 
 books, the list of Humphrey Smith's wiitings 
 occupies eight pages. 
 
 * N. C.'s Testimony concerning H. Smith, written from 
 Winchester Gaol, 1663. 
 
52 
 
 Evesham Fneiids in the Olden Times. 
 
 George Fox's Testimony respecting Humphrey 
 Smith.- 
 
 " Now, concerning our dear Friend and Brother 
 Humphry Smith, who formerly had been a preacher 
 and a man of note ; but when it pleased God to call 
 him by his Grace, and reveal his Son in him, he 
 came to be an able Minister in Jesus Christ, and 
 freely did preach the Gospel, as he had received it 
 freely ; and was cast in Prison for the Testimony of 
 Jesus at Eversham in Worcestershire, where he 
 suffered very much in Oliver's days about the year 
 1655, and besides, several other Goals, that it may 
 be partly said of him, as it was of Paul, who had 
 been zealous among the Letter-Professors, and who 
 had then esteem of them ; but when he came to 
 possess Christ Jesus and to preach him, then they 
 hated and persecuted him. 
 
 " Yet, through the Eternal Power of the Lord he 
 was upliolden through his sufferings, and travelled 
 through many hardships for the Lord Jesus Christ's 
 sake, and did convert and turn many to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ that had been outward professors, as he 
 himself had been, to the Possession of Christ ; so 
 that he did see and was comforted in the Fruits of 
 his Labours in Christ and his Grace. 
 
 * The printed collection of Humphrey Smith's writings is 
 prefaced by the Testimonies of George Fox, George Whitehead, 
 Nicholas Complin, William Jenings, Nicholas Gates, James 
 Potter, Edward Waldren, and his son Humphrey Smith, Jr. 
 
Humphrey Smith. 53 
 
 " And at last he was cast into Winchester Goal, 
 where he ended his days and finished his Testimony 
 in an hard Imprisonment, who there dyed in the 
 Lord, and rests from his lahom-, whose Works 
 follow him : whose Memorial is blest among the 
 Eighteoiis, in the Lord's Heritage ; for he was a 
 worthy soiildier and follower of the Lamb, and kept 
 his Habitation in Christ Jesus, in whom he now 
 sleeps. 
 
 G. F. 
 
 ' London, the 8th of the 11th Moneth, 1682." 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE SUFFERINGS TRYALS AND PURGINGS OF THE 
 SAINTS AT EVESHAM." 1655.* 
 
 '* The Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took 
 unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and 
 gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and 
 
 assaulted the house of Jason They drew Jason and 
 
 certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, ' These 
 that have turned the world upside down are come hither 
 also.' " — Acts, xvii, 5, 6. 
 
 The first body of Nonconformists in Evesham — 
 the Society of Friends — arose during that period of 
 
 * The particulars contained in this chapter have been 
 collected from the following sources, amongst others : — 
 
 1. " The Sufferings, Tryals and Purgings of the Saints at 
 Evesham ; who by their Obedience to the Lord do overcome 
 their Enemies by their daily suffering under them. Or, A 
 short Description of the first Ground of the Persecution of the 
 Servants of God, occasioned by the Priests, and the continual 
 Proceedings of the Magistrates against them called Quakers." 
 
 " From the Dungeon at Evesham, by him that is known to 
 the world by the name of Hubiphry Smith." — (Collection 
 of Humphrey Smith's Writings, 1683. Devonshire House 
 Library.) 
 
Suferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 55 
 
 comparative quiet which succeeded the close of the 
 Civil War. In his " History of Evesham " (Chap, 
 xvii), Mr. May tells us that "the town of Evesham 
 stands forth in some degree conspicuous among the 
 annals of the Western War." As early as 1642 it 
 was garrisoned by the soldiers of the King ; and in 
 1644 Charles I. himself, while marching fi-om 
 Oxford upon his expedition to the west, reached 
 Evesham five days after the skirmish with Waller 
 at Cropredy Bridge." He remained two nights at 
 the ancient house in Bridge Street, now occupied 
 by Mr. T. E. Doeg and Mr. H. A. Pearce, and 
 from thence despatched a message " to the Lords 
 
 2. " The Cruelty of the Magistrates of Evesham, in Worcester- 
 shire ; Or, some further Particulars of their Dealings and 
 Proceedings at the late Sessions, and other times, against 
 those People whom scornfully they call Quakers. With a 
 Warning to the Heads and Rulers, and to all People of this 
 Nation," 
 
 "Written from Evesham the 15th day of the 8th Month, 
 1655, from them that are prisoners for the Truth, that are by 
 the dark world called Quakers, whose names in the flesh are 
 Humphrey Smith and Thomas Woodrove." -ito. 1655. — 
 (Devonshire House Library.) 
 
 3. " Something further laid open of the cruel Persecutions of 
 the People called Quakers, by the Magistrates and People of 
 Evesham. London ; printed in the j-ear 1656." — (Devonshire 
 House Library.) 
 
 -4. "A Representation of the Government of the Borough of 
 Evesham in the County of Worcester, from many of the 
 Inhabitants thereof, directed unto the Protector of England, 
 Scotland, &c., Oliver Cromwell, Anno 1655." 
 
56 Kvesliam Friends in the Olden Times, 
 
 and Commons of Parliament assembled at West- 
 minster."- 
 
 On the 6tli of July the King proceeded to 
 Worcester, surrounded by his courtly followers in 
 their broad-leaved beaver hats with long white 
 plumes, and elaborately-embroidered cloaks, covered 
 at the collar by a falling band of the richest lace, 
 the picturesque company being preceded by the 
 slowly-moving soldiers, wearing iron helmets, and 
 equipped with pikes and ponderous muskets. Sir 
 William Waller, the Parliamentary general, hastened 
 after him, " with intention to besiege the city and 
 thus shut up the king," but Charles evaded him by 
 a series of skilful manoeuvres, and returned with all 
 speed to Evesham. After " levying £200 on the 
 inhabitants for their alacrity in receiving Waller, 
 and requiring a thousand pair of shoes for the use of 
 his jaded soldiers," King Charles pursued his march, 
 on or about July 17th, 1644. 
 
 In 1645 the King came to Evesham for the third 
 time, and having left Colonel Legge in command of 
 a garrison of soldiers, proceeded without delay 
 towards Chester. The town was, however, situated 
 in too important a position to be held for long by 
 
 * " Given at our Court at Evesham the 4th of July, 1644." 
 Mr. May states that this house in Bridge Street was at that 
 time " the mansion of the Langstone family, one of whom had 
 recently been Member for the Borough." It was afterwards 
 known as the " Dolphin Inn." 
 
SuffeHngs, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 57 
 
 the EoyaKst troops without a challenge from the 
 opposing party, and we find accordingly that Colonel 
 Massey, Governor of Gloucester under the Parlia- 
 ment, advanced against it with a strong force, and 
 demanded an immediate surrender. This was 
 proudly refused in the words, " You are hereby 
 answered in the name of His Majesty, that this 
 garrison, which I am entrusted to keep, I will 
 defend so long as I can, with the men, arms and 
 ammunition therein, being nothing terrified by 
 your summons." Massey then assailed the fortifica- 
 tions with great determination, and after nearly an 
 hour's conflict the garrison was completely mastered, 
 no less than 550 prisoners being taken. From this 
 decisive day Evesham remained in the hands of the 
 Parhament, and was securely fortified against all 
 attack. 
 
 These events may seem to have very little connec- 
 tion with the local history of the Society of Friends ; 
 but as five, at least, of the men who became 
 prominently associated with the Society in Evesham 
 are known to have fought under the Parliamentary 
 banner, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they 
 were engaged in the military movements in and 
 around their own town. In " The Cruelty of the 
 Magistrates of Evesham" it is stated that "John 
 Woodward, James Wall, Joshua Frensham, Thomas 
 Cartwright, and WiUiam Walker, were souldiers 
 long in the service of the Commonwealth, and 
 
58 
 
 Evesham Fnends in the Olden Times. 
 
 most of them at Worcester fought for outward 
 liberty."* 
 
 These warHke scenes helped to prepare not a few 
 of the townspeople for the peaceable views of the 
 Society of Friends, and led them to the convictions 
 so unmistakably expressed by George Fox when he 
 wrote: ''All bloody principles and practices we do 
 utterly deny ; with all outward wars and strife, 
 and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or 
 under any pretence whatsoever." If there were 
 more eye-witnesses of the horrid cruelties of the 
 battle-field, there would be less desire among the 
 nations to attempt a settlement of their disputes by 
 an appeal to arms. 
 
 As already observed, the Society of Friends 
 commenced to hold meetings in Evesham in the 
 year 1655. It would be more correct to say in 
 Bengeworth, for Thomas Cartwright's house is stated 
 to have been " at Bengard."t No mention is made 
 of the exact position of this dwelling ; but it was 
 probably one of the quaint structures, *' well builded 
 
 * William Edmundson was another Friend who, before his 
 conversion, took part in the battle of Worcester in 1651. 
 (Journal). See also Sewel's History, p. 80. 
 
 f In the Domesday survey Bengeworth is first spelt " Bennie- 
 worte," but in a second entry is given as " Beningeorde " ; 
 concerning which difference Mr. May remarks (Hist. p. 159) : — 
 " As regards the orthographical deviation from the former 
 entry, that, doubtless, was occasioned by the provincial 
 pronunciation of the respondents in replying to the enquiries 
 of the Commissioners." 
 
Siiferi7igs, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 59 
 
 with tymbre," at that thue standing on either side 
 of Port Street. Nearly fifty years later the Baptists 
 commenced regular services in a barn in Benge- 
 worth, and later still the followers of John Wesley 
 secured their first meeting room on the Bengeworth 
 side of the Avon. 
 
 When Humphrey Smith came to the town in the 
 summer of 1655, meetings were held " in private," 
 and, to use his own words, *' none did make insur- 
 rection against us, neither did we give offence to 
 any." The expression in private " simply means 
 that at that time no meetings took place in the 
 open air or in any more public building. All who 
 chose to be present were heartily welcomed. 
 
 The assembled company was composed for the 
 most part of tradesmen and labourers, — the " com- 
 mon people " who have always gladly listened to 
 the Gospel message, — and the service was of a kind 
 calculated to impress the most careless beholder. 
 A solemn sense of God's presence was felt on 
 entering the room, and the words of the preachers 
 were accompanied with living power. The openly 
 wicked, and the hollow professors of religion — all 
 alike " dead in trespasses and sin " — were pricked 
 to the heart, and quickened by the Holy Spirit 
 into newness of life. The uselessness of merely 
 outward observances, and the necessity for an 
 inward spiritual change, were insisted upon with 
 all that fulness of Scriptural allusion and illustra- 
 tion which was so marked a feature of the ministry 
 
60 Evesham Friends in the Olden Times* 
 
 of the early Friends ; while at the same time the 
 nature of practical holiness, and the daily responsi- 
 bilities of the Christian warfare, were explained and 
 enforced in a manner worthy of so great a theme. 
 
 During the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, 
 almost complete religious liberty was accorded to the 
 various sections of the Church. But intolerance 
 was deeply rooted in many minds, and so aggressive 
 a body as the Society of Friends encountered a 
 perfect storm of abuse and persecution. Their 
 determined opposition to the existing forms of 
 worship, and their fearless avowal of their un- 
 compromising views, excited the hostility of the 
 populace, and the magistrates and clergy were only 
 too ready to countenance the forces of riot and 
 disorder. No fewer than 3173 Friends were im- 
 prisoned during the Commonwealth, thirty-two of 
 whom died in bonds. The Quakers were hated by 
 all the religious denominations of the day, and 
 especially by the Presbyterians, who rendered them- 
 selves conspicuous by their fierce opposition to the 
 new sect. Even Kichard Baxter, devout and 
 learned though he was, doomed all Quakers, without 
 reserve, to "certain perdition. Charity in matters 
 of religion was almost unknown ; toleration was 
 regarded by many as " the grande designe of the 
 Devil, his masterpeece, and cheif engine"; and the 
 current theology was sadly lacking in the gentler 
 qualities of the Gospel. 
 
 * Preface to the ' Quaker's Catechism.' 
 
Sufferings, dx., of the Saints at Evesham. 61 
 
 The Puritan clergy were largely responsible for 
 the persecution of the Friends at Evesham in 1655. 
 Humphrey Smith's testimony on this point must be 
 taken as conclusive, supported as it is by the facts to 
 be related. He says, in his account of " the 
 Sufferings, Tryals and Purgings of the Saints at 
 Evesham " : — 
 
 " As the chief priests have consulted agamst and 
 crucified Christ, and denied Him in the ResiuTection, 
 so they still continue persecuting and consulting 
 against His members, harmless lambs, and faithful 
 ministers. And there is little persecution in England 
 but the priests have a hand in it, if not the first 
 actors of it, as thou George Hopkins, Priest of 
 Evesham, hadst in all the barbarous persecution 
 there." 
 
 George Hopkins, M.A., signs the parish register 
 from April, 1642, to September, 1662. He took his 
 first degree at Oxford in 1641, and soon afterwards 
 avowed himself a Presbyterian. Upon the surrender 
 of Oxford to the parliamentary forces, he returned 
 to the university to complete his degree, and then 
 became minister of All Saints, Evesham. In 1654 
 he was elected to assist the commissioners of 
 Worcestershire, for " the ejection of scandalous, 
 ignorant, and inefficient ministers." Shortly after 
 this he appeared as the author of a work dedicated 
 to the Borough of Evesham, entitled, " Salvation 
 fL'om Sin by Jesus Christ," which was possibly in- 
 tended to counteract the teaching of the Friends on 
 
62 Evesham Friends in the Olden Times. 
 
 this important point. In 1662 he was ejected 
 from his hving, being one of the 2000 clergymen 
 who decHned to submit to the Act of Conformity 
 passed in that year. Prohibited under the Five 
 Mile Act from coming within that distance of any 
 corporate borough, he retired to Dumbleton, where 
 his death took place in 1666. His remains were 
 laid in the chancel there.* Wood says that " besides 
 his knowledge of divinity, he was a very good 
 mathematician, and an example of great candour 
 and moderation."! Calamy describes him as a " very 
 judicious, godly, moderate, peaceable and upright 
 man." However this may be, he certainly conducted 
 himself towards the Friends in a manner unworthy 
 of his holy calling. 
 
 The name of Thomas Matthew, incumbent of St. 
 Lawrence, also appears in the records of the persecu- 
 tion. His signature first appears in the register in 
 1647. " The excellence of his Christian character, 
 and the sterling nature of his principles are sufficiently 
 indicated by his refusing to submit to articles of 
 religious conformity, which he regarded as un- 
 scriptural. Preferring, therefore, the approval of 
 his conscience to the retention of preferment upon 
 other terms, he was ejected for nonconformity."]: 
 
 Sunday, the 19th of August, 1655, was the day 
 
 * May's ' History of Evesham,' p. 191. See also Ibid., p. 381. 
 + ' Athenae Oxoniensis,' i., 370. See also Palmer's ' Noncon- 
 formist Memorial,' iii, 392. 
 
 \ May's ' History of Evesham,' p. 179. 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 63 
 
 clioseu for the commencement of the persecution. 
 On that eventful Sabbath morning, while the Friends 
 were quietly holding " an appointed meeting," George 
 Hopkins conducted the service in " his accustomed 
 steeple-house in Evesham. ""^ After he had done he 
 took " the whole congregation, both those called 
 justices and magistrates, and rude people several 
 hundi-eds, to the steeple-house in Bengard," and 
 there proceeded to " vent forth sorcery " against the 
 Friends, taking as his text the words, " Oh foolish 
 Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should 
 not obey the Truth The heads of this discourse 
 were as follows : he " likened that which is called 
 'Quaking,' 1st. Unto witchcraft;! 2ndly. In three 
 respects worse than witchcraft ; 3rdly. Unto Phari- 
 sees who ware hats like morters 4thly. To Papists 
 in some things and in some thmgs w^orse ; and othly. 
 That some sold their Bibles, and others cast them 
 behind their backs," — concluding "his sorcery with 
 stirring up them called justices and magistrates to 
 put the Oath of Abjuration in execution, telling them 
 
 * " The use by Fox of the term ' steeple-house ' has been 
 supposed to be one of his personal oddities. The temi is used 
 by Cotton, the celebrated New England Independent. It was 
 commonly used by the Baptists, long prior to the commence- 
 ment of Fox's preaching." — Barclay's ' Inner Life, &c.,' p. 273. 
 
 t For the prevailing belief in witchcraft, see ' Diocesan Hist, 
 of Worcester,' pp. 222 -4. 
 
 I " The Mortar Pharisee, with a cap like a mortar over his 
 eyes, to shut out all that might shock his pure nature." — 
 Geikie's ' Life of Christ,' i., p. 72. 
 
64 Evesham Fnends in the Olden Time. 
 
 that if men might refuse to swear out of tenderness 
 of conscience, then that would be a cloak long 
 enough for all the Jesuites that might come into 
 England." 
 
 The trumpet-note of intolerance having been 
 sounded, an advance was at once made to the house 
 in " Bengard," where the Friends assembled. Hun- 
 dreds gathered together about the door where the 
 servants of the Lord were," but " standing in the 
 counsel of God" they were preserved from the ftiry 
 of the mob. Humphrey Smith wisely declined to 
 enter into a discussion with the excited multitude. 
 Friends held their peace, and showed by their calm 
 demeanour that they were in no wise affrighted by 
 their adversaries. Finding it impossible to provoke 
 a conflict, the crowd gradually dispersed, greatly to 
 the disappointment of the envious Priest and the 
 designing magistrates. 
 
 That same evening, however, when many Friends 
 were "together in the fear of the Lord," constables 
 came into the room, and arrested Humphrey Smith 
 and Thomas Cartwriglit, taking them to the house of 
 Samuel Gardner, a Justice. Here they found George 
 Hopkins, the Priest of All Saints, Eobert Martin 
 and Samuel Gardner, " called Justices," and Theo- 
 philus Andrewes, the Deputy-Recorder,- all of whom 
 
 * " Theophilus Andrewes, of Gray's Inn, Esquire," was 
 Deputy-Eecorder of Evesham during the Kecordership of Sir 
 Eobert Atkyns. He became Eecorder in July, 1659 (see Cor- 
 poration Min.). He was an unsuccessful candidate for the 
 
Sliferings, Sc., of the Saints at Evesham. 65 
 
 were afterwards declared by the principal sufferer to 
 be "most barbarous heathens." Humphrey Smith's 
 own account of the proceedings is worth inserting 
 here. He says : — 
 
 '* "When we were first brought into the house, then 
 John Nickles, one of the constables, smote Thomas 
 Cartwright on the head, and the justices stood by 
 and cared not for it ; and afterwards our hats were 
 taken off our heads, and thrown among the feet of 
 the people. Then they asked me from whence I 
 came. I answered, * From iEgypt.' Then there 
 was a laughter among them, both Priest, Justices, 
 and people, for the fool's heart is full of laughter. 
 And after they had continued so, I was moved of the 
 Lord to speak to them thus, ' Oh people ! is there no 
 fear of God before your eyes ? Did ever the saints 
 of Christ live in laughing, mocking, and wanton- 
 ness?' Then the Priest said, 'Elijah did mock 
 Baal's priests.' Answer : ' Though he did so, yet it 
 is not convenient to bring that Scripture to justifie 
 the people in mocking.'" 
 
 "Then Theophilus Andrewes said, * He hath 
 spoken enough already; wha,t need have we of any 
 further witness ? Therefore make him a pass to go 
 
 Borougii at the election of 1660. The inscription on his tomb 
 in All Saints Church is as follows : — " Sub hoc lapide requiescit 
 pars terrena Theophili Andrewes, armigeri, per annos xiii jam 
 proximo elapsos hujus burgi Eecordatoris, quem mors dura 
 oppressit xviii die Decembris, a.d. 1670, tetatis suse, xlvii."' 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 Evetham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 to iEgypt again, and let him be whipt out of the 
 town, for there is an Act of Parliament against such 
 as wander up and down under the name of Egyptians.' 
 Then some asked me when I came from thence, and 
 others mocked. So I was a sport unto them, as 
 Sampson was unto the Pliilistians, and I stood 
 silent ; but at last the Lord moved me to speak, 
 saying, ' Why people are you altogether blind in the 
 things of God ? Of ^gypt and Sodom I was, where 
 our Lord was crucified (Kev. ii. 8), and in darkness 
 and bondage did I dwell, being a child of wrath as 
 well as others. But the Lord by His living power 
 hath brought me from the land of darkness to the 
 Light, and from bondage to the land of rest, and 
 into the liberty of the sons of God.'" 
 
 " Then Theopliilus Andrew^es said, ' Speak on, for 
 I never heard the like of this before.' But I was 
 not to be subject to their wills, but to stand in the 
 counsel of God." 
 
 "Question: 'But you have had some outward 
 beeing or family, had you not ? ' Answer : ' I had a 
 farm of £30 by the year, at Little Cowrne, in the 
 County of Hereford, not 30 miles off this place ; but 
 I have now left part of it, and my wife and children 
 are in the rest. There I was a great professor, and 
 a publick preacher in many places thereabout daily, 
 and then I was owned by the Justices and great men 
 of the Earth, and many hundreds did resort to hear 
 me, and I was then beloved of many, for the world 
 loves his own. But now I come to witness the Power 
 
Suferiiujs, dc, of the Saints at Evesham, 67 
 
 of that which then I did but profess, I am hated by 
 the world.'" 
 
 ** And after other words from them called Justices 
 and others, and they could not entangle me in my 
 words, then the Priest, with the subtilty of a Serpent, 
 began like those that came to Christ, and feigned 
 themselves just men that they might take hold of 
 His words, — and like as the Saduces came to entangle 
 Him concerning the EesmTection, saying, ' Moses 
 saith thus, but what sayest thou?' So the Priest, 
 George Hopkins, among his many subtil questions, 
 said, * Thus Solomon saith. The just man falleth seven 
 times ; what say you ? ' And ' There is not a man njjon 
 earth that doeth good and sinneth not ; how do 3'OU 
 expound that ? "' 
 
 Answer : ' I am redeemed from the earth.' 
 
 Question : ' But are you not upon the earth ? ' 
 
 A. : 'As for this outward body being upon the 
 earth, Enoch was for a time upon this outward earth, 
 yet he walked with Grod. They that are led by the 
 Spirit of God are the sons of God, as God hath said, 
 I will walk in them.' 
 
 Q. : 'Do you believe that any man can be free 
 from sin whilst he is here ? ' 
 
 A. : Yea, I do believe it.' 
 
 " Then the Priest said it was a Popish tenure. 
 Then I asked if men should be free from sin whilst 
 they are here. The Priest said, ' Nay.' Then I 
 asked him if men should be purged from sin after 
 death. The Priest said, ' Nay.' Then I said, ' If 
 
68 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 thou wilt not have men cleansed before death or after 
 death, when wilt thou have them cleansed?* The 
 Priest said, ' What if God will forgive men at the 
 very time of their death, as Christ did the thief on 
 the Cross ? ' Answer : ' Thou art not to question 
 what God will do or may do in that ; but canst thou 
 prove by Scripture that God doth so ? And if thou 
 wilt say the thief was purged from sin when Christ 
 spoke to him, then that was before his death.'" 
 
 A long conversation then ensued with regard to 
 the doctrine of "Justification by Faith" and the 
 inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Humphrey 
 Smith declared that the Bible was " a true declara- 
 tion," given forth by inspired men, and it "testified 
 of Christ, the Light of the World, and the Word of 
 God"; but the book itself, printed and sold "for 
 four shillings," was not "the Word." "Jesus Christ 
 was the only means of salvation": He was "the 
 
 WORD." 
 
 The narrative continues : — 
 
 " Thus when the Priest had sought in these and 
 like questions to ensnare me, he turned to them 
 called Justices, and said, ' Sirs, you see that though 
 they deny Popery in the general, yet they hold it in 
 the particular ; and if this Popery be allowed to 
 creep in, then you may conceive the danger that may 
 follow in this whole nation. Therefore I shall leave 
 it unto you, and you know that I came not here until 
 you sent for me, and therefore it is not of my 
 procurement.' 
 
Sufferimis, d'C, of the Saints at Evesliam. 69 
 
 " So after he had betrayed me into their hands, 
 like Judas, then he would have washed his hands 
 like Pilate." 
 
 Unprincipled as they were, the Magistrates had too 
 much respect for the law to commit the prisoners 
 upon such a worthless charge as this, and as they 
 had no other evidence to produce, they allowed 
 Humphrey Smith and Thomas Cartwright to go 
 home, bidding them come again on the morrow. 
 
 Meanwhile, Priest Hopkins and the Justices 
 decided to take advantage of the well-known scruple 
 of Friends against taking oaths. Mean and cruel 
 as this stratagem was, it had been employed with 
 unvarying success in many parts of the country, and 
 it did not fail to bring about the desired result at 
 Evesham. The Oath of Abjuration was accordingly 
 tendered that Monday afternoon to the two faithful 
 witnesses for Christ, who of course firmly declined 
 to adopt the form of swearing, which they rightly 
 held to be distinctly forbidden by the letter and spirit 
 of their Lord's own teaching. 
 
 George Hopkins, perceiving the ground of their 
 objection, began to " twine like the serpent," and 
 said that he believed " they refused to swear out of 
 tenderness of conscience," but he hoped the Justices 
 would carry out their purpose. Theophilus Andrewes, 
 the Deputy-Recorder, proceeded at once to draw up 
 the mittimus, and delivered the two Friends to the 
 gaoler of the town, with the command " not to suffer 
 any to come near them." 
 
70 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 On the following day, the Justices and Constables 
 went to the gaoler's house, where Humphrey Smith 
 and Thomas Cartwriglit were first imprisoned, " but 
 having nothing then to vent their malice on, at last 
 they departed." On Wednesday night (Aug. 22nd),' 
 they came again, and Eobert Martin, the Magistrate, 
 asked the gaoler why he did not beat the two Friends 
 with his staff. The Kepresentation made soon 
 afterwards to Oliver Cromwell contains the following 
 account of the shameful proceedings of that long 
 summer evening : — 
 
 " Then Humphrey Smith spake something to 
 them [the Justices] , and presently they came into 
 the room, and gave ill language to the prisoners and 
 others, as rogues, rascals, and the like. So with 
 their often coming, and their words and actions, 
 there were many people gathered together in the 
 street, some civil and some rude, unto whom Hum- 
 phrey Smith spake forth out of the prison windows, 
 saying ' Bepent and fear, and serve the living God,' and 
 to that effect. Then the Justices (so-called) went 
 forth, and the said Robert Martin, when he came 
 among the multitude, who were giving heed to what 
 was spoken to them, began to whoop himself, and bid 
 the people whoop, and so began an uproar. Then 
 some of them threw stones and dirt up at the 
 window, and broke the window, and the said Martin 
 did pull our Friend Humphrey from the window, and 
 came in again to have him fetched forth to the rude 
 multitude. Two more of our Friends being in prison 
 
Suferinrjs, ({-c, of the Saints at Evesham. 71 
 
 for witnessing against their deceit, Robert Martin 
 bid them be haled out of bed naked. 
 
 " But one Captain Pitway being there, and seeing 
 the rage of the people, and the outragiousness of 
 Robert Martin, for ought we knew to murder the 
 prisoners, if they had gone forth at that time of the 
 night, — therefore said Captain Pitway, ' The prisoners 
 shall not go forth this night. If thou hast anything 
 to do with them, thou mayst do it in the morning." 
 
 It would appear from this account that " Captain 
 Edward Pitwaye " had not at that time openly 
 avowed himself a Friend : but he was evidently in 
 sympathy with the despised sect, and his public con- 
 fession was soon afterwards made. As a Magistrate, 
 and a former Mayor of the town (in 1648), and 
 probably also as a gallant officer of the Parliamentary 
 army, his influence carried considerable weight, and 
 by interfering at this critical moment, he no doubt 
 saved the lives of the unfortunate sufferers. He was 
 henceforth called upon to suifer with them, and his 
 house became a refuge for the persecuted flock. 
 
 On Thursday (Aug. 23, 1655) " Humphrey Smith 
 was committed to the main-goal, a filthy, dark, close 
 hole, and Thomas Cartwright was sent back to the 
 other prison."* It is with the former that we are 
 principally concerned. The den in which he was 
 placed was apparently open to the public gaze, for 
 we are told that stones were thrown into it "of the 
 
 * See ' Notes on the Prisons in Evesham,' p. 99. 
 
72 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 wait of five pound," and that dung and dirty water 
 were thrown over its inmate. Some more Hke 
 filthy abuses he had, which is a shame to name. 
 One idle drunken man came with a pike in his hand, 
 swearing and railing with so much violence, as 
 though he would presently have murdered him, 
 crying, ' Knock him on the head ; ' and the J ustice 
 was acquainted with ifc, but no officer would meddle 
 with him, for he said, ' The best in the town sent 
 him.'" Humphrey Smith endured this abuse with 
 patience, and enjoyed in the prison a rich measure of 
 heaven-sent peace. 
 
 Nor was he altogether deprived of the privilege of 
 proclaiming the Truth. On the Friday a meeting of 
 Friends was held in the street outside the main-gaol, 
 and he preached to them out of the prison grating. 
 Although dirt and stones were hurled by the mob, 
 the gathering was felt to be a favoured one, for " the 
 mighty power of God appeared, to the silence and 
 amazement of all the beholders ;" and several times 
 after Humphrey Smith had prayed, "the people were 
 shaken, and the Word of God was spoken with 
 boldness." Thus the first week of the persecution 
 came to a close. 
 
 On the following Sunday (Aug. 26th), another 
 meeting was arranged for in the morning. "When 
 Friends came to the meeting, the Justices came with 
 officers, and forced away with weapons those that 
 harmed not any.'^ As many of the townspeople as 
 
 * " This was as the Justices came from hearing their Priest." 
 
Sufetinos, dr., of the Saints at Evesham, 73 
 
 were at the meeting as they could get together, they 
 put in the Town-hall, and the countrymen that came 
 on foot to the meeting they set in the stocks. On 
 which Eohert Martin did whoop again, to raise 
 another uproar, and swore ' Wounds,' and sent for a 
 ladder to put our Friend [H. Smith] in the dungeon, 
 and said, ' There let him lie and be hanged, until 
 lice eat him.' " " . . . . 
 
 Reference has alread}" been made to the formal 
 complaint despatched to Oliver Cromwell. It was 
 drawn up under the following circumstances : — When 
 the persecution began, about fifty of the inhabitants 
 of Evesham signed a paper, descriptive of the suffer- 
 ings of Friends, intending to send it by two men 
 to the Protector, "that by it he might know what 
 corrupt men were in authority in this town." 
 Humphrey Smith, however, advised against sending 
 the deputation, believing " that they might put 
 themselves to much trouble, and yet not speak with 
 the Protector ; " and suggested instead that the me- 
 morial should be printed. He then undertook to 
 have it forwarded to Cromwell, "that he might be 
 left without excuse." This was accordingly done, 
 the document being entitled : — 
 
 " A Eepresentation of the Government of the 
 Borough of Evesham in the County of Worcester, 
 from many of the Inhabitants thereof, directed unto 
 the Protector of England, Scotland, &c., Oliver 
 
 * A Representation of the Gov. of Evesham. 
 
74 Evesham Frieiids in the Olden Time. 
 
 Cromwell, Anno 1655." — As this paper became in a 
 short time the chief excuse for another and yet more 
 bitter persecution, it is important to notice the names 
 of some of those who signed it. They were as 
 follows : — Thomas Cartwright, John Woodward, John 
 Knight, Eobert Cartwright, Eobert Smith, John 
 Tande, Francis Knight, William Walker, James 
 Wall, John Aldington, Edward Pitway, John Clements, 
 John Wall, Philip Marshall, Eichard Weaver, and 
 Joseph Frensham. 
 
 For a short time Friends enjoyed comparative 
 immunity from disturbance. The noisy rabble grew 
 weary of insulting a people who made no show of 
 resistance. A meeting was held every day outside 
 the prison, as quietly as if the worshippers had been 
 in a private house instead of in the street, and on 
 market days, when the business was concluded, *' the 
 people of the country did come there in peace, and 
 receive the Word with gladness ; and the ignorant 
 began to be convinced, and the gainsayers' mouthes 
 stopped, and much people received the Truth in love, 
 whereby the meetings were increased, and the work 
 of the Lord began to prosper." It will be seen, 
 however, by the following extract from ' The Cruelty 
 of the Magistrates of Evesham,' that this freedom 
 from violent interruption was only as the abnormal 
 stillness that precedes the fury of the hurricane. 
 
 " Upon the 9th day of September we had a meet- 
 ing about the tenth hour at the common -goal in 
 Evesham, there to wait upon the Lord, and after 
 
Stiffenngs, &c., of the Saints at Evesham. 75 
 
 some time Humphrey Smith, being in the prison, 
 was moved to speak to the Lord in prayer. Then 
 the goaler and some other officers came and violently 
 hawled him away and put him down in the dungeon. 
 Our friends keeping stil together, after some time 
 Thomas Woodrove spake the Word of the Lord to 
 the people, and having done, the constable came and 
 inquired for him, but because they knew him not, he 
 went away that time. But before they departed, 
 another meeting was appointed the third hour in the 
 afternoon, and then Humphrey Smith spake to his 
 friends out of the dungeon the word of the Lord. 
 And when the common -meetmg at the steeple-house 
 was ended, our friend T. Woodrove was speaking to 
 the people without the prison, and many of those 
 that had been at the steeple -house stood and heard 
 him speak. Ha\dng done speaking he was took 
 away by a constable without a warrant, and brought 
 before the Mayor and them called Justices, and 
 Thomas Mathew, Priest. And then he was com- 
 mitted to the common-goal for speaking the word 
 of the Lord, and Thomas Mathew, Priest, at his 
 departure, thanked the Mayor for his care and pains. 
 And on the morrow in the morning Eobert Martin 
 
 * This Friend is described in Joseph Smith's Cat. as " Wood- 
 rove, Thomas, of WejTnouth." He wrote (1) 'An Alarm to 
 the Inhabitants of the Earth, &c.' 1659 ; (2) ' A brief Kelation 
 of the State of Man before Transgression,' 1659; (3) 'A 
 Lamentation over all England.' In 1657 T. W. was at Dor- 
 chester with H. Smith, and was there whipped as a vagrant. 
 In 1659 he again visited Evesham. 
 
76 Eveshaw. Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 (called Justice) bid tlie wardsmen, if the people 
 would not be gone from the goal-hole, to knock them 
 down, and bid them throw shuffles full of dirt upon 
 them in the dungeon ; and they set eight men with 
 weapons, four on each side the prison, to keep away 
 all Friends from coming to or speaking with those 
 they had imprisoned. 
 
 " Humphrey Smith being free to give books to 
 some people of the country then in town, the keeper 
 did by violence take three books from them and tore 
 them all. So he sent for a parcel of books he had 
 in town, about 60 in number (which was for the 
 glory of God and for the beating down of all sin, 
 written by George Fox, James Naylor, Eicliard 
 Farnsworth and James Parnel). But these books 
 were taken from the messenger by the wardsmen 
 and brought before the Justices, who burned them 
 upon the market- cross " before the people, it being 
 fair-day. They only bear the names of Justices, and 
 do it not, for their actions are contrary to all law, 
 justice and righteousness, and they lay snares for the 
 righteous, and make a prey of those that fear the 
 Lord." 
 
 On the 25th of September the Mayor, George 
 
 * Mr. May (Hist, of E., p. 200) quotes this as showing that 
 the ancient stone cross was at that time standing in the market 
 square. It was probably carved, and placed upon a pedestal 
 raised on several stejDS, resembling the crosses still to be seen 
 in some parts of the country. Its basement stone is said to 
 have been removed to Knowle Hill Farm. 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 77 
 
 Kemp, sent for the prisoners and other Friends from 
 the town, and said, " I sent for you concerning a 
 paper that you have set your hand to, being * A 
 Representation of the Government of Evesham/ 
 Do you own this paper?" They all replied that 
 they did, and that they were i^repared to prove its 
 truth. Then the Mayor said, " Seeing that it is of so 
 high concernment, and that you have appealed to 
 the Protector, you shall every one give security to 
 answer it before him." The Friends expressed their 
 willingness to do so, as they expected justice from 
 Cromwell, and knew that they would get none in 
 Evesham. The Mayor responded, "I shall engage 
 you all to appear at the Sessions, and then you shall 
 give security to answer personally before the Pro- 
 tector, or else lie in prison." He then sent 
 
 the prisoners back to the gaol, and allowed the rest 
 of the Friends to return home. 
 
 Three days later, Joshua Frensham " and John 
 Knight were ordered to appear before Robert Martin 
 and Samuel Gardner, and asked if they owned the 
 printed paper. They said that they did. " Then 
 them called Justices said it was a lybell. They 
 answered they would prove it was no lybell by 
 those twenty that are subscribed to that paper, 
 and also by forty more. The Deputy-Recorder said, 
 ' Whether it be true or false, it is a lybell, because it 
 
 * Probably the tradesman who issued the pecuniary token 
 mentioned by May (p. 818). — "Joshua Fransham his halfe- 
 penny in Esham, 1666." 
 
78 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 is in disparagement to the Magistrates.' So them 
 called Justices sent them both to prison." 
 
 The Borough Sessions commenced on October 2nd, 
 1655, before Sir Eobert Atkyns, the Eecorder. Sir 
 Eobert came of an old Monmouthshire family, and 
 was the son of Sir Edward Atkyns, Baron of the 
 Exchequer, who died in 1669. His younger brother, 
 Edward, also attained to legal honours, being ap- 
 pointed Lord Chief Baron in 1686. Eobert Atkyns 
 was born in the year 1621, and was called to the bar 
 in 1645. On Oct. 1, 1653, he was elected Eecorder 
 of Evesham, in place of Sir William Sambadge, 
 deceased, and continued to fill this office until 1659, 
 when he was returned to Eichard Cromwell's par- 
 liament as member for the Borough. Theophilus 
 Andrewes soon afterwards assumed the recordership. 
 At the Eestoration Sir Eobert Atkyns * ' was so well 
 reputed for loyalty, that he was selected as one of the 
 persons of distinction who were created Knights of 
 the Bath at Charles's coronation." In 1672 he was 
 raised to the bench as a judge of the Common Pleas, 
 and in this capacity he presided over several of the 
 trials of persons charged with the Popish plot in 
 1679. Some of his opinions having given offence to 
 the Government, he was dismissed from office in 
 1680; but the Eevolution of 1689 opened the way 
 for still higher honours. He was chosen Lord Chief 
 Baron by William III., and the same year saw his 
 appointment under the Great Seal to the Speakership 
 of the House of Lords. In 1694 he retired from 
 
Sufferings, d'c, of the Saints at Evesham. 79 
 
 public life, and spent the remainder of his days at 
 his country seat at Saperton, near Cirencester," where 
 he died in 1710. "There is a monument to the 
 memory of him and his father and brother in West- 
 minster Abbey. He had a son, Kobert, the author 
 of the ' History of Gloucestershire,' and a daughter, 
 who married into the Tracey family."! Sir Eobert 
 Atkyns' biographer says that " in whatever view we 
 consider him, in his private, or in his public station ; 
 as a gentleman, or as a judge; as an eminent lawyer, 
 or as a distinguished patriot ; as a statesman, or as 
 an author ; we shall find nothing but what is great 
 and amiable, worthy of love and respect, and of that 
 veneration which is due to virtuous men from their 
 posterity." 
 
 As the local courts were not removed to the 
 present Town-hall until 1664, we must picture the 
 mock trial of the Friends as taking place in the old 
 Booth-Hall, which, although somewhat altered, still 
 stands at the west end of Bridge Street. The 
 original Guild-Hail of the Borough was built "next 
 
 * In the 'Life of John Roberts' (p. 67), there is an account 
 of a quarrel between Sir Robert Atkyns and Sir John Guise, as 
 they were gaming at Perrot's Brook, near Cirencester. A duel 
 was fought, and Sir R. A. ran Sir J. Guise through with his 
 sword. Sir John had also been a great persecutor of the 
 Friends, and he now said that "it was the just hand of God 
 upon him for meddling with the Quakers." He did not die 
 from his wound, however, but " stood candidate for the county 
 after, and never more disturbed our meetings." 
 
 t See Foss's ' Diet, of the Judges of England,' pp. 23 — 26. 
 
80 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 the south-west corner of the bridge, but even in the 
 sixteenth century, either from its distant situation or 
 from decay, it had become disused,"* and the great 
 timber-framed structure adjoining the market-place 
 was henceforth employed for public purposes. 
 
 As its name implied, the Booth-Hall " stood above 
 or near a place used for exposing wares during the 
 time of fairs ; and in the term itself we trace the 
 association of the vendors' booths and the court of 
 pie-powder, held at such periods by the local 
 authorities." f There was a large room upstairs, 
 where the magistrates held their sittings. Before 
 the basement was filled in with shops, and the ex- 
 ternal woodwork yellow-washed, the ancient building 
 must have presented a very picturesque appearance, 
 and it is to be regretted that its distinctive features 
 have been so largely obliterated by repeated altera- 
 tions, In 1664 the ground-floor was let to John 
 Gay, a haberdasher, for a yearly rent of £2 15s. Od.| 
 III 1676 the Mayor's accounts show that £10 was 
 paid to Mr. Edward Field for repairmg " the Old 
 Hall." It is said that the edifice was afterwards 
 used as an inn, and the fine pannelling of the room at 
 the south-east corner seems to favour this tradition. 
 The whole block is now divided into two dwelling- 
 houses. The large upstairs room has been converted 
 into several smaller ones, and the chimneys are of 
 
 * May's Hist, of E., pp. 199—200. 
 + Ibid, p. 200. 
 
 + Accounts of Philip Ballard, mayor (1st Corp. Book). 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 81 
 
 modern date. Some of the oak pillars supporting 
 the upper framework may still be seen in various 
 parts of the basement. It is to be hoped that the 
 cmious pile will be spared for many years to come, 
 associated as it is with the local magisterial pro- 
 ceedings of the Stuart period. 
 
 At the commencement of the Sessions, one of the 
 Friends, named James Wall, entered the Court with 
 his hat on, whereupon the Eecorder ordered it to be 
 taken off. James Wall said to him, Thou hast not 
 yet made me any satisfaction for the last hat thou 
 causedst to be taken from me, neither is it yet 
 restored." Sir Kobert Atkyns immediately flew into 
 a rage, and directed the gaoler to remove Wall to the 
 prison, where he lay for some time. 
 
 Thomas Woodrove, of Weymouth, was the first 
 prisoner called to the bar, where he was charged 
 with being a " disturber of the peace." To this 
 indictment he replied that he should be glad to know 
 what law he had transgressed. 
 
 The Eecorder: " There may be a law broken 
 which cannot be read. As for you, you might have 
 had your liberty if you had not come in here in this 
 contemptible way with your hat on. Therefore you 
 shall turn back again to the prison until you do come 
 with your hat off. Take him, gaoler ! " 
 
 The rest of the prisoners were then brought up, 
 and the following conversation ensued : — 
 
 Sir Eobert Atkyns said, "Do you not know that 
 you are prisoners ? I marvel that you will offer to 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 come before a Court with your hats on. Gaoler, 
 take off their hats !" 
 
 The Friends: " Thou mayst as well take off our 
 coats." 
 
 " Smith, you are the ringleader of this sect. I 
 know you have Scripture enough, and can tell of 
 Paul's condition and many such things, but you lead 
 people contrary to the ways of God." 
 
 "Paul was accounted a sectarian, and a mover of 
 sedition, and a pestilent fellow." 
 
 " Paul was called so, but w^as not so ; but you are 
 called so, and are so." 
 
 " That is not yet proved." 
 
 " Where have you any Scripture for keeping on 
 your hats 
 
 T. Cartwright : " The servants of the Lord had 
 their hats on when they were thrown into the fiery 
 furnace." 
 
 H. Smith: "There is neither practice, example, 
 or command in the Holy Scripture or any national 
 law for putting off the hat. So long as I continued 
 in swearing and other wickedness I was never ques- 
 tioned by any magistrate, but now the Lord has 
 called me from these sins I am made a prey of by 
 you." 
 
 * ' Did you live in such sins since you came in this 
 town ?" 
 "Nay." 
 
 T. Cartwright : "I have lived in swearing, lying, 
 drunkenness and profaneness until now of late, and 
 
Sufferings, dr., of the Sai)its at Evesham. 83 
 
 none of you ever questioned me ; but now I have left 
 it I am punished without a cause." 
 
 The Recorder : " Thou lookest with a good honest 
 face. I thought thou hadst not been a Quaker, and 
 therefore I thought to have showed thee favour ; but 
 I see b}^ thy behaviour who thou art."' 
 
 Humi3hrey Smith : " Moses, who was a Quaker, 
 did look with a better face than he." 
 
 The Recorder: "I shall fine you every one, and 
 send you to prison until you know better manners, 
 where you shall lie h'om one Sessions to another, 
 
 until you come with your hats ofi' Fine 
 
 Smith in £5 and the rest in £3 apiece. Gaoler, take 
 them away !" As the officers were removing them 
 from the room Humphrey Smith demanded that the 
 charges made against them should be proved, re- 
 marking in the hearing of the Court, " The magis- 
 trates have shamed all profession and all national 
 government ! " 
 
 Robert Smith and John Clements were then called, 
 and without a semblance of a trial, fined £2 each, 
 the wardsmen being ordered to remove them to the 
 gaol. 
 
 On the following day, October 3rd, the Sessions 
 were continued by adjournment, and the Recorder 
 sent for Joshua Frensham and John Knight. They 
 were accordingly brought from the prison to the 
 Booth-hall, and chai-ged with having taken part in 
 the printed complaint against the magistrates. As 
 on a former occasion, they declared that the document 
 
84 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 was a statement of facts, and Joshua Frensham said. 
 All people take notice that it is for the truth that 
 we are indicted." On hearing this bold assertion, 
 the crowd of listeners clapped their hands, and one 
 man called out to Sir Kobert Atkyns, ''Let shame 
 cover thy face! must not men speak the truth 
 But the Kecorder cared nothing for the truth, and 
 fined the prisoners £4 each, ordering them back tO' 
 their filthy dungeon. 
 
 William Walker was then fined £2, and John 
 Woodward £5, although he " was not guilty of 
 wronging any man's person, neither had he spight or 
 malice against any man in England." Another 
 illustration of the disgraceful character of these 
 proceedings is found in ' A true Declaration of the 
 Imprisonment of William Pitt, a Souldier of the 
 Commonwealth,'* who was imprisoned by Sir Eobert 
 Atkyns for leaving his home at Worcester to visit the 
 suffering Friends at Evesham. A man named. 
 Nathaniel Clements was also imprisoned "for carry- 
 ing a form to the meeting for his friends to sit on." 
 
 One more incident which occurred on the first dajr 
 of the Sessions has still to be mentioned. Edward 
 Pitway's spirited interference with Justice Martin, on 
 the night of August 22nd, had not been forgotten by 
 that revengeful personage, and the part he had taken 
 in the Eepresentation to the Protector was regarded 
 with great dislike by his brother magistrates. When 
 
 * See ' Besse's Sufferings,' ii., p. 59. 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham, 85 
 
 he appeared in Court on October 2nd, Sir Eobert 
 Atkyns said to him : — 
 
 *' I understand that you have been a magistrate 
 and one of the chiefest of the Bench, and I do much 
 admire that you show no more reverence to the 
 Court than to come with your hat on, and now a 
 ringleader of this sect. I will take a course with 
 you." 
 
 E. Pitway: "I see little justice done." 
 
 TheKecorder: "Pluck off his hat! That is one 
 piece of justice." 
 
 Then the indictment was read, " and that which 
 was false in it he denied, and that which was true in 
 it he owned. He said that he owned that Eobert 
 Martin, called Justice, was a drunkard, and because 
 he did pluck the people out of their beds, and bred 
 such a disturbance in the night, — that, he said, did 
 cause him to say what he did, and he would prove it 
 to be true." 
 
 " And then for that time he was put by, and the 
 next morning he was called again, and they read an 
 indictment against him for setting his hand to a 
 Paper, which they said was maliciously against the 
 magistrates, and asked him if he owned it. And he 
 said, "All malice and spight I deny, but for the 
 printed paper I own it to be true, and am ready to 
 prove it." But the Recorder would not permit him 
 to call in his witnesses, and fined him £20 forthwith. 
 
 Nor was this the only indignity inflicted upon the 
 noble-hearted Edward Pitway. At a meeting of the 
 
86 Evesham Friends 171 the Olden Time, 
 
 Corporation, held a few days later, he was formally 
 deposed from the office which he had filled so 
 honourably for many years. The minute was as 
 follows (1st Corp. Book, p. 107) : — 
 
 Friday, the 6th day of October, 1655. 
 " The same day and yeere Edward Pitway gent, 
 one of the capitall Burgesses of this Borrough, was 
 displased and removed from his place or office, being 
 indicted att the late Sessions upon two sevrall bills 
 of indictmt, one of them beinge for publishinge a 
 scandalous paper against the Magistrates and 
 Governm* of this Borrough, and the other for a riot 
 and abusinge Mr. Kobert Martin, and alsoe for his 
 rude behaviour in Co^* att the said Sessions, and his 
 evill behavio^" towards Mr. Eecorder. 
 
 Edm. Young, Maior. 
 Egbert Martin, Senr. 
 " Samuell Gardner, Senr. 
 " William Bartlett. 
 " Thomas Millner. 
 " Thomas Handy. 
 " Era. Smart. 
 " Edward Field. 
 
 " ISAKE DiSTON. 
 
 Ko. Martine, Junr. 
 *' Tho. Martin. 
 
 " Sam. Gardner the Younger.'* 
 
 The harsh and unjust treatment of Friends at the 
 
Sufferings^ Sc., of the Saints at Evesham. 87 
 
 Borough Sessions did not escape the notice of Oliver 
 Cromwell, who at once instructed Major- General 
 Berry to write to the Mayor of Evesham as 
 follows : — 
 
 Whereas Humphrey Smith, Thomas Cartwright, 
 James Wall, William Walker, Edward Pitway, John 
 Woodward, Eichard Weaver, John Clements, Joshua 
 Freusham, John Knight, Eichard Bennet, and Eobert 
 Smith, were by the Mayor and Magistrates of 
 Evesham fined in certain Sums of Money, and their 
 Names returned to the Exchequer ; these are to 
 certify any officers whom it may concern, that it is 
 his Highness' s Promise and especial Pleasure, that 
 the said Fines shall be remitted and taken off ; and 
 if it is not so, it is by the Forgetfulness of Mr. 
 Secretary, who undertook to do it, and I therefore 
 desire that no Officers trouble the said Persons for 
 the said Fines, but return a Copy hereof, which I 
 hope will give Satisfaction to his Highness. 
 " Dated from Worcester [date uncertain] . 
 
 " Beery." 
 
 Notwithstanding this order, the Sheriff afterwards 
 took away goods from several of the above-named 
 Friends, and even went so far as to distrain for a 
 larger amount than his warrant authorised him to 
 do. This, however, reached the ear of the Protector, 
 who promptly commanded that the goods should be 
 restored to their rightful owners. 
 
88 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 But the iniquitous proceedings already related 
 were as nothing to the sufferings, tryals and 
 purgings " still in store for the saints at Evesham. 
 Under the Mayoralty of George Kemp, Friends had 
 been, as it were, beaten with whips : but after 
 Edmund Young- assumed office early in October, 
 1655, they were, in comparison, beaten with scorpions. 
 It was then the custom for the Mayor to be elected in 
 December, but this year, as the Corporation Minutes 
 testify, a change was made before the usual time 
 arrived. Eegarding this unlooked-for election as 
 the event which marked the commencement of a 
 new era of persecution, Humphrey Smith writes : — 
 
 " There arose a new Mayor, which knew not the 
 righteous seed, as there arose a new king in Egj'pt. 
 And he saw the people of God increase, and was vexed 
 at it, as the world was always vexed at the increase 
 of the righteous seed. So that Mayor, Edward 
 Young, said ' He would break our meetings, or else 
 his bones should lie in the dirt.' The which he did 
 upon the 14th day of the 8th Month [Oct.] , being 
 the first day of the week. In the morning Friends 
 met in private at Captain Edward Pitwaye's house, 
 and as two Friends of the town were going to the 
 meeting the Mayor laid hands on them and put 
 them in prison. 
 
 And in the latter part of the day. Friends met in 
 the street, where they were peaceably without any 
 
 * Died Sept. 20th, 1G57, and buried in chancel of All Saints 
 Church. 
 
Siiffen7igs, dc. of the Saints at Evesham. 89 
 
 disturbance until the Maj'or came with officers, and 
 said, * If there were more than eight persons met 
 together, it was an unlawful assembly.' And presently 
 he laid hands on Friends, and pulled, and thrust, and' 
 Idckt many, and put many into prison, and into the 
 stocks, and put me and two more into the dungeon." 
 The following were among those imprisoned on this 
 occasion : — John Emes, David Walker, Robert 
 Yewers, Euth Knight, Thomas Fowler, Edward 
 Walker, Paul Baning, Stephen Pitway, John Eead, 
 John Hall, Edward Davis, Savaker Putheroe, and 
 Thomas Woodward. Six men were also put in the 
 stocks, viz., John Booker, Robert Beard, William 
 Yeates, Joseph Undrill, Jacob Undiill, and John 
 Prickett. 
 
 To continue Humphrey Smith's description : — 
 And when the Mayor saw that Friends were not 
 afi*aid, and that his cruelty could not move them, 
 he said he wanted another prison for the women, for 
 
 he had imprisoned men in four several places 
 
 And I being that day put in the dungeon, then he 
 endeavoured to keep all people from me, and for 
 several days and nights we were denied having 
 candles in the dark dungeon. At last he sent to 
 each man a pennyworth of bread and an halfpenny- 
 worth of beer, the which the goaler said was the 
 town's allowance. But we denied it, and sent him 
 word that if we should not have food for our money, 
 or from our Friends, we should be without it. So 
 at last we did eat and drink, and praise the Lord. 
 
90 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 And the Mayor, Edward Young, caused a trap- 
 door to be made to the dungeon, and locked down, 
 and all our bedding and bed-clothes that Friends 
 had sent us he caused to be taken away from us, and 
 will not let our Friends have them again. Joshua 
 Frensham, having much pain with his teeth, did 
 earnestly desire that he might have the use of a 
 pillow that was taken away, which was his own, but 
 it was denied. On the second day after we were put 
 in the dungeon, a Friend brought us some straw to 
 lie upon, but the goaler would not suffer it to be 
 brought in to us, because they would not give him 
 money to open the door. Once I sent to the Mayor 
 to have liberty for some man or Friend to fetch out 
 our dung from us, but he denied it, and sent for a 
 constable to put that Friend in the stocks that came 
 
 to ask it Sometimes our books and writings 
 
 were taken from us, and sometimes our stools we 
 had to sit or write upon, and our candles, besides 
 much abuse which our Friends received from the 
 goaler, who were prisoners at his house, which I 
 shall forbear to mention, only this he said unto 
 them, * If they would not pay 4d. a night for each 
 man's lodging, and 8d. a meal for each man's diet, 
 then they should go all to the main goal,' which 
 
 they refused to satisfy his will in Therefore 
 
 he brought them all to the main goal, and said, ' If 
 he might have his will, he would hang us all on the 
 morrow.' .... Then were those eight kept m 
 that goal, and we there in the dungeon under them> 
 
Sufferings^ dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 91 
 
 where I and some others have been kept with our 
 own dung in the same room for these fourteen 
 weeks." 
 
 The mention of books and writings reminds us 
 that the prisoners were by no means idle during 
 then* long confinement. On the 15th of October, 
 Humphrey Smith and Thomas Woodrove finished 
 and signed their joint description of " The Cruelty 
 of the Magistrates of Evesham in Worcestershire ; Or 
 some further Particulars of thek Dealings and Pro- 
 ceedings at the late Sessions and other times against 
 those People whom scornfully they call Quakers." 
 It was forwarded to London, and printed by Giles 
 Calvert, who soon had copies for sale " at his shop, 
 at the Black Spread Eagle, near the west end of 
 Pauls."- 
 
 Soon afterwards Humphrey Smith sent forth 
 "from the dungeon at Evesham," his graphic 
 picture of ' The Sufferings, Tryals and Purgings of 
 
 * Edwards speaks of "one Calvert, a Sectary and Book- 
 seller on Ludgate Hill " (Gangraena, ii, p. 8). " Giles Calvert, 
 the publisher of all the first Quaker tracts, was also pubHsher 
 of the English translations of Behmen," (The Peculium, 
 p. 148, note). In 1655 a General Meeting was held at Swan- 
 nington, and it was reported to Cromwell that Friends had a 
 printer with them, and " sixe are constantly writing." A 
 second letter to the Protector says, " The printer was Giles 
 Calvert, of London, who stay'd eight or nine days, and is gone 
 up to London with two or three queere of paper to be putt 
 into print " (Thurloe : " State Papers," iii, pp. 94, 116). See 
 also Beck's ' London Meetings,' p. 342, note. 
 
92 
 
 Evesham FHends in the Olden Time. 
 
 the Saints at Evesham,' and at length completed 
 the series with a pamphlet entitled, * Something 
 further laid open of the Cruel Persecutions of the 
 People called Quakers by the Magistrates and People 
 of Evesham.' This last was printed in London " in 
 the year 1656." 
 
 Humphrey Smith's description of his dungeon 
 must here be given. He says : — 
 
 The prison, or hole where we are kept, is 
 not 12 foot square, and one goal-hole belonging to 
 it four inches wide, wherein we take in our food and 
 straw to lie upon. And we are forced to burn a 
 candle every day by reason the prison is so dark and 
 so close, and so many in one little room, and so 
 little air, with the stink of our own dung, all which 
 might have occasioned the death of some of us e'er 
 this time. 
 
 And one they kept with me in the dungeon until 
 he was sick, and after turned him out in the night. 
 And some others have not been well by reason of 
 the exceeding closeness of the prison, whereby 
 sometimes the stink hath been so strong in the 
 streets that the people could not endure to stand by 
 it. Sometimes, when the days were hot, the breath 
 of some prisoners were almost stopped, and they 
 lay for several days like men asleep ; and when the 
 days were at the coldest we have not room nor 
 place either to make fire, or to walk to keep our 
 bodies warm ; yet there is a large prison over our 
 heads, where they do sometimes imprison many of 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 93 
 
 our Friends, but that large prison they will not let 
 us be in, neither could we prevail to have liberty to 
 walk in that prison sometimes . . . ." 
 
 Humphrey Smith proceeds to relate how two 
 countrymen, who were passing with their teams, 
 were enticed by the gaoler to enter the prison. 
 " He then lockt the door and went his way. So 
 the men were constrained, by reason of their teams, 
 to send with entreating words to the goaler to 
 come again, and then they were forced to agree 
 with him to let them forth for money." Another 
 man who was visiting the imprisoned Friends, was 
 also "lockt in that day from his labour, and the 
 next night, and his wife, nor his friends, could not 
 prevail with the Mayor nor the goaler to let him out 
 without money." 
 
 The persecuted flock at Evesham received a visit 
 in the autumn of 1655, which, although very brief, 
 was nevertheless a comfort and help to them all. 
 George Fox was travelling southwards through the 
 Midland Counties when the news reached him of the 
 suflerings of Friends in "Worcestershire. He says in 
 his Journal (ed. 1694, p. 168) :— 
 
 " Now I heard that at Evesholme the Magistrates 
 had cast several Friends into prison, in several 
 prisons ; and that hearing of my coming, they had 
 made a pair of high stocks. So I sent for Edward 
 Pittaway, a Friend that lived near Evesholme, and 
 asked him the truth of the thing, and he said it 
 was so. Then I went that night with him to 
 
94 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 Evesholme ; and in the evening we had a large 
 precious meeting, wherein Friends and people were 
 refreshed with the Word of Life, and with the 
 Power of the Lord. 
 
 " Next morning I got up, and rid to one of the 
 prisons, and visited Friends there, and encouraged 
 them. Then I rid to the other prison, where there 
 were several prisoners, and among them one Friend 
 that had been a Priest, but was now become a free 
 minister of Christ ; his name was Humphrey Smith. 
 So when I had visited the Friends at both prisons, 
 and was turned away from the prison to go out of 
 the town, I espied the Magistrates coming up the 
 town, to have seized me in prison. But the Lord 
 frustrated their intents, that the innocent escaped 
 their snare, and the Lord's blessed power came 
 over them all. But exceedingly rude and envious 
 were the priests and professors about this time in 
 those parts. 
 
 " I went from Evesholme to Worcester, and had a 
 precious meeting there, and quiet." 
 
 George Fox's narrative disposes of the tradition 
 that he was once a prisoner in a cellar adjoining the 
 market-place, while it presents us with a vivid sketch 
 of the actual condition of things in the Borough 
 towards the close of 1655. 
 
 Eeturning to Humphrey Smith's voluminous 
 record of sufferings, we find a long paragraph 
 relating to James Wall, " who had been a soldier 
 many years, and served an apprenticeship in the 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 95 
 
 town, and was a freeman thereof, and had born 
 several offices, being a shopkeeper, having a stand- 
 ing in the Market-Place." Now, however, that he 
 was a prisoner, the Mayor would not allow his wife 
 to use the " standing," and said she should not 
 have it even for £5. Also two of James Wall's 
 *' chapmen," " with whom he had dealt much, and 
 their accounts were large," went to the Mayor, and 
 offered to find bail if he would allow him, " to come 
 forth to perfect his accounts. But the Mayor said, 
 if they would have a warrant to seize on his goods, 
 they should. But the men said they had no reason 
 so to do ; for the Mayor seeks to ruinate not only 
 him, but all the others also." 
 
 On November 17th two women Friends named 
 Margaret Newby and Elizabeth Courten (or Quorte) 
 came to Evesham "in obedience to the Lord," and 
 held a meeting at Edward Pitway's house. After 
 the meeting was concluded, they went to visit the 
 prisoners, and " as they were returning, the Mayor 
 laid violent hands on them, and caused them to be 
 put in a pair of stocks." These stocks, which 
 were placed in the room over the dungeon," are 
 described as "worse than ordinary, made for hands 
 and feet to be put in, and the holes for the hands 
 are too little." Edmund Young himself went to 
 see if the women were "put in bad enough." 
 " Thus they sat in a most barbarous manner for 
 fifteen hours at least." The Mayor then " sent 
 them out of the town a back way, without suffering 
 
96 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 them to refresh themselves, it being a freezing 
 night." Hmiiphrey Smith adds, I thought that 
 Paul's ' forty stripes, save one,' was not so bad." 
 This cruel treatment is said to have caused the 
 death of Margaret Newby.* 
 
 The same Sunday evening, another Friend named 
 George Adams, who was visiting Evesham, was 
 put in the common stocks all that freezing night in 
 the street," and then sent out of the town with the 
 gaoler. He afterwards returned, and asked the 
 Mayor what offence he had committed. " But the 
 Mayor, having nothing to accuse him of, was wroth, 
 and sent him to the stocks again." A man named 
 Kobert Ewens, who had accompanied George Adams 
 out of the town, was sent for by " them called 
 Justices," Samuel Gardner and Kobert Martin. 
 *' The one of them said, ' What shall we do with this 
 fellow ?' The other answered, ' Put him in the gaol, 
 and hang him.' But at last they sent him to the 
 
 stocks So when they had punished him, 
 
 they enquired what fault he had done, and finding 
 none, let him go."f 
 
 The last incident of the 1655 persecution is related 
 by Besse (ii. p. 60) as follows : 
 
 " Mary Clark, being concerned to hear of the cruel 
 Usage of her Friends, travelled from London to 
 Evesham, to expostulate with the Mayor, Edward 
 Young, concerning the barbarous Treatment by him 
 
 Besse, ii, p. 58. 
 
 ■]rlhid., p. 59. 
 
Sufferings, dr., of the Saints at Evesham. 97 
 
 inflicted ou bis innocent Neighbours. Before she 
 had quite delivered her Message, be thrust her out 
 of his Shop, and caused her to be set in the Stocks 
 three Hours on the Market-day." 
 
 We are not informed how long a time elapsed 
 before the prisoners regained their liberty. Humphrey 
 Smith's allusions to " the days at the coldest," a 
 freezing night," &c., point, however, to the conclu- 
 sion that they were still in custody during the winter 
 of 1655, and the only clue to the time of their release 
 is found in the fact that the principal sufferer was 
 preaching in Devonshire in July, 1656. When at 
 length the band of faithful witnesses returned to 
 their own homes, they did so injured in health, and 
 almost ruined by the prolonged absence from their 
 trades and occupations. But the things that were 
 gain to them they counted loss for Christ, and the 
 meetings they now held were more than ever 
 crowned with the Divine blessing. Well might 
 Neal remark, " The behaviour of the Quakers was 
 very extraordinary, aud had something in it that 
 looked like the spirit of martyrdom."- 
 
 But what shall be said of the men who thus 
 persecuted the Church of God ? Some of them 
 doubtless believed that they were doing Him service. 
 All were probably ignorant of the real princijDles of 
 Friends. It is worthy of notice that two of the 
 chief persecutors ended their days very miserably. 
 
 *' History of Puritans,' ii, pp. G7o-6. 
 
 n 
 
98 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 Justice Gardner went out of his mind, and was at 
 times so violent that he had to be bound to his bed. 
 He met his death by drowning in the year 1660. 
 Eobert Martin, his fellow magistrate, is said to have 
 been killed by a fall as he was mounting his horse.* 
 It would be presumption to assert that these sudden 
 removals were indicative of Divine retribution ; but 
 it is a striking fact that similar visitations befel 
 notorious persecutors of the Society of Friends in 
 many other parts of the country. 
 
 Humphrey Smith's work at Evesham was now at 
 an end. He left behind him a people well established 
 in the faith and hope of the Gospel, and zealous for 
 the honour and glory of Christ. With some of them 
 he doubtless maintained a correspondence, and he 
 surely had them in his mind when he wrote from 
 Winchester Gaol, in 1658, To the Flock of God, 
 whom He hath gathered in Gloucestershire, Here- 
 fordshire, Worcestershire, &c." 
 
 The closing words of one of the early records will 
 form a fitting conclusion to this chapter. " Let all 
 people take notice that all that is prmted in this 
 Eook is all but a short declaration to what might be 
 printed of the persecution of Priests, Magistrates 
 and People of this Town of Evesham against the 
 Saints." 
 
 * Besse, ii, p. 59, note. 
 
Sufferings, iCc, of the Saints at Evesham. 99 
 
 Notes on the Prisons in Eyeshajm : 1655. 
 
 It will be noticed that Humplirey Smith says, m 
 describing the events of Oct. lith, 1655, that the 
 new Mayor, Edmund Young, "wanted another prison 
 for the women, for he had imprisoned men in four 
 several places." By comparing the various narra- 
 tives, we are able to say with tolerable certainty what 
 the " four several places " were. 
 
 (1) The Gaoler's House, in which H. S. and 
 T. Cartwright were first confined, and which was 
 again used as a prison for eight Friends during the 
 persecution under Edmund Young. The gaoler was 
 a selfish, cruel man, who would do nothing without 
 money, and the Friends quartered at his house 
 received " much abuse " from him. A century later, 
 John Howard found that English gaolers rarely 
 received a fixed salary, and that they extorted fees 
 from the prisoners, besides depriving them of their 
 proper food allowance. The Evesham gaoler did his 
 best to appropriate a large share of the bread and 
 beer allotted to the Friends. 
 
 (2) The "Main Gaol." — Humphrey Smith was 
 committed to " the main goal " on Thursday, 
 Aug. 23rd, 1655, and he speaks of it in one of his 
 accounts as " a large prison, where they do some- 
 times imprison many of our Friends." The open- 
 air meeting was held " in the street outside the main 
 goal" every day for some time. In this prison were 
 fixed the stocks in which Margaret Newby and 
 
100 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Elizabeth Courten spent so uncomfortable a night. 
 The eight Friends in custody at the gaoler's house 
 were afterwards removed to the main gaol, because 
 they would not pay enough for their " lodging and. 
 diet." 
 
 An examination of the preceding narrative, 
 especially of the events of Sept. 9th, will make it 
 evident that the "common gaol" and the "main 
 gaol" were one and the same building. 
 
 The " main gaol" may be safely identified with the 
 old Borough Prison. According to Mr. George May 
 it stood north-east of the present Town-hall ; but it 
 was taken down by the Corporation in 1789.* It 
 probably occupied the site on which Mr. Wheatley's- 
 music shop and the ' Volunteer ' Inn now stand. 
 
 (3) The Dungeon. — This was under the main gaol. 
 ("There is a large prison over our heads." " We- 
 
 * Hist, of Evesham, p. 198. Mr. May's information was 
 doubtless obtained from the following Minute of the Cor- 
 poration : — 1789. — " Whereas the Goal House of the said 
 Borough is in so Euinous a state as not to be Repairable : 
 Therefore it is hereby order'd and agreed upon that the said 
 Goal House be taken down, and the Materials thereof sold for 
 the most Money which can be got for the same : . . . . Order'd 
 that a Clock and Market Bell be placed on the North End of the 
 Town Hall of the said Borough, and that the Money arising 
 from the sale of the Materials of the said Goal House be 
 applied towards the Expense of the same. And it is further 
 order'd that the Scite of the said Goal House be planned and 
 measured, in order to preserve and ascertain the Eight of the^ 
 Corporation to the same." 
 
Sufferings, dc, of the Saints at Evesham. 101 
 
 there in the dungeon under them."j - Access to it 
 was obfcamed by means of a ladder through a hole, 
 out of which Humphrey Smith preached to the 
 people in the street mitil the Mayor " caused a trap- 
 door to be made to the dungeon and locked down." 
 The size of this subterranean den, with other 
 particulars relating to its condition, have been 
 already given (p. 92 j. The memoirs of the early 
 Friends contain many accounts of similar dungeons 
 in all parts of the coimtry. 
 
 (4) The "other Prison." — When H. Smith was 
 consigned to the " main gaol," Thomas Cartwright 
 was sent to "the other prison." George Fox says 
 that he visited one prison and encouraged the 
 Friends there, and then that he ''rid'' to the gaol 
 where Humphrey Smith and several other prisoners 
 were confined, so that it is evident that the two gaols 
 were quite distinct and at some distance h-om one 
 another. 
 
 We cannot now ascertain where this other prison 
 was situated. It is said that the cellars of the 
 ancient Almonry, facing the lower end of Vine Street, 
 have been sometimes employed as temporary places 
 of confinement ; but no facts are quoted in support 
 of this tradition. 
 
 In addition to the "four several places" of im- 
 prisonment described above, it should be noticed 
 
 * Mr. May is evidently incorrect in saying: — " The cell is 
 noticed as having been distinct from the town-gaol." 'Hist, 
 of E., p. 202). 
 
102 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 that " the Town-hall" was also employed on Sunday, 
 Aug. 26th, 1655. In it were put "as many of the 
 townspeople as were at the meeting." The present 
 Town-hall must be the building referred to. 
 
 Tradition says that some Friends were once im- 
 prisoned in the cellar of the old dwelling-house in the 
 south-east corner of the market-place, adjoining 
 Abbot Eeginald's Gateway. This cellar "is about 
 22 feet square and from 6 to 7 feet high. There is a 
 strong stone wall or buttress at one end, about four 
 feet thick, but whether intended as a support to the 
 roof or as a division of the place for two classes of 
 inmates is not now known. There are some recesses 
 in the walls, and one narrow grating looking into the 
 roadway. An old entrance from the market-place 
 down some stone steps has been blocked up."* If 
 this cellar was not used as a dungeon in 1655, it may 
 have been so employed during the persecutions 
 described in the next chapter. 
 
 * Noake's 'Worcester Sects,' p. 211. 
 
CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 THIRTY YEARS OF PERSECUTION. 
 
 1656—1689. 
 
 " Call to remembrance the former clays, in which, after ye 
 were illuminated, ye endured a great tight of afflictions ; . . . . 
 Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your- 
 selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring 
 substance." — Hebrews x. 32 — 34. 
 
 Two liundred and thirty years ago the town 
 of Evesham presented an aspect strangely different 
 from that which it wears to-day. Gardening had 
 not become the staple employment of its population, 
 and the rich sunny slopes now so thickly planted 
 with fruit-trees and vegetables were then only 
 partially cultivated, and that after a very indifferent 
 fashion. The town itself was smaller and more 
 compact. The roads leading into it were in such an 
 indescribably wretched condition as to be almost 
 impassable for wheeled vehicles. The " divers praty 
 streets," alluded to by Leland were filthy and unpaved. 
 The carriage-way was obstructed by heaps of stones 
 and offal, and swine wallowed unhindered amidst the 
 *' pools of stagnant water and holes of mire." No 
 
 * May's Hist, of E., p. 370. 
 
104 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 liglits were displayed at night, with the exception of 
 the faint ghmmer occasionally afforded by the watch- 
 man's lantern, so that locomotion after dusk must 
 have been a work of considerable difficulty. 
 
 The houses were largely constructed of wood, and 
 in many places their overhanging gables seemed to 
 exclude the sunshine from the road below\ Kudely 
 ornamented plaster-work relieved their dark carved 
 timbers, and quaint swinging signboards projected 
 above the doors of the open shops beneath, where 
 curiously- attired countrywomen chattered and bar- 
 gained over their sundry purchases. In the midst 
 of such surroundings as these the early Friends lived 
 and moved, having their conversation honest towards 
 all men, — 
 
 " Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
 Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat." 
 
 In this chapter an attempt is made to trace the 
 history of the Society of Friends in Evesham from 
 the year 1656 to the passing of the Toleration Act, 
 I. William & Mary, 1689. Very scanty materials 
 are at our disposal, and we are mainly dependent 
 upon the pages of Besse (Vol. ii., pp. 60-89). 
 
 The religious meetings of the Society were held in 
 Bengeworth for about twenty years, usually at 
 Edw^ard Pitway's house, but sometimes at Thomas 
 Hyatt's or John Washborne's. Edward Pitway's 
 dwelling occupied the site of the present ' Northwick 
 Arms ' Hotel. Copper tokens are still extant, 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 105 
 
 bearing the inscription, "Edward Pitway at the = 
 Red Lyon in Bengeworth /p,"* which were issued 
 by this very man, or by one of his ancestors. It w^as 
 not until 1676 that the Society acquired its 
 property in Cowl Street. 
 
 In 1656 William Roberts and Richard Walker 
 were prosecuted for " steeple-house rates," and had 
 goods taken fi'om them beyond the amount of the 
 legal demand. In the same year George Fox again 
 arrived in Evesham, having endured since his last 
 visit a painful imprisonment in Launceston Castle. 
 In his Journal he says: — "We came to Evesholme 
 again ; where I met John Cam." 
 
 It is interesting to find that John Camm was 
 among the faithful ministers who visited the newly- 
 gathered Society in this town. He was in failing 
 health in 1656, and his sermons at Evesham must 
 have been almost the last that fell from his lips. He 
 died soon afterwards, exclaiming, " This house of 
 clay must go to its place, but this soul and spirit is 
 to be gathered up to the Lord, to be w^ith him for 
 ever." 
 
 Li 1657 that "ancient servant of Jesus Christ," 
 George Whitehead, travelled through Worcestershne, 
 
 to the couvincmg, strengthening, and comforting 
 of many." He encountered much opposition, but 
 successfully overthrew the arguments of those w4io 
 challenged his teaching. About the same time 
 
 * See this token engraved, Tindal's Hist, of E., p. 142. 
 
106 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 "William Dewsbury held a meeting at Evesham, and 
 it was during his visit that he penned an account of 
 his recent labours in Bristol and the Welsh counties. 
 
 In those days, Evesham Friends were not content 
 to worship quietly in their own meetings, without 
 making any effort to carry the Gospel to the people 
 around them. They were filled with zeal for the 
 conversion of their neighbours, and were not ashamed 
 to be seen preaching in the open air. In 1657 
 William Simpson, "for exhorting the people in the 
 streets of Evesham to repent and fear the Lord,'" 
 was sent out of the town by the Mayor, and in 1659 
 Thomas Woodrove, of Weymouth, suffered three 
 months imprisonment for a similar offence. 
 Thomas Thurston was also sent to gaol for preaching 
 " in the graveyard." 
 
 In 1659 William Simpson walked partly unclothed 
 " through the streets at Evesham in a prophetical 
 manner, as a sign to the people" that they were 
 still in a state of spiritual nakedness. Simpson did 
 not escape abuse, for he was " whipt on the back 
 and breast by an envious -minded man of that place."" 
 This strange exhibition was repeated ' ' at several 
 times for three years " in many other towns and 
 cities, in obedience to what " that poor man " 
 believed to be a call from heaven, and in imitation 
 of one at least of the ancient Hebrew prophets 
 (Isa. XX.). Simpson was a native of Lancashire. 
 Some idea of his strange excesses, and withal of his 
 patient godliness, may be gathered from Fox's. 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 107 
 
 Journal (ed. 1694, p. 239), ^ Piety Promoted' (i., 
 p. 71), Burnyeat's Journal (p. 194), and Bickley's 
 ' George Fox and the Early Quakers' (pp. 100, 205, 
 notes). 
 
 In 1657 Thomas Aldington, " going into one of 
 the places of publick worship, where he stood still 
 and spake not a word, was taken out and set in the 
 stocks": and Stephen Pitway "suffered imprison- 
 ment above sixteen weeks for speaking to a ^mest in 
 the steeple-house." Mary Tilley, of Bromesgrove, 
 was also put in the stocks " for exhorting the people 
 after the priest had ended his sermon." In 1659 
 similar events are recorded. John Clements lay in 
 prison twenty weeks, Susanna Pearson" seven days, 
 and Arthur Kemp for a considerable time, all for 
 giving " Christian exhortation to the people at the 
 steeple-house at Evesham." " Samuel Horton, 
 hearing the Priest assert in his sermon that Abra- 
 ham's grace was imperfect, was concerned to oppose 
 
 * Among liis many charges against the early Friends, 
 Richard Baxter asserted that " some have famished and 
 drowned themselves in melancholy, and others under the 
 power of the Spirit have attempted to raise them." He stated 
 that " Susan Pierson did tliis at Claines, near Worcester, when 
 they took a man out of his grave that had made away with 
 himself, and commanded him to arise and live." E. Barclay 
 remarks that this Mrs. Pierson "evidently did not belong to 
 the Society " ('Inner Life,' &c., p. 428, note) ; but it is more 
 likely that she was the same individual referred to above, who 
 frequently visited Evesham. George Fox was informed of the 
 matter, but merely endorsed the letter containing particulars, 
 " Mad whimesye." 
 
108 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 that un scriptural doctrine, for wliich lie was set in 
 the stocks three hours, and afterwards sent to 
 prison." It must be borne in mind that under the 
 Presbyterian form of worship, which prevailed in 
 many parts of England during the Commonwealth, 
 it was no breach of order for anyone to stand up and 
 speak to the congregation " after the priest had 
 done"; and the Quaker preachers frequently availed 
 themselves of this i^rivilege. Although their plain 
 language and searching doctrines often excited fierce 
 opposition on the part of both priest and people, 
 they were sometimes cordially received, and their 
 ministry in the churches led many an erring soul 
 into the way of peace. " We have distinct and 
 positive testimony that on the Eestoration, when 
 the Church of England resumed its position as 
 established by law, the preachers of the Society 
 of Friends did not attempt to preach after the priest 
 of the Church of England had finished his sermon. 
 
 In 1657 James Wall suffered more than a month's 
 imprisonment " for going with his hat on into a 
 Court-Leet, to which he was summoned " ; and in 
 1659 John Bedman, " for the cause of religion and a 
 good conscience, was put to much trouble by the 
 Mayor of Evesham in the Town Court, and had his 
 goods taken away to a considerable value." 
 
 In 1658 William Eussell, Thomas Harris, Thomas 
 Wright, Chrizigen Wright, and Joane Wiggen, were 
 
 * See Barclay's ' Inner Life of Eeligious Societies of Com- 
 monwealth,' ch. xii. 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 109 
 
 arrested as they were going to a meeting at Evesham, 
 and committed to prison. 
 
 We now find om-selves at the commencement of 
 what was to the Nonconformists of England the 
 darkest night of all, truly a '-'reign of terror," with 
 scarcely a redeeming featm-e heyond the display 
 of Christian fortitude which it called forth: The 
 restoration of Episcopacy followed upon the return 
 of Charles 11. in 1660, and the re-established Church 
 at once secured the assistance of Parliament in its 
 unholy endeavours to stamp out Nonconformity. 
 These endeavours were of course utterly futile, but 
 they were not relinquished until the skirts of the 
 Establishment were stained with the blood of mul- 
 titudes of innocent victims. The Act of Uniformity, 
 passed in 1662, deprived 2000 ministers of their 
 livings. The Conventicle Act of 1663 prohibited all 
 meetings where more than five of the family were 
 present, and imposed penalties varying from a fine of 
 £5 for the first offence to transportation " beyond the 
 seas " for the third conviction. This diabolical 
 statute was made still more stringent in 1664, and in 
 1670 its penalties were again increased, and the vile 
 trade of the common informer was openly en- 
 couraged. In addition to this, Acts were passed 
 prohibiting Nonconformists from holding municipal 
 offices, and excluding them entirely from Govern- 
 ment employ. 
 
 Some idea of the operation of these laws may be 
 gathered fi'om the statement of Neal — that it was 
 
110 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 computed that 8000 Dissenters died in prison during 
 the reign of Charles II. " Thirteen thousand five 
 hundred and 62 persons of the Society of Friends 
 suffered imprisonment between 1661 and 1697. 198 
 were transported beyond the seas, and 338 died in 
 prison or of their wounds."-- 
 
 Speaking of this period, a recent historian has 
 remarked : — 
 
 " Many Presbyterians took refuge in tlie Church. 
 .... The Independents and Baptists gave up 
 their meetings or met by stealth, while watchers, 
 stationed on roof, or as outposts in the street, were 
 ready to give warning of the approach of informers. 
 The members of one denomination alone continued, 
 by meeting openly and without concealment, to defy 
 and not to evade the law. These were the Quakers. 
 .... They continued openly to meet and preach, 
 not once reviling their persecutors."! 
 
 In 1660 a determined effort was made to break up 
 the meetings of the Society of Friends at Evesham. 
 On the 16th of January the mayor and other 
 magistrates arrested Joshua Frensham, Edward 
 Pitway, senr., and James Wall, and committed 
 them to prison "for refusing to swear." Twenty 
 more Friends were dragged out of a meeting on the 
 'following day, and imprisoned. Their names were 
 John Tandy, Thomas Freeman, Phillip Marshall, 
 Joseph Tandy, Pilchard Grove, Francis Holland, 
 
 * Barclay's ' Inner Life,' &c., p. 475. 
 
 + Skeat's ' History of Free Churches of England,' 1868 p. 76. 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Thomas Cartwriglit, ^Yilliam Koberts, Joliu Ewins, 
 Eoger Eudge, Eicliard "Walker, John Woodward, 
 Stex^hen Pitway, Eobert Ewins, WilHam Langstone, 
 David Walker, William Yeats, jini., John Clements, 
 Bernard Eoberts, and John Bedman. 
 
 On the 20th of the same month the following 
 forty-five persons were taken at a meeting, and 
 sentenced by the recorder to a term of imprison- 
 ment ; viz., Arthm' Kemp, Thomas Evans, Benjamin 
 Pierce, Francis Pitway, Mary Worley (widow), 
 Elizabeth Andrews, Anne Medwell, Mary Beare, 
 Joyce Evans, Mary Harris, Eleanor Walker, 
 Eichard Bennett, Thomas Aldington, William 
 Andrews, Joane Woodward, Hannah Eudge, 
 Ehzabeth Perkins, Elizabeth Tombs, Elizabeth 
 Haynes, Sarah Eussel, Euth Knight, Joane Tandy, 
 William Yeats, sen., Eobert Tandy, Nathaniel 
 Clements, Sarah Frensham, Hannah Wall, Anne 
 Brantly, Mary Langstone, Elizabeth Clements, 
 Bridget Smith, Sarah Walker, Ehzabeth Hardman, 
 Edward Pitway, jun., Samuel Collins, Mary 
 Hardman, Sarah Phelps, Elizabeth Pitway, Mary 
 Leake, Elizabeth Shorthaze, Elizabeth Collins, 
 Elizabeth Nichols (widow), Barbara Walker, Mary 
 Harton, and Sarah Bennett. 
 
 " On the 22nd Paul Banning w^as fetcht out of his 
 master's house, and for refusing to swear, committed 
 to prison. And on the 27th the following fourteen 
 were taken out of a meeting, and also committed, 
 viz. : Anne Brantly, Anne Johnson, Elizabeth 
 
112 
 
 Evesham Friends iyi the Olden Time. 
 
 Andrews, Francis Pitway, Elizabeth Pitway, Thomas 
 Drake, Susanna Pierson, Margaret Tandy, John 
 Simonds, Elizabeth Collins, Widow Walker, Sarah 
 Cartwright, Mary Badsey, and Mary Godfrey."- 
 
 The long lists of names show that the authorities 
 endeavoured to suppress the meetings, by laying 
 hands not only on the leading Friends, but on all 
 who were in any way associated with them. The 
 figures named indicate the size of the gatherings in 
 Bengeworth at that time. 
 
 Twelve months later (January 16th, 1661) a 
 constable Avent to the meeting, and took away 
 thirty men Friends into custody, placing them that 
 night in the Townliall. The magistrates met the 
 following morning, and sent the following nineteen 
 to prison, viz.: James Wall, John Clements, sen., 
 John Emms, Kobert Tandy, John Bedman, Thomas 
 Cartwright, John Clements, jun., Thomas Freeman, 
 Joseph Tandy, David Weaver, John Woodward, 
 Arthur Kemp, Bernard Eoberts, Kichard Grove, 
 Thomas Drake, John Tandy, Nathaniel Clements, 
 Eobert Vines, and Benjamin Pearce. 
 
 On the 31st of December, 1662, Major Wild, " a 
 persecuting man," came to Evesham with a company 
 of soldiers, and ordered " several of the inhabitants 
 to appear before him." Kobert Bayliss, William 
 Webb, and Eichard Walker, all of Broadway, were 
 also summoned. *' He took their words for their 
 
 * Besse, ii, p. 62. 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 113 
 
 appearance at Worcester the next daj^ except 
 Kichard Walker, a poor, sickly man, above sixty 
 years of age, whom they used very inhumanly." 
 The soldiers drove him on foot before their horses, 
 and when he could go no further " they dragged 
 him along by force, and the Major beat him down 
 with his horse and threatened to pistol him. At 
 length they set him on horseback, .... and he was 
 thus brought to Worcester Gaol." Walker was "before 
 afflicted with a long-continued ptisick," and he died 
 soon after his committal. " He was a man of meek, 
 innocent and Christian spirit, inoffensive in life and 
 conversation, and generally well beloved by those 
 that knew him."''" 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1662, William Collins, 
 Henry Gibbs, Stephen Pitway, and Joseph Walker, 
 were arrested at their own homes, and sent to 
 prison. "At the next sessions the tw^o first were 
 re-committed for six months, though no breach of 
 the law was proved against them." In the Worcester 
 County Rolls for 1662 it is stated that they were 
 committed "for having lately assembled themselves 
 under the pretence of joyning in a religious worship, 
 to the great endangering of the publique peace and 
 safetye, and to the terrour of the people." 
 
 In 1684, John Woodward, Stephen Pitway, John 
 Hawkswood, and Joshua Frensham, were prosecuted 
 at the Sessions for refiismg to take the Oath of 
 
 * Besse, ii., p. 68. 
 
 I 
 
114 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Allegiance. They preferred to suffer than to deny 
 the truth. Woodward lay in a dungeon for "a 
 considerable time," and the other three were 
 imprisoned under the terrible sentence of Praemunire.^ 
 It must not be supposed that this forms a complete 
 record of all the persecutions endured by the Society 
 in Evesham between 1656 and 1689 ; for there is 
 little room for doubt that much more of a similar 
 kind took place. These fragmentary notices will 
 suffice to convince us that the Evesham Friends 
 were possessed of courage and persistency, and 
 that they quitted themselves like men throughout 
 the long dark night of trial and adversity. In view 
 of these hardships and losses, it is worthy of remark 
 that members of the same Society have recently 
 occupied positions of public honour and responsi- 
 bility upon the Magisterial Bench and in the Town 
 Council Chamber. Once treated as the filth and 
 offscouring of the world, their help is now sought in 
 almost every philanthropic undertaking, and the 
 Avords of the wise king have been fulfilled in their 
 experience, " When a man's ways please the Lord, 
 He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with 
 him." 
 
 To describe at length the sufferings of Friends in 
 the neighbouring towns and villages would be to 
 
 * From the moment of conviction the defendant is out of 
 the King's protection ; his body remains in prison during the 
 King's pleasure, and all his goods are forfeited to the Crown.-- 
 Blackstone. 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 115 
 
 exceed the limits of this vokime ; but the following 
 summary of the leading events recorded by Besse 
 will show with what rigour the law was enforced. 
 
 On September 13th, 1657, William Webb, of 
 Broadway, while passing through Chipping Campden, 
 on his way to a meetmg, " was observed by a justice, 
 who demanded 10s. of him for travelling on the 
 Sabbath, and for non-payment ordered him to be set 
 in the stocks. The same justice caused the like 
 punishment to be inflicted on William Eussell, Mary 
 Dury [? Drury] , Alice Butcher, Joane Wiggan, and 
 Thomas Lane, for going to a meeting in Broad 
 Campden, the parish where they dwelt." On 
 January 20th, 1660, "both men and women were 
 thrust out of the meeting-place at Broad Campden 
 by soldiers, who delivered them to the tything-men, 
 and they next day had them before Justice Overbury, 
 who tendered them the oath." Upon their refusal 
 to swear, "he committed Henry Daffie, William 
 Piussell, Thomas Cole, Edward Warner, Thomas 
 Moseley, Thomas Keite, and William Keite, to the 
 county-goal, where the felons and other prisoners 
 abused them, taking away their hats and clothes." 
 On the 18th of August, 1683, " Eichard Parsons, 
 Chancellor of Gloucester, came to the meeting- 
 house at Camden," when the doors were shut, and 
 
 * Campden Meeting Home. — By feoffment dated January 
 18th, 1663, John Hitchman, of Broad Campden, and Prudence 
 his wife, conveyed unto Edward Warner (of Blockley, " cloath 
 worker "), Thomas Keite the elder, Thomas Keite the younger, 
 
116 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 no person there. He, with such as attended him, 
 burst open the doors, and brake the windows and 
 seats all to pieces, and departed with many threats. 
 Upon some information of a meeting there, he 
 shortly after issued a warrant by which were taken 
 
 From William Heyders, of Stan way, 
 
 Goods and timber worth . £30 0 0 
 Gervas Harris of Willersby, 
 five cows and an horse, 
 worth . . . . 20 0 0 
 ,, Paul Heron, a cow, worth . 3 0 0 
 
 £58 0 0" 
 
 Thomas Mosely the younger (all of Broad Campden), John 
 Norris the younger (of Pye Mill, " millner "), and William Darke 
 (of Chipping Campden), for the consideration of £18 " all those 
 two of housing together with an orchard or quantitie 
 
 of ground lying thereunto, lately belonging to the messuage, 
 cottage or dwelling now inhabited or possessed by the said 
 John Hitchman, situated and being in Broad Campden." 
 The present meeting-house was built at a later date, probably 
 upon the same piece of ground described above. A grave- 
 yard lies behind it. The house is now used by the Church 
 of England for a Sunday school, the Society of Friends at 
 Campden having died out a few years ago. 
 
 Campden and Stow meetings remained in association with 
 the other meetings of Gloucestershire until 1790, when 
 " Stow Monthly Meeting " was united to " South Division 
 of Warwickshire, M.M." 
 
 * In 1G88, Gervas Harris " of Willersby " was imprisoned in 
 Gloucester gaol, "for his absence from the national worship." 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 117 
 
 In 1681, " for meetings at Stow," Anthony 
 Roberts, William Tidmarsli, and John Hiatt had 
 goods taken from them worth £28 16s. 
 
 In February, 1660, ten Friends were arrested at a 
 meeting at Tewkesbury, " and because they refused 
 to give siu'eties for their good behaviour, were 
 committed to prison." In 1662, Henry Howland, 
 of Tewkesbury, " for refusing to bear arms, or to 
 pay towards the charge of the Militia, had an horse 
 taken fi'om him worth £4 8s. The person who took 
 the horse acknowledging he did it against his 
 conscience, Henry Howland told him ' he might 
 then expect some judgment would follow,' and it was 
 observed that the said person, having ordered his 
 son to sell the horse, as he was riding, the horse ran 
 violently with him against the arm of a tree, so that 
 he died of the blow immediately." In November, 
 1665, Henry Howland, of Tewkesbury, had three 
 cows and one steer taken from him for permitting 
 religious meetings at his house." In 1681, "Thomas 
 Chorneck, of Tewkesbury, was excommunicated for 
 absence from the national worship."^- 
 
 In 1678, William Parr, of Shipston-on-Stour, was 
 several times prosecuted for tithes by Dr. Crowther, 
 
 * George Fox \isited Tewkesbury for the first time in 1655, 
 when he had "a great meeting." In 1660 he says, "We 
 
 passed to Tewkesbury, and so to "Worcester And in 
 
 all my time I never saw the like drunkenness as then in the 
 towns ; for they had been then chusing Parliament-Men." 
 George Fox was at Tewkesbury again in 1677-8. 
 
118 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 of Tredington. " Upon one of these prosecutions 
 he was imprisoned above a year at Worcester, and a 
 judgment being obtained against him for £8 tithes, 
 he had taken from him four cows worth £14." At 
 another time four cows and two horses, worth 
 nearly £30, were stolen from him. Dr. Crowther 
 also cited him " for not coming to hear common 
 prayer, and at appearing he was committed to 
 prison by a writ de excommunicato capiendo, where 
 he was a prisoner two years and a half after." 
 In 1681 " Edward Cooke, of Shipston, was indicted 
 at the Quarter Sessions for being at a meeting 
 there, and had taken from him goods worth 
 £11 Is. 8d." In 1683 the officers of Shipston 
 took goods from Kobert Grimes, John Burlingham,* 
 James Hunt, William Field, William Banbury, and 
 Nicholas Wilkins ; and in 1684 " Thomas Cooke 
 was taken from a meeting at Shipston, and, refusing 
 to find sureties for the good behaviour, was by the 
 justices committed to prison."! 
 
 * One of the earliest known ancestors of the Burlingham 
 family. 
 
 + In the Shipston parish register, March 15, 1695, occurs 
 the name of John Waring, "who was by his relations putt 
 ith ground lik a dog in ye Quakers meeting house yard. 
 Kogues !" The same register records the baptism of two 
 converted Quakers : — 1728, Oct. 5th, " Kichardus Tyler, 
 tremulorum religionem respuens baptizatus est ; " and Joseph 
 Wareing, " sordidas tremulorum opiniones respuens " (1731, 
 Jan. 6). 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 119 
 
 In 1670, at Grafton -Fly ford, " some soldiers of 
 the band called the ' clergy-band ' came to a meeting 
 at the house of Greorge Maris, and informed against 
 several persons there, against whom a warrant was 
 issued by John Packington, of Westwood, and 
 Samuel Sands, of Ambersley, Justices, by which 
 were taken from Francis Fincher all his goods for a 
 fine of £'20 ; from George Maris goods worth £20 ; 
 and from William Sale and John Tombs to the 
 value of £1 14s." Fincher and Maris were afterwards 
 sent to the county gaol. 
 
 Any complete description of the persecutions 
 patiently endui-ed by the Society of Friends in the 
 city of Worcester would alone occupy many pages. 
 
 In 1660, sixty-eight men were imprisoned, and 
 as the women still assembled for worship they 
 were in turn arrested and placed for several hours 
 in a hole called " the Under-Eiders." They 
 persisted in meeting, however, and a week later 
 were again put in the same x^lace, "and afterwards 
 in Bridewell, two of them having been first set in 
 the stocks five hours." In March, 1661, the 
 prisoners were released, with the exception of one 
 man and two women. 
 
 In 1661, a marshal with a file of musquetiers 
 broke up a meeting at the house of Eobert Smith, 
 
 The Brailes register has :— 1680, '-Edward Lock, of Stower- 
 ton, quaker, was buried at Crosse gate in a Close there, Nov. 
 4th, in a shroud of sheeps wool! onley." 
 
120 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 and arrested eighteen Friends, who were committed 
 to the Town Gaol " upon the evidence of but one 
 man, and he an infamous person, who had been 
 formerly arraigned for murder, and was afterwards 
 distracted." In July, 1662, Eobert Smith was tried 
 at the Assizes for refusing to take the oath of 
 allegiance, "and received the dismal sentence of 
 praemunire, under which he lay in prison near ten 
 years." At the same assizes a number of Friends 
 were convicted of holding a meeting, and were 
 sentenced to pay £5 each, or to endure three 
 months' imprisonment. 
 
 In 1663, 1664, and 1670 the meetings were again 
 broken up, and from 1681 to 1685 Worcester 
 Friends were still further imprisoned, fined, and 
 otherwise illtreated. The representations which 
 they forwarded to the Bishop of the diocese, to the 
 Judges of the Assize, to the Assize Jurors, to the 
 members of Parliament for the city and county, and 
 to King Charles himself, were all alike treated with 
 entire indifference. 
 
 The earliest meetings of the Society in Worcester 
 were held at private houses (as at Eobert Smith's 
 and Edward Bourne's), but in 1670 mention is made 
 of a house and ground in Cooking (now Copenhagen) 
 Street, which formed " the usual meeting place." 
 The first minutes are those of a Monthly Meeting 
 at Edward Bourne's house in 1673, " many monthly 
 meetings " having been held at the same dwelling 
 before the records were commenced. In 1681 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 121 
 
 Edward Bourne was apprehended " while preaching 
 at an unlawful conventicle in Friars Street," and in 
 1683 sixteen persons were imprisoned " for riotously 
 and unlawfully assembling at the dwelling-house of 
 a person unknown in Friar Street." This house 
 adjoined Wyatt's hospital, and had subsequently a 
 burying ground attached. The chapel was used for 
 Divine worship by the Quakers till 1701, when the 
 present chapel near Sansome walk was erected, on 
 ground given by Edward Bourne, physician." The 
 old meeting-house in Friar Street was used occa- 
 sionally for many years. "It is now used as an 
 infant school ; and the old burying ground, where 
 the bones of many Friends lie peacefully side by 
 side after the cruel buffetting of a life of persecution, 
 is now the resort of happy babydom during play 
 hours."- 
 
 The story of George Fox's arrest at Armscote, in 
 1673, has been so often told that it is needless to 
 repeat it here. Henry Parker, the justice who 
 ordered his arrest, and proved to be such a persistent 
 "enemy of the Truth," was afterwards Recorder of 
 Evesham and M.P. for the Borough. It was owing 
 to Edward Pitway's intercession that George Fox's 
 sufferings at Worcester Gaol were somewhat lessened. 
 Justice Parker's letter to the gaoler, ordering him 
 to allow his prisoner " the benefit of the air," was 
 dated from " Evesham, the 8th of October, 1674." 
 
 * See Noake's 'Worcester Sects,' 1861, pp. 236, 250, 256. 
 
122 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 The history of the persecution of Nonconformists 
 during the 17th century affords a painful iUustration 
 of the ill effects of parliamentary interference in 
 matters of religion, as well as of the mischief which 
 invariably results in one form or another from a 
 State Establishment of Eeligion. The Toleration 
 Act of 1689 at last made it possible for all to worship 
 God according to their consciences. The authors of 
 this Act, says Macaulay, " removed a vast mass of 
 evil without shocking a vast mass of prejudice ; they 
 put an end, at once and for ever, without one division 
 in either House of Parliament, without one riot in 
 the streets, with scarcely one audible murmur even 
 from the classes most tainted with bigotry, to a 
 persecution which had raged during four generations, 
 which had broken innumerable hearts, which had 
 made innumerable firesides desolate, which had 
 filled the prison with men of whom the world was 
 not worthy, which had driven thousands of those 
 honest diligent and God-fearing yeomen and artizans, 
 who are the true strength of a nation, to seek a 
 refuge beyond the ocean, among the wigwams of Ked 
 Indians, and the lairs of panthers." 
 
 Eeturning to the town of Evesham, we find that 
 the Society of Friends secured a burial-ground in 
 Bengeworth in 1675, and that in the following year 
 they purchased property in Cowl Street, on which 
 to erect a commodious meeting-house. These pre- 
 mises are described on a later page. 
 
 During the first half century of its existence the 
 
Thirty Years of Persecution. 
 
 123 
 
 strength of the Society in Great Britain undoubtedly 
 lay in the number of its travelling ministers, who 
 unsi^aringly devoted their time and talents to the 
 service of their Heavenly Master. The small country 
 meetings were not then allowed to die for want of 
 lively, helpful in-eaching. Fox, and the Quaker 
 leaders generally, knew well that a vocal ministry 
 was ordained of God for the perfecting of the 
 saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ," and 
 so long as these scriptural views were maintained 
 and acted upon, the village as well as the town 
 congregations grew and flourished. In Evesham 
 frequent visits were received from ministers of npe 
 experience, as Eichard Davies, of Welchpool (in 
 166-4 and 1682), Samuel Bownas, John Whiting, of 
 Nailsea (1678), Chaides Marshall (1670 and 1671), 
 Thomas Wilson (1684, 1696, and 1721), and James 
 Dickenson (1684 ), besides a number of others whose 
 labours are not placed on record. It is probable 
 that several of the Evesham Friends were themselves 
 gifted in the ministry of the Gospel. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 VISCOUNTESS CONWAY, OF RAGLEY HALL. 
 
 *' The Eesidence of Divinity is so conspicuous in that 
 Heroical Pulchritude of your noble Person, that Plato, if he 
 were alive again, might find his timorous Supposition brought 
 into absolute Act, and to the enravishment of his amazed Soul 
 
 might behold Vertue become visible to his outward sight 
 
 In the knowledge of things as well Natural and Divine you 
 have not only out-gone all of your own Sex, but even of that 
 other also, whose ages have not given them overmuch the start 
 of you." — Dr. Morels Dedication to Lady Conway. 
 
 George Fox travelled many times through the 
 County of Worcester, establishing the Quaker 
 churches in the fear of God. In 1677 he writes, 
 '* I had meetings at Parshow [Pershore] and Eve- 
 sham, and then struck to Eagley, in Warwickshire, 
 to visit her that was called Lady Conway, who I 
 understood was very desirous to see me, and whom I 
 found tender and loving, and willing to have detained 
 me longer than I had freedom to stay." After 
 leaving Kagley, Eox held two meetings at John 
 Stanley's house on the Rudgeway, and from thence 
 proceeded into Oxfordshire by way of Stratford-on- 
 Avon and Armscote. 
 
Viscountess Conway, of Bagley Hall. 125 
 
 Viscountess Conway was descended from an 
 illustrious family, occupying a position of honour 
 and responsibility in the affairs of the State, and 
 distinguished for its great intellectual power and 
 administrative ability. She was the youngest 
 daughter of Sir Heneage Finch of Kensington, for 
 some time Eecorder of the City of London, and a 
 near relative of Sir John Finch, the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons. The Finches originally bore 
 the name of Herbert, and were said to have de- 
 scended from Henry Fitz -Herbert, Chamberlain to 
 Henry I., and to have adopted the name of Finch in 
 the reign of Edward I. After a long train of suc- 
 cession, Sir Thomas Finch, in the reign of Queen 
 Mary, married one of the co-heirs of Sir Thomas 
 Moyle, and on his death left three sons. "He had 
 one son, two grandsons, one great-grandson, and one 
 great-great-grandson, all eminent in Westminster 
 Hall, besides two female descendants connected by 
 marriagewith lawyers equally illustrious.'"'' Among 
 these eminent descendants was the father of Lady 
 Conway. 
 
 Anne Finch's eldest brother, Heneage, was born 
 in 1621 and died in 1682. He occupied a succession 
 of exalted stations, being made Solicitor- General in 
 1660, Attorney-General in 1667, Lord Keeper in 1673, 
 and Lord Chancellor in 167o.f He is described by 
 
 * Foss's Diet, of the Judges of England. 
 + It was before Sir H. Finch, Solicit or- General, and Sir W. 
 Wilde, Eecorder of London, that Samuel Pepys was sworn a 
 
126 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Blackstone (iii. 55) as " a person of the greatest 
 abilities and most uncorrupted integrity." His 
 common appellation was " The Father of Equity." 
 
 He was created Earl of Nottingham in 1681. 
 Although he was " a man of independent opinion, 
 and a staunch administrator of the laws of the 
 realm," he appears to have been slow in grasping the 
 principles of religious liberty, as will be seen from the 
 following extract from a letter written by William 
 Penn to George Fox, imprisoned in Worcester 
 Gaol : — A lord, a man of noble mind, did as good 
 as put himself in a loving way to get thy liberty. He 
 prevailed with the King for a pardon, but that we 
 rejected ; then he pressed for a more noble release ; 
 it sticks with the Keeper, and we have and do use what 
 interest we can. The King is very angry with him, 
 and promised very largely and lovingly, so that if we 
 have been deceived, thou seest the grounds of it." 
 (Dated " 20th of 9th mo., 1674 "). - 
 
 Anne Finch was educated with her brothers, and 
 soon showed that her mental gifts were equal to 
 theirs in every respect. To quote from a recent 
 sketch of her life: — "Besides the ordinary require- 
 ments and accomplishments of her sex, her studies 
 in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew introduced her to a 
 host of authors, many of them now only known to 
 
 Justice (Sept. 24, 1660),— "with which honour I did find 
 myself mightily pleased, though I am wholly ignorant of the 
 duties of a Justice." — {Diary). 
 
 * Barclay's 'Letters of Early Friends,' 1841, p. 199. 
 
Viscountess Conway, of Ragley Hall. 127 
 
 men of antiquarian taste and research. She read 
 with much appreciation the works of Plotinus and 
 Plato, and studied the most abstruse treatises of 
 theosophy and mysticism Her under- 
 standing was singularly quick and apprehensive, her 
 judgment solid and sound, and her sagacity and 
 prudence in affairs of moment were such as aston- 
 ished all those who had occasion to consult with her. 
 In the cultivation of these great natural endowments 
 she became mistress of the highest theories, whether 
 of philosophy or religion, having the greatest facihty 
 for physical, metaphysical, and mathematical specu- 
 lations, and was qualified to search into and judi- 
 ciously sift the most abstruse writers of theology" 
 
 xlfter many admirers had vainly endeavoured to 
 win her hand, she accepted the proposals of Edward, 
 Viscount Conway,! of Kagley in Warwickshh-e, a 
 
 * ' Anne, Viscountess Conway,' by S. H. Steevens, ' Friends' 
 Q. Examiner,' 1874, p. 197. I am indebted to this article for 
 many of the particulars given in this chapter. 
 
 + Sir Edward Conway (M.P. for Evesham, 1621, 1623 — i) 
 was created Baron Conway, of Eagley, Co. Warwick, in 1624, 
 and Viscount Conway, of Conway Castle, Co. Carnarvon, in 
 1627. He died in 1630, and was succeeded by his son and heir 
 Edward, who was appointed General of the Horse in the 
 expedition against the Scotch Covenanters in 1640. Clarendon 
 says that he had "no kind of sense of religion," and Sir 
 Phillip Warwick describes him as " a man of epicurean prin- 
 ciples, and a great devourer of books and good cheer." General 
 Lord Conway died in 1655, and was succeeded by his son (the 
 future husband of Anne Finch), who was created Earl Conway, 
 3 Dec, 1679. 
 
128 Evesham Friends in the Olden Times. 
 
 nobleman who was declared by a witty contemporary 
 to possess a very full purse and a very empty 
 head." We may doubtless accept the first statement 
 without question, but the remark that he was lacking 
 in mental power can hardly be correct, as he after- 
 wards succeeded Lord Sunderland as Secretary of 
 State, when that nobleman voted for the Bill of 
 Exclusion in 1680/'' Whatever his intellectual 
 capacity may have been. Viscount Conway had not 
 his wife's taste for learning, and after their retire- 
 ment to Eagley Hall he devoted himself to the 
 ordinary pursuits of a country gentleman, whilst she, 
 " deeply immersed in the stores of erudition im- 
 bedded in ponderous folios in the library," strove to 
 add to her already remarkable knowledge of ancient 
 and general literature. 
 
 The lordship of Arrow came into the possession of 
 Edward Conway about the year 1504, in the right of 
 his wife Anne Burdett. Sir John Conway purchased 
 the lordship of Eagley from George Brome, Esq., in 
 1590, and soon after this period Eagley became the 
 chief seat of the Conway family, as it has continued 
 to be that of their successors to the present day. 
 
 Lady Conway spent much time in composition, 
 and maintained a flow of correspondence with many 
 distinguished scholars, who were often amazed at the 
 skill with which she unravelled the most perplexing 
 
 * He was also Lieutenant- General of the Horse in Ireland, 
 Governor of Charlemont, and Lord Lieutenant and Gustos 
 Rotulorum of Warwickshire. 
 
Viscountess Cornea;/, of PiOfiley Hall 
 
 129 
 
 problems. Her constant and learned friend, Dr. 
 Henry More, of Christ's College. Cambridge, called 
 her *' this incomparable ladv,"' and entered into her 
 philosophical inqumes with the liveliest appreciation 
 of her moral excellence and hterary ability. She is 
 said to have assisted him in the production of some 
 of his writings, and to have suggested to him the 
 idea of his " Conjectm-a Cabbalistica.* He was a 
 frequent visitor at Eagley Hall, where he highly 
 enjoyed the brilliant conversation of his talented 
 correspondent, and contributed not a little to her 
 -religious advancement by his devout expositions of 
 Divine truth. In the Dedicatory Epistle to his 
 * Immortahty of the Soul,' addressed to Lord Con- 
 way, he thus alludes to these refreshing seasons : — 
 
 " I call to mind that i:tleasant retirement I enjoy 'd 
 at Eagley, dm-ing my abode with you there ; . . . . 
 the solemness of the Place, those shady Walks, 
 those Hills and Woods, wherein having lost the sight 
 of the rest of the World, and the World of me, I 
 found out in that hidden solitude the choicest 
 theories." 
 
 But this delightful fellowship of mind and spirit 
 between the mystical professor and the " incom- 
 parable " Viscountess was destined to be marred by 
 the change which came over her religious views as 
 she acquainted herself with the doctrines of the early 
 
 * See Dr. More"s 'Philosophical Writings.' London, 1712. 
 His ' Antidote against Atheism " is dedicated, " To the Right 
 Honourable Lady Anne. Viscountess Conway aud Kilulta."' 
 
 K 
 
130 Evesham. Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Friends. It was when she was experiencing a 
 deepening of her spiritual life that she first heard of 
 the principles proclaimed by Fox and his associates, 
 and she hastened to procure several copies of their 
 writings, that she might learn the secret of their 
 patient godliness. Interviews followed with the 
 Penningtons and other Friends. Dr. More was 
 alarmed to see her " falling away from the national 
 faith," and he did his utmost by argument and en- 
 treaty to prevail upon her to renounce her opinions, 
 "so dangerous in their beginnings and false in 
 their conclusions." But Lady Conway was pos- 
 sessed of too independent a judgment to be easily 
 persuaded by her clerical adviser. She saw that the 
 leading doctrines of Quakerism were "in accordance 
 with the teachings of Holy Writ," and soon after- 
 wards avowed her unity with the Society of Friends. 
 
 Dr. More broke out into almost uncontrollable 
 grief when he heard that she had decided to take 
 this step ; and he speedily issued a series of contro- 
 versial tracts, attacking what he called " the crooked 
 and perverse teachings of Quakerism."* But the 
 noble convert had " found great peace " in her 
 
 * In Dr. More's ' Enthusiasmus Triumphatus " is a Section 
 on "Quaking and Quakers": — "That Sect undoubtedly are 
 the most Melancholy Sect that ever was yet in the World." 
 
 In his curious work entitled ' Mastix,' he allowed that there 
 were " some good and sincere-hearted men " among the 
 Quakers ; but " the generality of them " were " prodigiously 
 melancholy, and some few perhaps possessed with the devil." 
 
Viscountess Conicai/, of Raf/ley Hall. 131 
 
 altered views of Cliristian truth, and the learned 
 dissertations of the Doctor failed to convince her that 
 she was in the wrong. He attributed the change to 
 her " increasing love of quietness." However this 
 may be, it is evident that she now entered into the 
 enjoyment of the life " hid with Christ in Grod,'" and 
 that abiding consolation, rest, and peace were given 
 her freely from above. 
 
 Lady Conway continued to correspond occasionally 
 with Dr. More. In reply to one of his letters, she 
 wrote : — 
 
 "Your conversation with them (the Friends) at 
 London might have been as you express it, ' cha- 
 ritably intended,' like to a physician frequenting his 
 patients for the increase of their health, — but I 
 must avow that mij converse with them is to receive 
 
 health and refreshment from them I pray 
 
 God give us individually a very clear discerning 
 between enthusiasm and true inspiration, that we 
 may not be imposed upon to believe a lie. The 
 difference of opinion on this point among the learned 
 and experienced occasions perplexity in minds less 
 exercised, and so not well-fitted for judging." 
 
 Kobert Barclay, of Dry, the great Apologist, has 
 left it on record that the Friends' Meeting House at 
 Aberdeen was " mostly bought with his own money, 
 and some by his means obtained from the Countess 
 of Conway, one of the same persuasion in England." 
 May we not reasonably suppose that the Friends 
 at Evesham, Alcester, and other places, received 
 
182 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 similar assistance from Kagley Hall, not only when 
 their meeting houses were being built, but also 
 when they suffered heavy pecuniary losses under 
 the oppressive enactments of the time ? 
 
 There ca.n be little doubt that Viscountess Conway's 
 constitution was seriously injured by the incessant 
 mental strain imposed upon her by her literary 
 labours. She suffered from most acute pains in the 
 head, and was compelled to refrain from reading 
 and correspondence for many weeks at a time. Her 
 private medical attendant was Baron Van Helmont, 
 " famed for his skill in chemistry and chirurgery," 
 and a very frequent attendant of Friends' Meet- 
 ings but his remedies were powerless to relieve 
 her anguish. She visited the Continent, " that her 
 cranium might be opened and her pain let out;" 
 but, although the French physicians "ventured to 
 make incisions in the jugular arteries," she returned 
 home without having received any permanent benefit 
 from their treatment. The great Irish quack, 
 Valentine Greatrakes (or Greatorex), who professed 
 to be able to cure all kinds of diseases by the 
 simple process of "stroaking," next tried his arts 
 upon her head, but of course he failed to charm 
 away her pains. 
 
 * Francis Mercurius, Baron of Helmont, was the son of 
 John Baptist Van Helmont, the famous Brabaneon physician. 
 He held the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and to his 
 vain and speculative notions may be partly attributed the sad 
 apostacy of George Keith (See Sewel's History, p. 640). 
 
Viscountess Conway, of Ragleij Hall. 
 
 133 
 
 In one of her letters she thus refers to this sore 
 affliction : — " My devotions are infinitely hindered 
 by my pains, and my very faculties, which should be 
 apply ed to Patience and Kesignation, are swept away 
 
 by their violence as with a tumultous storm 
 
 It seemeth likely that I shall yet for a while 
 linger on in my living tomb !" 
 
 And in another letter: — "From the redoubling 
 of my paroxysms I might fancy release from my 
 weighty sufferings at hand, but life and death are in 
 the hand of the All-wise, and whatsoever He decrees 
 for me I desire willingly to give myself up to. He 
 knows what measure of affliction is needful for me." 
 
 Dr. Henry More sought to comfort her with the 
 hope that " the supreme health of the soul would in 
 due time recover the bodily organs ; and that blessed 
 ease and comfort would then be her portion." But 
 truer consolation was conveyed to her by the devout 
 Isaac Pennington, from one of whose letters the 
 following extract is taken''' : — 
 
 " Deak Friend, — As I was lately retired in spirit 
 
 * Three letters written by Isaac Pennington to Lady Conway 
 are printed among his correspondence, in the volume edited by 
 John Barclay in 1828 (pp. 125, 128, 250). 
 
 It is worthy of remark that William Penn's journal of his 
 travels on the Continent in 1677 fell into the hands of Lady 
 Conway, having been given or lent to her by Maria or Gulielma 
 Pennington. After the Countess's death the manuscript was 
 found among her papers by " a person who much frequented 
 that family," and William Penn was prevailed upon to publish 
 it, which he did in 1694. 
 
134 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 and waiting upon the Lord, having a sense of thy 
 long, sore, and deep affliction and distress, there 
 arose a Scripture in my heart to lay before thee, 
 viz., Hebrews xii. 5, 6, 7, which I entreat thee to 
 call for a Bible and hear read, before thou proceedest 
 
 to what follows Oh, look not at thy pain 
 
 or sorrow, how great soever ; but look from them, 
 look of them, look beyond them to the Deliverer; 
 whose power is over them, and whose loving, wise, 
 and tender Spirit is able to do thee good by them. 
 And if the outward afflictions work out an exceeding 
 weight of glory, oh, what shall the inward do for 
 those who are humbly, brokenly, and faithfully 
 
 exercised before the Lord by them The 
 
 Lord lead thee day by day in the right way, and 
 keep thy mind stayed upon Him in whatever 
 befalls thee ; that the belief of His love and hope 
 in His mercy, when thou art at the lowest ebb, 
 may keep thy head above the billows ; and that thou 
 mayst go on in the disciple's state, learning righteous- 
 ness and holiness of Him, who teacheth to deny 
 unholiness and unrighteousness, and to know, 
 embrace, and put on newness of life. 
 
 The Lord God of my hfe be with thee, pre- 
 serving and ordering thy heart for the great day 
 of His love and mercy ; which will come in the 
 appointed season, when the heart is fully exercised 
 and fitted by the Lord for it, and will not tarry. 
 
 ''L P." 
 
 Towards the close of her life the malady from 
 
Viscountess Conway, of Bagley Hall. 135 
 
 which Viscountess Conway suffered became almost 
 unbearable, but it is stated that she endured " her 
 pains and infirmities with pious meekness and 
 submissiveness ; and those who knew her best 
 regarded her with a pure unalterable esteem and 
 love which even death itself could not extinguish." 
 She herself says, in a letter penned at this time : — 
 " The weight of mine affliction lieth so heavy upon 
 me that 'tis incredible how little I can endure 
 persons in my chamber, but I find my Quaker 
 servants so quiet, still, and serious, that their 
 company is acceptable unto me." 
 
 Her old friend, Dr. Henry More (to whom she 
 bequeathed the sum of £400) was one of the sorrow- 
 ing company who stood around her death-bed. 
 
 All present were greatly edified and instructed 
 by her dying testimony, by her living faith and 
 hope, her patient endurance and resignation to her 
 Heavenly Father's will." Lord Conway was absent 
 in Ireland when her death took place at Kagley, 
 on the 23rd of February, 1678. The famous 
 physician Van Helmont " preserved her in her 
 coffin above ground with spirits of wine, havin<^' a 
 glass over her face," that Lord Conway might see 
 her before her interment.* 
 
 We learn from the Burial Eegister of the parish 
 of Arrow that " Anne, Viscountess Conway," was 
 buried on April 17th, 1679. Her remains were 
 
 * Dugdale's Warwickshire. 
 
136 Kveslium Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 slowly borne across the finely-wooded park, and 
 placed in the family vault beneath the picturesque 
 old church at Arrow. About twenty-five years ago 
 a gang of thieves broke into this vault (now closed), 
 and carried off many of the memorial plates. But 
 the present Eector of Arrow, Eev. B. W. Stannus, 
 M.A., possesses copies of the inscriptions, and states 
 that his book contains the following interesting 
 memorandum : — " No. 30. This is a very large 
 lead coffin ; the only inscription upon it is scratched 
 in the lead, viz., ' Quaker Lady.'" 
 
 Soon after her death a collection of philosophical 
 treatises was published in Latin, at Amsterdam ; the 
 first being a Latin translation of a work " by a 
 certain English Countess learned beyond her sex." 
 The authoress referred to was Lady Conway of 
 Eagley Hall. The title of this treatise has been 
 translated into English as follows : — " The Principles 
 of the most Ancient and Modern Philosophy con- 
 cerning God, Christ, and the Creatures : viz., of 
 Spirit and Matter in general; whereby may be 
 resolved all those Problems and Difficulties which 
 neither by the Schools nor by common Modern 
 Philosophy, nor by the Cartesian, Hobbesian, or 
 Spinosian, could be discussed. With annota- 
 tions taken from the Ancient Philosophy of the 
 Hebrews," &c. 
 
 Notwithstanding that her varied knowledge placed 
 her on an equality with the foremost scholars of the 
 day. Lady Conway was " simple and unostentatious 
 
Viscountess Comcay, of Bagley Hall. 137 
 
 in the showing of it, and would sometimes observe 
 that even ignorance was better than pride." Her 
 manners were " courteous and dignified, as became 
 her position," and she was " sweet and gracious " to 
 all alike. 
 
 Lady Conway had one son named Heneage, who 
 died of smallpox in London October 14th, 1660, 
 aged eighteen months. He lieth buried at Arrow." 
 
 Viscount Conway was created Earl Conway on the 
 3rd December, 1679. He was married a second 
 time in 1680 to Elizabeth, daughter of Lord George 
 Delamere. She died at Eagley in July of the 
 following year. His third marriage was with 
 Ursula, daughter of George StaweU, Esquire, eldest 
 son of Su' John Stawell ; but he died, leaving no 
 issue, on the 11th of August, 1683, " and was 
 buried at Arrow the 25th of the same month, in the 
 59th year of his age.""^ His honours then became 
 extinct. In 1703, Francis Seymour, second son of 
 Sii" Edward Seymour, Bart., having succeeded to 
 the estates under the will of the last Earl, assumed 
 the name and arms of Conway, and was created 
 Baron Conway of Eagley, 17th March, 1702-3. His 
 sou, Francis Seymour Conway, was created Earl 
 of Hertford in 1750, and Earl of Yarmouth and 
 Marquess of Hertford 5th July, 1793. 
 
 " The noble family of Conway, although failing 
 as to a male representative, is not extinct. Dorothy, 
 the sister of the last Lord, having married Sir 
 * Dugdale's Warwickshire. 
 
138 Kvesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 George Kawdon, was the mother of Lady Grranard, 
 whose daughter, Lady Jane Champagne, was the 
 grandmother of Lady Uxbridge, Lady Des Voeux, 
 and Lady Borrowes. The grandson of the latter is 
 now, by a singular coincidence, Eector of Arrow."* 
 
 * "Ragley as it was and as it is " (Alcester Chronicle). 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EVESHAM MONTHLY MEETING. 
 
 With Notes on " Wokcestershire Quarterly Meeting," and 
 THE " Circular Yearly Meetings for the Seven Western 
 Counties." 
 
 1667—1812. 
 
 " Whilst all other Churches had more or less in common, 
 indicative of relationship and common parentage, the Society 
 of Friends was like an erratic formation bursting through the 
 whole, standing erect above the surrounding country, and 
 courting every storm. It would be difificult to say which of the 
 denominations of the day hated them most thoroughly." — 
 Burton's History of Reign of Queen Anne. 
 
 " All you that be gathered in His holy Name, ye 
 kaow that all your Meetings for "Worship of God, 
 and all your Quarterly Meetings, and all your 
 Monthly Meetings, and all your Women's Meetings, 
 and all your Yearly Meetings, are set up by the 
 Power and Spirit of the Lord God, and witnessed by 
 His Spirit and Power in your hearts ; and by the 
 Spirit and Power of the Lord God they are 
 established to you, and in the Power and Spmt 
 
140 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 of the Lord you are established in them." In 
 these remarkable words, penned from London in 
 eleventh month, 1686, George Fox reminded the 
 Society of Friends that " they had received in 
 themselves the evidence and seal that those meet- 
 ings were of the Lord and accepted by Him." 
 This striking declaration was made in the firm 
 assurance that the Divine blessing had attended the 
 establishment of good order and discipline in the 
 newly-gathered Quaker churches. 
 
 " General Meetings," or periodical assemblies of 
 Friends scattered over a wide district, had already 
 been held in various parts of the country when 
 George Fox ''was moved" in 1666 "to recommend 
 the setting up of Monthly Meetings throughout the 
 nation." A union was arranged between several of 
 the religious societies in any given locality, and 
 these allied congregations, forming one " Monthly 
 Meeting," were placed in association with similar 
 unions in the same county. A " Quarterly Meeting," 
 or county union of " Monthly Meetings," was thus 
 established, and this arrangement was seen to be so 
 satisfactory and complete that it met with the 
 general approval of Friends.* The supreme legis- 
 lative authority was assigned to the Yearly Meeting 
 of the Society in London ; but the Monthly and 
 Quarterly Meetings were entrusted with the exercise 
 of disciplinary powers, and retained the control of 
 
 * Quarterly Meetings existed in some counties before the 
 system of Monthly Meetings was established. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 141 
 
 their own affairs. This simple and effective method 
 of Church government has continued in operation to 
 the present day, and is in itself a sufficient evidence 
 that "the mind of George Fox had," as Bancroft 
 has said, " the highest systematic sagacity." 
 
 The Monthly Meetings of Worcestershire were 
 "settled" at a "General Men's Meeting," held 
 at the house of Henry Gibbs at Pershore in 
 1667. 
 
 George Fox tells us that " the Sessions were held 
 that day in that town, and some Friends were pretty 
 much concerned lest they should send some officers 
 to break up our meeting : but the Lord's Power 
 restrained them, so that our meeting was quiet, 
 through which power we had dominion. After the 
 meeting I passed away, and had several meetings 
 amongst Friends in that country, till I came to 
 Worcester ; and it being the Fair-time we had a 
 precious meeting there. There was then in Worcester 
 one Major Wild, a persecuting man, and after I was 
 gone out of the town, some of the soldiers inquired 
 after me ; but I, having left the Friends there settled 
 in good order, was passed away to Draitwich.'"'' 
 
 This conference at Pershore was probably attended 
 by Friends from all parts of the county : although it 
 would appear, from the fact of George Fox's subse- 
 quent visits to Worcester and Droitwich, that the 
 meetings of the north and west divisions were not 
 adequately represented, and that it was found 
 * Journal, ed. 1694, p. Sl l. 
 
142 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 necessary to arrange for their " settlement " at later 
 conferences of a similar character. These con- 
 ferences resulted in the establishment of four or five 
 " Monthly Meetings," which were placed in orderly 
 relation to the " Quarterly Meeting " for the w^hole 
 of Worcestershire. 
 
 It is not known how many meetings were regularly 
 held in the county prior to the year 1700, as the 
 Quarterly Minutes containing this interesting in- 
 formation are unfortunately missing. Some of the 
 gatherings at first established in private houses did 
 not survive the storm of persecution. Others were 
 doubtless deemed unnecessary when the Society 
 became better organized and knit together ; and 
 others again were discontinued when suitable 
 buildings were secured for united public worship. 
 In the earliest Minute Book of the Q. M. we find 
 the following list of Meetings (in 1704), with the 
 amounts contributed by each towards the quarterly 
 collection. 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Worcester 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 00 
 
 Evesham 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 00 
 
 Chadwitch . . . 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 06 
 
 Dudly 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 00 
 
 Stowerbridg ... 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 00 
 
 Pershore 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 06 
 
 Sliipston 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 00 
 
 Armscott 
 
 0 
 
 02 
 
 00 
 
 Redditch 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 Keinton 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 06 
 
 Broadway 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 00 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 143 
 
 Droitwitch 
 
 Bewdly 
 
 Netherton 
 
 0 : 2 : 00 
 0 : 3 : 00 
 0 : 1 : 06 
 
 Total £2 : 11 : 00 
 
 N.B. — Chadwick, or Chadwitch, is situated a few 
 miles north of Bromsgrove. It was the centre of a 
 Monthly Meeting distinguished by its name. 
 
 In 1712 " Hanley " appears at the end of a similar 
 hst of meetings. The fourteen meetings mentioned 
 above were all regularly held. There were also 
 several smaller and more private gatherings. 
 
 Worcestershire Quarterly Meeting. 
 
 Before proceeding to the history of " Evesham 
 Monthly Meeting," it will be interesting to present 
 a few particulars regarding the " Quarterly Meeting 
 for the County of Worcester." During last century 
 this representative gathering was generally held 
 either in the city of Worcester,! or at Evesham", 
 Bromesgrove, Shipston and Stourbridge. In 1706 
 and 1708 it met at Pershore, but the accommoda- 
 tion there was found to be insufficient for so large 
 
 * In 1722, twelve of the above meetings made " a liberal 
 collection for a national service," amounting to £50, towards 
 which Worcester contributed £18. 
 
 + In 1768 it was agreed to hold the Quarterly Meeting at 
 Worcester in " the New Meeting House." 
 
 1667 (?)— 1790. 
 
144 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 a gathering. Alcester was sometimes selected as a 
 suitable place for the Quarterly Church Meeting, 
 and in 1786 the following cash entry was made in 
 the books : — 
 
 '* To William Roberts, to repay fitting up the 
 Town Hall at Alcester for Q. M. in 7 mo. last, 
 £1 15s. 3d." 
 
 The first Quarterly Meeting of which any record 
 remains was held at Evesham in 1700, when " the 
 consideration of some yt make a profession of ye 
 Truth, and have not lived accordingly, was brought 
 before ye Meeting, and finding yt such have been and 
 are a Scandall to our Holy profession, it was ordered 
 yt a paper should be drawn up and made publike 
 to testifie against their evill walking." From this 
 document it appears that there were some in different 
 parts of the county who did " unnecessarily frequent 
 ale-houses, keeping company, misspending their 
 preciouse time, to their great hurt inward and 
 outward loss, to the impoverishing of themselves 
 and families, contracting debts, not keeping their 
 words, to ye dishonour of Truth, and to ye griefe of 
 ye faithfull professors thereof." Such were exhorted 
 to "consider their ways, least Friends are constrained 
 to clear Truth, and bear testimony agst them." 
 Others, "whose names have been or are so well 
 known, and so need not particularise them at this 
 time, have runn into debt and walked disorderly, 
 although they have been dealt with by Friends 
 apointed from a sense of Godly Jealousie we had 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 145 
 
 of their conduct. These are to let all know yt we 
 nither had nor have unity with them in anny of 
 their evill actions, either in the Citty of Worcester, 
 Evesham, or Pershore, but bear testimony against 
 their running out." The third class of offenders 
 had " marryed with ye world by ye Nationall priests 
 
 contrary to our holy profession They are 
 
 not really of us, but we doe bear our Testimony 
 against them except they clear Truth," &c., &c. 
 
 In 1786 the Quarterly Meeting again found it 
 necessary to take notice of some who " attended 
 Publick Houses unnecessarily, and fell into Intem- 
 perance;" and the Monthly Meetings were advised 
 
 to labour with such in order to reclaim them." 
 Some Friends had also adopted " that inconsistent 
 practice of serving their customers in their shops on 
 the first day of the week," and these were to be 
 promptly reproved. 
 
 It was the custom at these Quarterly Conferences 
 to provide light refreshments for those publick 
 Friends" who had "laboured in the ministry," as 
 ma}' be seen from the following items in the 
 Evesham cash-book : — 
 
 1777._- Paid for Wine, Wigs, 
 &c., at our Quarterly 
 Meeting . . £0 : 2 : 10."^ 
 
 1781. — "Paid for Wine, Wigs, 
 &c., at Quarterly 
 Meeting . . .£0:5: 0."- 
 
 * Wigs weve a kind of tea-cake, still sold in the "West ot 
 England. 
 
 L 
 
146 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 The congregations of Friends in Worcestershire 
 grew weaker and less numerous as time wore on, 
 and it was at last found necessary to effect certain 
 changes in their relation to the monthly and 
 quarterly gatherings, and even to place those more 
 powerful assemblies in close connection with similar 
 unions in the adjoining counties. This necessity 
 for new ecclesiastical boundaries was a sad indica- 
 tion of decline and decay ; and the expansion that 
 took place was totally different from that " lengthen- 
 ing of cords and strengthening of stakes " which 
 evidences the growth of a mighty spiritual people. 
 Instead of re-building the Quaker edifice with 
 "lively stones" taken from the exhaustless human 
 quarry, attempts were made to preserve it from 
 falling by the employment of disciplinary buttresses 
 and legislative props. 
 
 In the year 1790 a Conference of Friends from 
 three counties was held at Shipston on Stour, and 
 their deliberations resulted in the union of 
 
 Shipston Monthly Meeting," with the " South 
 Division of Warwickshire Monthly Meeting." 
 Campden and Stow meetings were also joined to 
 Warwickshire at the same time. 
 
 In 1786 a Committee from London Yearly Meeting 
 proposed that Worcestershire and Herefordshire 
 Friends should unite as one Quarterly Meeting. 
 The subject was considered for some time before any 
 decision was arrived at, but in 1788 it was mutually 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 147 
 
 agreed *' that it would be most conducive to general 
 good to decline said proposition." In 1790 another 
 Y. M. Committee *' bestowed a good deal of labour " 
 upon the Friends of Herefordshire, "in order to be 
 instrumental in miiting " them with Worcestershire, 
 and after solid consideration " they " agreed to the 
 same." The matter was accordingly arranged " to 
 reciprocal advantage," and the first " Quarterly 
 Meeting for the united Counties of Hereford and 
 "Worcester " was held at Worcester in 4th month, 
 1791. But this union does not seem to have resulted 
 in any great accession of strength, for we meet with 
 the following confession in the year 1804: — "We 
 are diffident of our own strength, and our several 
 Monthly Meetings are in a very enfeebled state, too 
 weak to extend the necessary care over their present 
 members." 
 
 In 1803 Pershore and Netherton meetings were 
 discontinued. In 1802 Bromsgrove meeting-house 
 was closed, "agreeable to the judgment" of the 
 Q. M., and the property in that town was sold in 
 1828.- In 1807 Bewdley meeting-house was " shut 
 up."f The meetings at Broadway, Kineton, and 
 Eedditch were given up many years previously. In 
 1819 the particular meetings of Stourbridge and 
 
 * In ISli the Methodists appHed for the use of Bromesgrove 
 Meeting-house ; but their application was refused. 
 
 + Bewdley Meeting-house was re-opened in 1816, " under the 
 inspection of a Committee appointed by the M. M." 
 
148 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Dudley were placed under the care of North War- 
 wickshire Friends. 
 
 In 1810 the Monthly Meetings of Chadwick, 
 Worcester, and Evesham were found to be in such 
 "a feeble state" that it was decided to effect a 
 junction between them, and two years later *' Wor- 
 cestershire Monthly Meeting" was planted upon 
 their ruins. 
 
 A further alteration of a still more important 
 character was witnessed in the year 1833, when the 
 " Half- Yearly Meeting of Wales " (comprising the 
 meetings of Friends in Wales, Monmouthshire and 
 Salop) was joined to the Quarterly Meeting of 
 Hereford and Worcester under the title of the 
 " General Meeting for Herefordshire, Worcestershire, 
 and Wales." The vast area covered by this unwieldy 
 association was destined to be still further enlarged 
 in the year 1868, when the " Monthly Meeting of 
 Gloucester, and Nailsworth," which up to that time 
 had formed a part of the old " Quarterly Meeting of 
 Gloucester and Wilts," was transferred to the 
 Western District. At the next autumnal conference, 
 held at Leominster in October, 1868, it was con- 
 cluded to bestow upon the extended confederation its 
 present title of " Western Quarteely Meeting." 
 " The new arrangement was undoubtedly right, and 
 has proved a blessing to all concerned, strengthening 
 intercourse, and binding together one meeting w'ith 
 another." Let us hope that it will one day be 
 * See ' Memories of Stanley Pumphrey,' by H. S. Newman^ 
 p. 71. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting, 149 
 
 found necessary to resolve this combination into its 
 original parts. 
 
 Circular Yearly Meetings. 
 
 Besides appointing representatives to the great 
 annual meeting held in London, "Worcestershire 
 Quarterly Meeting sent delegates to the Yearly 
 Meeting of Bristol, vrhich contmued to exercise a 
 far-reaching influence for good until near the close 
 of last century. It was established in 1694, " to the 
 end that we in this Gospel day, after the enjoyment 
 of so many evangelical privileges, may keep the holy 
 feast of unleavened bread in sincerity and truth," &c. 
 Its sittings lasted three days. It " ceased to act as 
 a meeting for discipline in 1772, but was continued 
 some time longer as a meeting for worship."" 
 Although Bristol Yearly Meeting never possessed the 
 legislative authority of the annual assembly in 
 London, it drew together the most earnest Friends in 
 the Western Counties, and afforded an opportunity for 
 united prayer and fellowship, as well as for the pre- 
 paration of timely advices, and the periodical con- 
 sideration of the religious state of the associated 
 churches. 
 
 In 3rd month, 1707, Worcestershire Friends re- 
 ceived a communication from Bristol Yearly Meeting, 
 requesting them " to consider the proposal of having 
 
 * See Tanner's 'Lectures on Somersetshire Friends,' pp. 132, 
 141 note. 
 
150 Evesham Fnends in the Olden Time. 
 
 yt. Meeting at Worcester once in six or seven 
 yeares." They expressed their wilHngness to adopt 
 this arrangement, hut for some unknown reason the 
 proposal fell through. In 1718, however, negoti- 
 ations were resumed, and Worcestershire Q. M. again 
 considered " the makeing moveable the annual 
 Meeting heretofore kept at Bristol." 
 
 The suggestion now came before them in a new 
 form. It was not proposed that Bristol Yearly 
 Meeting itself should circulate, but that there should 
 be in addition an Annual Meeting for Worship, which 
 should be held in rotation in seven of the Western 
 Counties. This plan was thought to be a good one, 
 and in 1720 the following minute was agreed to by 
 the Yearly Meeting of London : — 
 
 ''By a proposal from the Yearly Meeting in 
 Bristol, sent by Samuel Bownas and Joseph Debell, 
 desiring liberty from this Meeting to get up a 
 Circular Yearly Meeting for Worship in ye Countyes 
 of Cornwall, Devon, Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester, 
 and Bristol : the first Circular Meeting to begin the 
 2nd First Day of ye 7th mo. next coming at 
 Bradford. Agreed yt. ye sd. Meeting be for Worship 
 only, and in ye 7th month in every year." 
 
 The Journals of Thomas Story''' and Catherine 
 Phillips f contain lengthy descriptions of these " Cir- 
 cular Meetings," which must not be confused with 
 the annual " General Meetings," held in many parts 
 
 * Pp. 60i, 641, 647, 703, 713, 718. 
 + Pp. 220, 271, 295. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 151 
 
 of the country during the 18th century. The 
 " General Meetings " were mostly held in the same 
 place every year, as at Pickering and Bingley,f in 
 Yorkshire. Samuel Fothergill, in describing the 
 Pickering meeting in 1748, says that it was ''very 
 large, and Friends told me, the greatest they had had 
 for some years ; but as it has overgrown its service, 
 and many came to it for no better purpose than 
 drunkenness and revelling, I believe this was the last 
 that will be held there. Marsden Height meeting 
 [another G. M.] was remarkably large, but I fear 
 not altogether satisfactory." ''General Meetings" 
 were also held every year in York, Nor^ach, and 
 other large towns. 
 
 The ".Circular Yearly Meetings " had their root in 
 the earhest form of " General Meetings," and, 
 according to Barclay, | existed " prior to the estab- 
 lishment of the central Yearly Meeting in London ; " 
 but it is doubtful if they assumed a settled form 
 before the year 1672. The great annual Conference 
 of Welsh Friends was commenced on the " circular " 
 system in 1662, the first gathering being held at 
 Haverfordwest. Eichard Davies relates (p. Ill) how 
 he obtained the consent of London Yearly Meeting, 
 and it appears, from a letter inserted in his Journal, 
 that the leading Friends in Wales were "all zealous " 
 for the circular meeting. It generally lasted three 
 
 * ' Memoirs of J. Fothergill,' pp. 91, 115. 
 + 'Life of C. Phillips,' p. 91. 
 
 X 'Inner Life of Religious Soc. of Commonwealth,' p. 388. 
 
152 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 days, and was attended by immense crowds of 
 people. In 1717 it took place at Radnor, " in a 
 barn belonging to the priest of the parish, which he 
 had granted to Friends for that service ; a rare 
 instance of condescension in a man of his function ! " - 
 The barn proved to be " too little and incommo- 
 dious," and an adjournment was made to the Town- 
 hall. In 1718 the Conference was held at Shrews- 
 bury, in 1721 at Llanidloes, in 1723 at Presteign, 
 and in 1730 at Ludlow, "in the Prince's Palace, a 
 very large hall." f It took place at Bala in 1732, at 
 Llanidloes in 1744, at Haverfordwest in 1749, at 
 Brecon in 1750, at Newport (Salop) in 1751, at Bala 
 in 1762, and at Llandovery in 1778. The " Welsh 
 Yearly Meetings " were continued until near the 
 close of last century, and were held in all parts 
 of the Principality and Shropshire. " Many hearts 
 were broken and tendered, and Friends comforted in 
 the Truth." 
 
 The " Northern Yearly Meeting," or " Circular 
 Yearly Meeting for the Counties of Lancashire, 
 Cheshire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland," was 
 arranged on the same principle as the one in the 
 West of England. It took place at Chester in 1716, 
 *' in a large place called the Tennis Court " ; at 
 Kendal in 1717 ; at Liverpool in 1718 ; and again 
 at Chester in 1722, this time in " the Town's 
 Court." In 1724 it met at Carlisle, and the following 
 
 * ' Life of Story,' p. 571—3. 
 + Ibid., p. 670. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 153 
 
 year at Kendal, where " the mayor and many of 
 the chief people" attended, "and were generally 
 well satisfied." In 1733 it once more visited Kendal, 
 and two years later occupied " the old Tennis 
 Court " at Chester. Kendal received it in 1741 and 
 1745, and Carlisle in 1752. The gathering at Stock- 
 port in 1759 was " very large," and many sober 
 people from the adjacent country " were present at 
 Appleby in 1761. In 1752 the Yearly Meeting took 
 place at Bolton, in 1769 at Kirby Lonsdale, in 
 1771 at Chester, in 1776 in " a temporary house " at 
 Keswick, and in 1796 at Carlisle.'-' 
 
 According to Thomas Story's account,! these 
 Northern Yearly Meetings usually lasted' .about three 
 days, the order observed being as follows : — 
 
 1st day (or evening). — Meeting of Ministers. 
 
 2nd day. — Tw^o Public Meetings for Worship and 
 preaching the Gospel. 
 
 Brd day. — (1) " Select Friends and Elders " held a 
 conference " about the affairs of Truth in general, 
 and how it prospered, and what was yet to be done 
 for the Honour of God, and spreading of the blessed 
 Truth still more and more on Earth : which is the 
 whole end of these meetings." (2) Another Public 
 meeting. 
 
 This order was sometimes varied, and we find that 
 the Elders now and then held " a meeting apart, to 
 
 * These particulars, with those that follow, are from 
 ' Memoirs of T. Story, S. Fothergill, C. Phillips, and D. Sands.' 
 + Life, pp. 569, 601, 647, 713. 
 
154 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 confer about such affairs of truth as came under 
 their proper cognizance." Keligious meetings were 
 occasionally continued after the annual Conference 
 was concluded, as at Chester in 1735, when **the 
 places and seats remained as they were till after the 
 next First-day," and several ministers preached to 
 " great multitudes." 
 
 The "Northern Yearly Meeting" was attended by 
 "many valuable ministers." " The principles of Truth 
 were opened to demonstration and general satis- 
 faction," and " the universal Love of God, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord to mankind, was not only 
 preached, but in some measure enjoyed." Thomas 
 Story tells us that " near 4000 people " attended one 
 of the meetings at Chester in 1716, and "about 
 three thousand" were at the last Public Meeting in 
 the same city in 1723. There were present on the 
 former occasion some " of most sorts and sects in 
 the nation." In 1723 " most of the Gentry, both 
 in the city and county (of Chester) were there ; and 
 the mother of the Duke of Argyle's Lady, and two 
 of her daughters, who were very solid and attentive ; 
 and Sir Thomas Brooks, Bart., was at the meetings 
 of worship ; and some said eight priests, in common 
 habits, and some of them well pleased with the 
 meetings."''' In 1735 the Yearly Meeting at Chester 
 was held at the same time as the Quarter Sessions, 
 and " all or most of the Bench of Justices came to 
 the meeting, and many of the Women, under the 
 * ' Life of Story,' p. 648. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 155 
 
 Distinction (among them) of Ladies, and a very great 
 crowd; and the Lord was pleased to favour his 
 People with his good Presence, and his Ministers 
 with Wisdom and Power, and to exalt his own 
 Name over all, that great multitude, during the 
 sersace, being as still as a Meeting of Friends."- 
 
 Constables were sometimes required " to intercept 
 and stop the baser sort of Babble "; but the very 
 great concourse of people "usually assembled and 
 dispersed without the least inconvenience or annoy- 
 ance." C. Phillips says, in describing the Appleby 
 meeting in 1761, that many who had " imbibed 
 disagreeable sentiments respecting Friends and their 
 principles" were delivered fi-om their prejudices: 
 and Story speaks of several at Chester who were so 
 far convinced "as to come to meetings, and own 
 Truth openly." 
 
 Story generally concludes his account of the 
 " Northern Yearly Meetings " with some such words 
 as these : " Things were well, and Truth over all, to 
 general satisfaction, and the Glory of our great 
 Lord." 
 
 The " Circular Yearly Meetings for the seven 
 Western Counties" were commenced at Bradford-on- 
 Avon in 1720. Wiltshire was included in the com- 
 pact until 1734, when it " declined it, and Warwick- 
 shire proposed to join with the other comities, which 
 was very acceptable." It was agreed, " at the instance 
 of the deputies for Warwickshire," that the next 
 * ' Life of Story,' p. 714. 
 
156 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 meeting should be held in that county." Even in 
 these days of rapid railway travelling, it would be 
 thought well-nigh impossible to maintain an alliance 
 of such geographical magnitude ; but the Friends of 
 last century do not appear to have taken time and 
 distance into calculation at all, and they did not 
 hesitate to make a journey of two or three days' 
 duration in order to be present at the annual Con- 
 ference. We are informed that " divers Friends out 
 of Worcestershire " (some of whom went as delegates 
 from their Q. M., " and others with the concurrence 
 of their Monthly Meetings ") were in attendance at 
 Bodmin, in Cornwall, in 1766. They held religious 
 meetings at several villages and towns on their way 
 home. There is good reason to believe that the 
 leading Friends in the seven Western Counties were 
 very regular in attending the Circular Yearly Meet- 
 ings, which were held for a period of more than sixty 
 years. 
 
 Thomas Story was present at the third Yearly 
 Meeting, held at Exeter in 1722, He says that the 
 annual Circular Meeting was " intended for the more 
 effectual promulgation of Truth in those several 
 Counties to which it was confined or made particular, 
 and moveable at its own discretion"; and that *' like 
 those in the North," it was not for "meddling with 
 matters of business, or discipline, but only for 
 worship, doctrine, and occasional communication of 
 holy things" f This statement is in accord with the 
 
 * ' Life of Story,' p. 703. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 641. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 157 
 
 clearly- expressed desires of those who, m 1719, were 
 anxious for a " greater extension" of the " circular" 
 system in the West of England. These Friends were 
 zealous for "the propagation of the Gospel and the 
 doctrine of Truth among those who are strangers to 
 it"-: and it is therefore evident that the Western 
 Yearly Meetings were the outcome of evangelical 
 life and evangelistic fervour in the Church itself. 
 
 The Yearly Meeting usually commenced on a 
 "First-day" early in September, the place of meeting 
 being announced twelve months beforehand. The 
 Worcestershire Quarterly Minutes show that pre- 
 parations were undertaken in good time. After a 
 suitable town or village had been selected, a Com- 
 mittee of Friends was desired " to take precaution 
 and treat with a workman on the best terms," who 
 was to erect a booth "with all convenient expedition, 
 to accommodate sd. Y^early Meeting." The Com- 
 mittee, with " any other Friends who found freedom," 
 then met at the * Golden Cross,' or the ' Golden 
 Lyon,' on an appointed day, and proceeded to " take 
 a view of a suitable piece of ground." The con- 
 tractor then commenced the Booth, which Friends 
 finally surveyed, " to see that it is well done agreeable 
 to contract, larg and big enof for houlding the Cir- 
 cular Yearly Meeting." 
 
 The next step was " to get the same recorded as 
 the law directs," When all was " secure and ready 
 in time," the Committee arrived on the spot "at 
 * See Barclay's 'Inner Life,' &c., p. 326. 
 
168 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 least one day before the Yearly Meeting, in order to 
 inspect and order accommodation." At South 
 Molton, in 1781, " the people very kindly welcomed 
 Friends amongst them, and freely opened their houses 
 to receive such as could not be accommodated at the 
 inns."* It was the duty of certain Friends "to 
 attend the several inns to see that good order was 
 observed," and "that nothing might happen amongst 
 our young people." 
 
 The Circular Yearly Meetings were sometimes 
 held in a meeting-house (as at Worcester in 1723), 
 and occasionally in a large barn or a town -hall : but 
 they more frequently took place in great wooden 
 booths, erected for the purpose at considerable ex- 
 pense. The following statements of accounts show 
 that the seven counties bore the expense in turn : — 
 
 1735.— EuGBY. 
 Expenses. £ s. d. 
 
 To W. Betts, for rent 
 
 of land . . ..400 
 
 Jno. Bradley (Car- 
 penter) . . . . 20 14 6 
 
 Thatching and ser- 
 vants attending 0 10 4 
 
 Constables and as- 
 sistants . . . . 2 5 0 
 
 Entertainment for 
 Publick Friends & 
 their horses . . 10 10 2 
 
 John Allen & Samuel 
 
 Overton laid out. . 4 15 
 
 Expenses at ye 2nd 
 
 meeting . . . . 1 14 0 
 
 Cash in hand . . . . 15 5 7 
 
 £59 1 0 
 
 From 
 
 Received. £ s. 
 Birmingham 19 10 
 
 Baddesley . . 
 Warwick . . 
 Coventry . . 
 Harbury . . 
 Eatington . . 
 
 £59 1 0 
 
 C. Phillips, p. 271. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting, 
 
 159 
 
 1771. EVESHAJ^I. 
 
 Expenses. £ s. d. 
 
 The use of the ground 2 2 0 
 
 Carpenters building 50 2 0 
 
 Divers other charges 3 19 9 
 
 Receipts. £ s. d. 
 
 From Worcester . . 25 8 6 
 ,, Evesham .. 7 0 0 
 ,, Aulcester ..330 
 ,, Stourbridge.. 4 5 0 
 „ Dudley.. ..330 
 ,, Bromsgrove 110 
 Shipston .. 2 17 0 
 ,, County Stock 9 6 3 
 
 £56 3 9 
 
 The Circular Yearly Meetings were commenced in 
 the Western Counties at a very favourable time. 
 " The Spirit and Power of Persecution is greatly 
 lessened," writes Thomas Story, and "the People 
 throughout this Nation at this time are generally 
 willing to give us a fair and peaceable hearing." 
 Almost every description of these meetings contains 
 some special reference to the vast crowds that 
 attended them. Besides many Friends, amongst 
 whom were a good proportion of *' our beloved 
 youth," there were sometimes present " those called 
 the Quality and Gentry and several National Priests." 
 as well as "high professors of religion," and "a 
 mixed multitude of all sorts and notions." Overflow 
 meetings had often to be held. At Piugby, in 1735, 
 the crowd was so great "tbat scarce half of them'» 
 ceuld get into the booth, and some of the ministers 
 addressed them "in a large court behind an mn." 
 
 * • Life,' p. 703. 
 
160 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 A similar scene took place at Truro in 1785, just 
 before the Yearly Meetings were discontinued. 
 
 Ministering Friends from all parts of the Kingdom 
 attended these gatherings, and ''the spring of Gospel 
 ministry ran freely." " The glorious Truths of the 
 Gospel, in the Authority and Demonstration of it, 
 were set forth beyond Contradiction; and the Lies 
 and Calumnies of Priests and their Votaries and 
 Supporters, detected and turned backward, and the 
 Truth and Friends cleared."- C. Phillips says that 
 "the testimony of Truth arose in its native dignity 
 and clearness ; so that very many not professing with 
 us assented." In describing one of the great public 
 gatherings at Exeter in 1772, Thomas Story says 
 that it was a good Time throughout, but was 
 brighter and brighter, and brightest in the End. 
 .... The Understandings of the Uncouth and 
 Ignorant are darkest at first coming, and their 
 Senses benummed ; but as they begin to be illu- 
 minated by the Testimony of Truth, and their 
 Senses a little awaken'd to relish something of the 
 Sweetness and Virtue of it. Truth then flows more 
 freely unto them, with a greater Facility in the 
 
 Minister, and Reception in the Hearer 
 
 Things then proceed, and conclude to mutual Com- 
 fort and Ease."t These meetings bore good fruit. 
 Many who attended them became convinced Friends, 
 
 * ' Life of Story.' p. 718. 
 f Ihid., p. 641. 
 
Evesham Monthh/ Meetinr/. 
 
 161 
 
 and some of these were afterwards recorded as 
 ministers in the Society."^' 
 
 In 1762 it was decided, after "weighty con- 
 sideration," that " each county are ye most proper 
 judges for themselves whether it may be best to hold 
 the Quarterly Meeting for the County at the same 
 time and place " as the Circular Yearly Meeting. At 
 Evesham, in 1771, the order observed was as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Seventh-day evening. — Meeting of Ministers and 
 Elders. 
 
 " First-day. — Two public meetings. 
 *' Second-day morning. — Select for Friends. 
 Same day afternoon. — A Publick Meeting at the 
 3rd hour. 
 
 " Third-day morning. — A Public Meeting." 
 
 Worcestershire Quarterly Meeting also held its 
 sittings at the same time. It was considered of 
 great importance that " i^roper persons " should be 
 appointed "deputies" to the Circular Meetings. 
 " Divers select opportunities " were generally arranged 
 for with the deputies and other Friends. Elders 
 were chosen " to have the oversight of the ministry, 
 and to caution privately where occasion might offer." 
 As might be expected at such times, the more ex- 
 perienced ministers often felt themselves " straitened 
 by too many of the same order, not all alike 
 qualified for such services."! Officious persons 
 
 * White's ' Friends in Warwickshire,' p. 47. 
 + Story, p. 703. 
 
 M 
 
162 Evesham. Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 sometimes put themselves forward in the ministry, 
 to their own sad discomfiture and the unsettlement 
 of the great assembly ; but it was not often that 
 this occurred. The meetings were usually held in 
 "peace and gravity"; "love and unity abounded 
 among Friends "j; " and the Lord honoured His own 
 Name from meeting to meeting ; and owned His 
 ministers and people with His living presence." 
 
 At Eugby, in 1735, "a collection was made among 
 Friends at the inns, for such poor persons and 
 families as might be most necessitous in the town ; 
 and in the end of the last meeting we gave away 
 among the people near a thousand books, suitable to 
 their condition, for their information and help."f 
 
 The following statement, although incomplete, 
 exhibits the working of the " Circular " system in 
 the Western Counties : — 
 
 1720. BradJord-on-Avon [Wilts). 
 1721. 
 
 1722. Exeter (described by Story, p. 641). 
 
 1723. Worcester. Two galleries were erected in " new 
 
 Meeting House for the better accommoda- 
 tion of Friends at the Annual Meeting " 
 (Q. M. Minutes). 
 
 1724. 
 
 1725. Hereford, in a booth 100 ft. by 80 ft., erected 
 by James Gwillam for £50. 
 
 1726. 
 1727. 
 
 * Story, p. 647. + Ibid., p. 718. 
 
Evesham ^lonthhj Meeting, 163 
 
 1728. Taunton. 
 
 1729. Barnstable. 
 
 1780. Kidderminster, in a large barn fitted up for the 
 occasion at cost/ of £25. 
 
 1731. 
 
 1782. 
 
 1733. Kington, in the Market Hall ; cost £11 17s. 
 
 1734. Exeter (described by Story, p. 708). 
 
 1735. (described by Story, p. 718). Ministers 
 present from London, Norwich, and other 
 parts. " A meeting so large as rarely to 
 be seen." " Quality and gentry all about 
 and several National Priests." John and 
 Eleanor Clark " convinced of the blessed 
 truth " (see White's ' Warwickshire 
 Friends,' pp. 46-7) 
 
 1736. in Somersetshire. 
 
 1787. Tenburg (see Worcestershire Q. M. Minutes). 
 
 1788. 
 
 1739. 
 
 1740. Ledburg, in a barn fitted up at cost of 
 
 £12 18s. 7d. 
 
 1741. Atherstone (Warwick). " The meeting-place 
 
 was commodiously fitted up with a large 
 booth, and the meetings held generally 
 satisfactory to Friends." Cost £55 18s. 
 
 1742. 
 
 1743. Wells, in the Town-hall. 
 
 1744. Worcester. " I was at the Yearly Meeting for 
 
 the seven Western Counties held this 
 
164 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 year at Worcester. Our Friends John 
 Fotliergill and his son Samuel were there ; 
 also Joshua Toft and Benjamin Kidd ; the 
 meeting was large and peaceable, and 
 Friends were favoured with the enjoyment 
 of divine goodness." (Benj. Holmes). 
 1745, 1746. 
 
 1747. Leominster (S. Fothergill, p. 112), held in 
 school-house. 
 
 1748. 
 
 1749. Coventry. ''Large, and in the main satisfac- 
 
 tory. It was attended by many valuable 
 experienced ministers." 
 
 1750. II Chester. 
 
 1751. Bromesgrove, in a barn at cost of £35 7s. 6d. 
 
 (See Worcestershire Q. M. Minutes.) 
 
 1752. Truro, " much to the satisfaction of Friends." 
 
 1753. 1754, 1755. 
 
 1756. Warwick, "large, and attended with holy 
 
 solemnity." (See C. Phillips, p. 148). 
 
 1757. Milverton ( Somersetshire j. '* Greatly over- 
 
 shadowed with the life-giving presence and 
 power of the Most High, to his own glory 
 and the comfort of many, who have returned 
 to their own habitations with peace and 
 gladness. Isaac Sharj^les, Edmund Peck- 
 over, Samuel Hopwood, John Fry, William 
 Cookworthy, and six or eight other ministers 
 were there."— (S. Emlen to S. Fothergill, 
 p. 328). 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 165 
 
 1758. Kidderminster, in a booth costing £54 10s. 
 " Large and very satisfactory." 
 
 1759. 
 
 1760. Wootton-under-Edge, 
 
 1761. Bromyard. "Not so large, either of Friends 
 
 or people of other societies, as of late years, 
 nor did the life of Truth in the ministry 
 rise to the height I have known it." (C. 
 Phillips, p. 198). 
 
 1762. Exeter. " Much less than some of the like 
 
 kind had been." (See C. Phillips, p. 204). 
 
 1763. Stratford- on- Avon, " well conducted and 
 
 generaly to satisfaction." 
 
 1764. Crewkerne, in the Market-house, by the kind- 
 
 ness of Earl Pawlett. 
 
 1765. Stourbridge, in a great booth " compleated by 
 
 John Eddins for sixty guineas." Total 
 cost £71 4s. 8d. 
 
 1766. Bodmin, "pretty large and under divine 
 
 notice." 
 
 1767. Tetbury, " held to great deal of satisfaction." 
 
 1768. Ross, " to a good degree of satisfaction." 
 
 1769. Rugby, " large, solemn, and to a good degree 
 
 of satisfaction." 
 
 1770. Wincanton, " eminently favoured with the 
 
 divine presence and power, and the 
 humbling the hearts of many." 
 
 1771. Evesham. "Not many years back the Quakers 
 
 had a general meeting at Evesham, and 
 booths were erected for their accommodation 
 
166 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 on the bank, to the north-east of the Abbey 
 site, just where it begins to descend to the 
 water " (See Tindal's ' History of England,' 
 p. 135, note). 
 
 1772. Helston, " extremely large." 
 
 1773. Gloucester. " Very large, both of Friends and 
 
 other professors. The select meeting was 
 a memorable opportunity. Plentiful are 
 the showers of gospel rain." (See C. 
 Phillips, p. 220). 
 
 1774. Kington. " Considering the country not being 
 
 so populous as some others, and but few 
 Friends in the neighbourhood, was large " 
 (C. P., p. 225). 
 
 1775. Coleshill (Warwick), " large and Divinely 
 
 favoured." 
 
 1776. Bridgewater. 
 
 1111. Bewdley, in a booth at cost of £69. " The 
 cordial manner in which the inhabitants 
 received this religious visit afforded great 
 satisfaction." (See C. Phillips, p. 237). 
 
 1778. Launceston, " under the favourable notice of 
 
 the Great Master." (C. P., 246). 
 
 1779. Gloucester, " large and to much satisfaction." 
 
 1780. Hereford, " a large, solemn and humbling 
 
 season" (C. P., p. 263). 
 
 1781. South Molton. (Described by C. Phillips, 
 
 p. 271). 
 
 1782. Tamworth, large, and to a good degree of 
 
 satisfaction." 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 167 
 
 1783. Frome, " eminently crowned with Divine life." 
 
 (See C. P., p. 283). 
 
 1784. Shipston on Stour, in a booth erected by Thos. 
 
 Jarrett. Total cost, £5S 10s. 9d. (See 
 Worcestershire Q. M. Min.) 
 
 1785. Truro, in a large booth. "The concourse of 
 
 people was very great, and not a few of the 
 higher rank." (Described by C. Phillips, 
 pp. 293-298.) 
 
 1786. Gloucester, large, but not so satisfactory as 
 
 heretofore." 
 
 The Worcestershire Minutes contain no allusion 
 to the Circular Yearly Meetings after the year 1786, 
 from which it appears that they were then dis- 
 continued. In 1762 and 1768 their discontinuance 
 was suggested, but Worcestershire Friends, " re- 
 colecting the service which several of that sort 
 held in this county have been of," were " unani- 
 mously of opinion that the continuance of the 
 Circular Y. M. may yet be serviceable," adding, 
 " we think those meetings have been of real 
 advantage to our Society.""^' In 1786 the Monthly 
 Meetings of Worcestershhe again urged the main- 
 tenance of the Circular system, but their views 
 were apparently out of harmony with the prevailing 
 opinion. 
 
 We are at present unable to explain the dis- 
 continuance of the Yearly Meetings in the West of 
 
 * Quarterly Minutes, 1762, 1768. 
 
168 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 England. They constituted a bond of union between 
 the seven counties, and served to stimulate the 
 rehgious life of the Society itself. They were the 
 means of influencing large masses of people who 
 could have been reached at no other time, and 
 there is no evidence to show that their popularity 
 or usefulness had materially decreased. It is very 
 likely, however, that Friends grew careless in 
 attending them, and that a difficulty was experienced 
 in providing a suitable ministry for such mixed 
 assemblies. Their discontinuance was a sad indica- 
 tion of the waning glory of Quakerism in the West. 
 
 Evesham Monthly Meeting.— (1667-1812). 
 
 "Evesham Monthly Meeting" included all the 
 meetings of Friends in the East of AVorcestershire, 
 with the exception of those situated in the outlying 
 portions of the county adjoining Shipston-on-Stour. 
 The town of Alcester was also embraced by its 
 boundary, although it strictly belonged to Warwick- 
 shire. The ten meetings at one time associated in 
 Christian fellowship were Evesham, Pershore, 
 Alcester, Kedditch, Broadway, Netherton, Naunton 
 Beauchamp, Bishampton, Laight Green, and Kudge- 
 way. It was only, however, between the years 
 1729 and 1737 that all the ten congregations 
 existed simultaneously, as after the last mentioned 
 date we begin to hear of one and another dying out. 
 
 The Minute of union between the meetings of 
 Evesham and Pershore is as follows : — 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 169 
 
 " Upon the 6tli day of the 2nd month, 1699. 
 
 "At a monthly meeting held at Evesham by 
 Friends of Evesham and Pershore it is agreed 
 between them that the Friends of both those places 
 shall joine together in one monthly meeting to be 
 held upon the first 5th day of each month : viz.^ 
 the next monthly meeting to be held at Pershore 
 the first fifth day of the 3rd month, 1699, and then 
 again at Evesham, and so at each place successively 
 by turnes." 
 
 In the following year four of the more distant 
 gatherings were joined to Pershore and Evesham. 
 The Minutes respecting this junction are given 
 below : — 
 
 " The 7th of 9th mo., 1706.— Agreed that ffriends 
 of Eedditch, Alcester, Leight Green, and Bishampton 
 be joined and united as members of the Monthly 
 Meeting of Evesham, the better to be assistant to 
 one another in affairs of the Church." 
 
 (" At our Quarterly Meeting held at Pershore the 
 27th of 6mo., 1706 ") " Whereas Eedditch, Keinton 
 [or Laight Green] , Rudgway, and Alcester Meetings 
 did formerly make up a monthly meeting. It being 
 thought meet that the sayd monthly meeting should 
 adjoyne with Evesham Mo. Meeting, it is assented 
 unto." 
 
 Broadway and Netherton appear to have been 
 connected with Evesham from the time when the 
 meetings in those villages were first established. 
 
170 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Naunton Beauchamp was the last society to be 
 added in the year 1729. 
 
 It is clear, from the Minutes of the Monthly 
 Meetings, that the Society of Friends exercised a 
 sound and healthy influence, not only in the small 
 towns and boroughs of Worcestershire, but also over 
 a wide area in the rural districts. Whereas not a 
 single village congregation of Friends is now to be 
 found in any part of the county, there existed early 
 in the last century, in the neighbourhood of 
 Evesham alone, six such bodies of quiet wor- 
 shippers, and several families of Friends were 
 resident in adjacent parishes. 
 
 The Minute Book of Evesham Monthly Meeting 
 commences in the year 1699, but there are several 
 leaves of a still older volume bound up with it, 
 which give the proceedings of five meetings held 
 in 1672-73, and present copies of certain " Papers 
 given forth by Friends against Disorderly Walkers," 
 nnd by " Disorderly Walkers gave forth against 
 themselves." With the exception of certain other 
 minutes relative to property in Evesham, and a 
 few more papers in condemnation of " disorderly 
 walkers," we possess no further information respect- 
 ing the transactions of the Meeting prior to 1699. 
 
 At one of the earliest Monthly Meetings, held " at 
 John Washborne's house in Bengeworte, upon ye 
 10th day of ye first month, 1672," it was " agreed 
 of by friends yt hereafter all that are concerned in 
 Manages, Birthes and burialls doe bring in theyr 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 171 
 
 accounts of ye day and yeare when such things 
 were. And that they be recorded in ye register 
 booke provided for such uses at everie monthly 
 meeteing." 
 
 The Monthly Meeting at first met regularly in 
 the town of Evesham, but in 1723 a request was 
 made that every third meeting should be held at 
 Alcester, and from that time Alcester received a fair 
 proportion of the monthly gatherings. Every now 
 and then they took place at Pershore. In 1737 
 and 1743 the meetings ''hapened to fall out on 
 Evesham ffair day," and a slight alteration was 
 made accordingly. 
 
 The attendance at these church meetings was 
 often very small, as the following minutes will 
 show : — 
 
 (1.) " There being at this meeting (4th mo., 1717) 
 no Kepresentatives fi'om any of ye pticular meetings, 
 but only fm Alcester, it is ordered That they be 
 admonished to a more constant attendance for the 
 time to come." 
 
 (2.) "At a monthly meeting 5 of lOber, 1717, 
 attended no out country friends but only from 
 Alcester." 
 
 (3.) " 3d 7ber, 1719. No Friends attended besides 
 those of this town of Evesham." 
 
 (4.) "3d of ye 2d month, 1740. The whole Monthly 
 meeting consisted but of four members, three of 
 Evesham, and one from Netherton." 
 
172 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 A good deal of the business transacted at these 
 church meetmgs was, of course, of a merely routine 
 character. The meeting-houses required repairs ; new 
 deeds had to be prepared for the various properties ; 
 committees must be appointed to watch over marriage 
 arrangements, to visit and reprove the disorderly, and 
 to meet with applicants for membership if such there 
 were ; queries and advices came on for reading, and 
 relief was granted to the necessitous poor. 
 
 The following eight queries requh^ed to be answered 
 by the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings afford a 
 curious insight into the state of the times : — 
 
 1. An acco. what present prisoners there are? 
 
 2. How many discharged since the last year, 
 
 and when, and how ? 
 
 3. How many dyed prisoners ? 
 
 4. How many publick friends dyed ? 
 
 5. How many meeting houses built ? and what 
 
 meetings now settled ? 
 
 6. How Truth prospers, and how friends are in 
 
 unitie ? And how former advice of this 
 Meeting is observed and practised, relateing 
 to the Godly care for the good educason of 
 their children in the way of truth, sobriety, 
 and all godly conversation, that therein 
 they may be kept to Truth in plainess of 
 habitt and speech ? 
 
 7. How have the severall advises of the Meeting 
 
 been putt in practise ? 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 173 
 
 8. Are the poor belonging to ye severall meetings 
 taken care off?"- 
 
 Although the formal business of the Monthly 
 Meeting of Evesham was always conducted with 
 the utmost care and exactitude, it must not be 
 supposed that it so far monopolised the time as 
 to exclude matters of more vital importance. The 
 minutes show that from the first the spiritual needs 
 of the associated Churches were praj^erfully con- 
 sidered by the assembled representatiA^es, and that 
 there existed a constant desire for more of the con- 
 straining influence of the love of Christ. It is true 
 that gross inconsistencies of conduct were occa- 
 sionally manifested, and that a period of comparative 
 -indifference and worldliness succeeded the early age 
 of vigorous life and growing zeal ; but we must not 
 overlook the efforts that were still made by the 
 leading spirits of the Society to maintain with 
 firmness the scriptural testimonies it was raised up 
 to bear. In 1706 a long paper, containing much 
 sound Christian advice, was drawn up and signed by 
 Moses Sergeant, John Ellis, Francis Beaufoy, Henry 
 Fowler, Joseph Wiblin, Mark Ramell, Solomon 
 Savage, Michael Cartwright, and John Cartwright. 
 The following heads of subjects show how homely 
 and practical was the counsel given : — 
 
 1. " That Parents and Masters of Families do 
 walk exemplary in a blameless conversation, and 
 * Worcestershire Q. M. Minute Book. 
 
174 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 then they will be better qualified to admouish their 
 children and servants to diligence and watchful- 
 ness, &c." 
 
 2. " That Friends keep out of covetous earthly- 
 mindedness, and from an inordinate coveting after 
 riches, &c." 
 
 3. " That all Friends that do profess the truth 
 beware and absteine from unnecessary frequenting 
 alehouses, keeping idle company, misspending their 
 precious time, &c." 
 
 4. Let Friends labour to come into an inward 
 retired frame of spirit, keeping always near the Lord, 
 that He may be their immediate protection to 
 preserve them out of all evil, &c." 
 
 5. Let all beware of Foolish Jesting and vain 
 Laughter, and all filthy communication, which Truth 
 condemns, &c." 
 
 6. " Moreover we advise That none that profess 
 Truth, who have hair upon their heads, may suffer a 
 vain unsettled mind to take place in them so as to 
 cutt off their own hair, and get great ruffling 
 periwiggs, which Truth will not allow of. But if 
 any have a real necessity for want of hair or 
 otherwise. Then let them get such Borders or 
 Wigges that are plain and decent, which best suits 
 our Principles." 
 
 7. " We once more recommend it as our tender 
 advice to all friends That they upon all accounts 
 walk blameless as becomes the Gospell of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." / 
 
Evesham Monthly Meetinr/, 
 
 176 
 
 In 1708 a committee was appointed to visit the 
 families of Friends throughout the Monthly Meeting, 
 and to " exhort, admonish, and faithfully rebuke, or 
 assist with their counsel and advice, as in Love and 
 the Wisdom of God they shall find freedom." 
 Special meetmgs were also arranged for " young 
 people." 
 
 During last century the number of disownments 
 for gross offences was by no means large. Between 
 1699 and 1812 Evesham Monthly Meeting disowned 
 thirty-five persons, whose offences may be classed as 
 follows : — 
 
 This small number of disownments over so wide an 
 area says much for the outward consistency of the 
 associated societies, bearing in mind, as we must, 
 that spiritual Christianity was at a very low ebb in 
 the established and dissenting churches during the 
 first half of the eighteenth century, and that the 
 manners of the people became very frivolous and 
 depraved after the era of Puritanic propriety had 
 passed away. 
 
 The above table does not convey a correct im- 
 
 Immorality 
 Drunkenness ... 
 Bankruptcy . . . 
 Minor offences 
 " Marrying out " 
 
 4 
 3 
 4 
 3 
 21 
 
 35 
 
176 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 pression, however, as to the extent to which 
 mtemperance in drinking prevailed in the Monthly 
 Meeting. The frequent allusions in the Minutes to 
 those who " frequented alehouses," and took too 
 much beare,'' or *' more beare than was fitt," show 
 that the traffic in intoxicating liquors was then, as 
 now, responsible for most of the defections among 
 Christian professors." The practice of Total Absti- 
 nence has now reduced this class of offences to a 
 minimum in the Society of Friends, and the 
 pernicious custom of supplying " publick Friends " 
 with alcoholic stimulants after the conclusion of their 
 ministerial labours has long since been abandoned. 
 
 From its first establishment the Monthly Meeting 
 of Evesham promptly took notice of breaches of 
 good conduct, under a godly concern that the 
 Society should be in reality a living branch of the 
 Church of Christ. Offenders were dealt with firmly, 
 but patiently ; and it is especially noteworthy that 
 the papers of disownment were not issued until 
 every effort had been made to bring home the 
 wandering sheep, and that they always concluded 
 
 * " It was not until about 1724 that the passion for gin- 
 drinking appears to have infected the masses of the popula- 
 tion, and it spread with the rapidity and violence of an 
 epidemic. Small as is the place which this fact occupies in 
 English history, it was, probably, if we consider all the con- 
 sequences that have flowed from it, the most momentous in 
 the eighteenth century, — incomparably more so than any 
 event in the purely political or military annals of the 
 country." — Leckey's History of Enyland, vol. 1, p. 479. 
 
Evesham Monthly Meetinrj. 
 
 177 
 
 with sincere expressions of desire for his complete 
 restoration to the fold at some future time. 
 
 After the furious storms of persecution had blown 
 over, the attention of the Meeting was directed to 
 those who had failed to adorn the doctrine of Christ 
 by a consistent life. The following minutes and 
 papers illustrate the ordinary method of procedm-e 
 in such cases at that time. 
 
 " Upon ye 10th day of ye first ]\Ionth, 1672. 
 
 "At a meeting at John Washborne's house in 
 Bengeworte it was agreed of by friends that James 
 Wall and Thos. Cartwright doe goe to John 
 Hawkeswood to know his reson wherefore he dooth 
 absent himself from ye men's monthly meeteing, and 
 to bring an account at ye next monthly meeteing. 
 
 " a^nd likewise John Clemens and Steeven Pitway 
 doe goe to Eobert Yens to know his answer wherefore 
 he dooth forsake ye meeteings . . . 
 
 The sufferings of Robert Ewens lor Yens) in 1655 
 have already been described (see p. 96). The 
 labours of the two Friends appointed to visit him 
 resulted in the drawing up of a lengthy paper, in 
 which he frankly acknowledged his error, confessing 
 that "it hath bene a burden upon mee longe, and I 
 cant have noe rest nor peace with God, but I must 
 owne my shame." It appears that he had " greeved 
 ye speritt of ye Lord" by " taking his wife in ye 
 darke,'' — in other words, adopting the customary 
 
178 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 forms of marriage at the established Church. This 
 want of faithfulness to conviction "loosed his 
 condition, clouded his understanding, and mudled 
 him in ye darke." The paper concludes as 
 follows : — 
 
 " I owne ye righteouse judgements of God upon 
 mee for my dishonoureing his pretiouse truth, and 
 for ye time to come I hope ye Lord will keepe me in 
 his feare all ye dayes of my life. 
 
 " KOBERT ViNS." 
 
 The minutes given below also appear in the oldest 
 record-book. 
 
 " The 26th of ye 3rd month, 1672. 
 
 "It is agreed of by freinds that Tho. Hyatt and 
 David Walker doe speake to William Welch concern- 
 ing his disorderly walkeing, and to bring an answer 
 at ye next monthly meeting." 
 
 " Ye 2d of ye 9th month, 1673. 
 
 " It is agreed of by freinds yt Tho. Cartwright and 
 John Woodward goe to Arthur Kempe to speak 
 with him concerning his disorderly walkeing . . . . ' 
 
 " Ye 28th of ye 10th month, 1673. 
 
 " It is agreed of by ffreindes that John Woodward 
 and John Ernes goe to Thomas Alinton to speak 
 with hime consearneinge his deisorderly walke- 
 inge . . . ." 
 
 No record exists of the visits paid to Arthur Kemp 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 
 
 179 
 
 and Thomas Aldington ; but AYilliam \Velcli drew up 
 a paper which reads as follows : — 
 
 The 11th day of ye 6th month, 1672. 
 " This is given forth for your satisfaction, my 
 freinds whoe are in God's truth, yt sorrow and 
 gi'iefe have beene and is upon my speritt for ye thinges 
 wch I now see is not convenient for mee, for being 
 apte at some times to be deluded by free company 
 and soe by ye negligent speritt prolonged ye time 
 and disordered myselfe to my own owne shame, wch 
 is a dishonour to God's truth for wch I looke for 
 God's judgements to follow mee, and soe I leave it to 
 ye judgements of freinds, and my desire is to have 
 fellowship with ym againe. xA.nd soe my love is to 
 wards ym all yt I may not be discomforted, but goe 
 on in God's truth as it behoveeth mee, 
 
 " Given forth by mee Willia:\i Welch."- 
 
 A few more examples of these curious documents 
 may be introduced here. 
 
 (1.) Testimony ayainst Humphry Bouts. 
 
 " This is to give notis to all people yt at our 
 monthly meeteing in Bengeworte upon ye 6th day of 
 ye 7th month in ye yeare 1672 ye following paper was 
 gave forth : — 
 
 * In 1673 it was '• found by sad exsperiance " that William 
 Welch " still goes on in his wickedness," and he was accord- 
 ingly disowned. 
 
180 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 " Wee whose names are hereunder written in ye 
 behalfe of ye body of freinds who are scornefully 
 called Quakers have taken into consideration ye sad 
 estate and condition of Humphry Bouts who have 
 walked disorderly in drunkenes and other bad 
 carriage and behavour wherein Gods truth have 
 suffered much by him. Although we have had a 
 Godly care of him, and have severall times tenderly 
 admonislite him, according to the order of ye true 
 Churches in ye primitive times in ye speritt of 
 meekness and love, .... yt he might owne his 
 Condemnation for his unrighteouse actions ; wch 
 seemingly he did by giveing forth a paper against 
 him selfe confesseing to his disorderly walkeing 
 beareing date ye 21 of ye 5th month last past ; But 
 yett notwithstanding wee doe find by sad exsperiance 
 yt still he goes on in his wickednes and ungodly 
 actions breakeing forth into sad effects to ye grieve- 
 ing of ye hearts of ye righteouse in so much yt wee 
 can doe no leasse for the truth sake but give forth 
 this paper against him yt there by all people may 
 know that wee have honestly cleared God's truth of 
 him, and yt wee utterly deny his actions and hereafter 
 doe deny him to be a member amoungst us excepte 
 he returne to the Lord through harty repentance. 
 
 Henery Gibbs. Will. Collins. 
 
 Thomas Cartwright. David Walker. 
 
 James Wall ye older. John Clements. 
 
 Joshua ffrensham Tho. Darke. 
 
 Ste!::ven Pittway. John Woodward.'* 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting, 181 
 
 (2) Humphry Bouts paper ( referred to in the above J. 
 " ffreinds, 
 
 " I lett in a careles speritt, that have brought 
 agreate dishonor to ye truth, for drinkeing more 
 beare than was fitt for mee to drinke that speritt 
 drawed mee into many wordes, and then Hghtnes 
 gotte up not haveing regarde to the Lord as I ought 
 to have done I gave way to yt speritt and joyned 
 wth it. It drawed mee into greate Anger against my 
 wife ; I stroke her wth the backe of my hand, and 
 other ill behavours, and all was out of God's truth. 
 .... And in a senseable feeleing of ye judgements 
 of the Lord I am constrayned to give forth this 
 paper to cleare God's everlasteing truth, he yt ownes 
 
 Gods judgements will finde mercy My deare 
 
 love have been ofte times in mee towards all freinds 
 in ye truth. This written by mee 
 
 " Humphry Bouts. 
 " Given forth ye 21st of ye 5th month, 1672." 
 
 The remaining papers in the oldest Minute Book 
 may be condensed as follows : — 
 
 (1.) Paper of Denial against Bernard Roberts 
 (5th mo., 1672) 
 
 • • • • " who have walked disorderly amongst us 
 in drunknesse and other bad carridge and be- 
 havour " 
 
182 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 (2.) Bernard Roberts' Confession ("ye IStli of ye 
 4th month, 1673 "). 
 (Extract.) 
 
 ** ffreinds, 
 
 I am tendred m my heart towards ye 
 Lord, and I doe see that I have greatly sinned 
 against him, and have dishonoured his pretiouse 
 truth, in yt I have taken too much beare, wherein 
 I have disordered my selfe very much, .... and 
 have caused ye mouthes of ye wicked to be opened 
 
 against ye people of ye Lord Therefore 
 
 lett this my confession stand as a wittness against 
 me for ever," &c. 
 
 (3.) John Bucjden's Confession (26.11.1672). 
 (Extract.) 
 
 " I was led in ye darke to evill Company and to 
 drink more beare than was good for mee. I was 
 led by yt speritt yt leades out of ye truth, and soe 
 I being mudled in ye darke through ill Councell 
 I took my wife in ye darke in ye IdoUitrouse 
 Church by an IdoUitrouse prist, and sence yt time 
 God in his love hath lett mee see ye evill of 
 itt " 
 
 (4.) Testimony against Thomas Darke (1696). 
 This case was a serious one, as the offender was 
 
Evesham Monthly Meeting. 183 
 
 a much respected member of the Meetmg. " He 
 was in Society and fellowship for severall years 
 together," but giving way to unwatchfulness fell 
 into " uncleanness with other miscarriages." 
 
 It is satisfactory, however, to find the following 
 note appended to this Testimony of Denial : — 
 ''The aforeseyd Tho. Dark (a few days before his 
 Death) expressed in words, in the hearing of John 
 Ellis, Thomas Eamel, senr, and Anne Neale, his 
 gi-eat sorrow and repentance, condemning his own 
 evil actions, earnestly deshing friends might pray 
 for him, saying he would do anything yt friends 
 would have him to do to clear the truth, and a 
 paper of Condemnation was drawn up according 
 and agreeable to the sense of his words, but he was 
 prevented by death before it could be brought to him 
 to be signed by him." 
 
 It has already been stated that twenty one young 
 Friends were disowned by the Monthly Meeting 
 (before the year 1812) under the arbitrary and 
 unscriptural rules which forbade all marriages with 
 those not in membership in the Society. It is 
 deplorable to observe the untiring zeal with which 
 this mistaken policy was carried out. No sooner 
 was it suspected that a youth was " paying his 
 addresses to a young woman not of our Society," 
 than a Committee was appointed to visit him : and 
 if he was indisposed to bend to the iron will of 
 
184 Evesham Friejids in the Olden Time. 
 
 the Monthly Meeting, his sentence of disownment 
 was speedily drawn up.-:- 
 
 By the year 1812 the three remaining Monthly 
 Meetings of Worcestershire {viz.^ Worcester, Evesh&m 
 and Chadwick) had become so weak, owing to the 
 • continual drain upon their membership from the 
 above-mentioned and other causes, that it was 
 thought desirable to unite them under the title of 
 
 Worcestershire Monthly Meeting." The first 
 gathering under this new arrangement w^as held 
 at Stourbridge in April, 1812. Julius Pumphrey 
 was appointed clerk, and Thomas Burlingham 
 assistant Clerk. f In 1860 the meetings of Friends 
 in Shropshire were united with those in the 
 county of Worcester, and the name of " Worcester- 
 shire and Shropshire Monthly Meeting " was 
 bestowed upon the new alliance. It is left to 
 some future historian to chronicle the transactions 
 of this still existing assembly. 
 
 "Evesham Monthly Meeting" has long since 
 been numbered among the institutions of the past. 
 Will its place be one day taken by another con- 
 
 * " Within a considerable portion of the present century the 
 Society of Friends in England has disowned nearly one third 
 of all its members who have married, a total of not less than 
 4,000 persons!" — 'Quakerism Past and Present," by J. S. 
 Kowntree, 1859, p. 183. 
 
 + The last Clerk of "Evesham Monthly Meeting" was 
 Samuel T. Westcombe, who assumed office on the resignation 
 of Thomas Stanley in 1807. 
 
Evesham Montldy Meetiny. 
 
 185 
 
 federation of Quaker clnu'cbes in the Valley of the 
 Avon, founded less upon the commandments and 
 traditions of men, and more upon the ^Yord of the 
 living God '? 
 
 '• The world is God's not tliine ; let Him 
 Work out a change, if change must be : 
 The hand that planted best can trim 
 And nurse the old unfruitful tree." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE TEN ASSOCIATED MEETINGS. 
 
 " Gathered from many sects, the Quaker brought 
 His old beliefs, adjusting to the thought 
 That moved his soul the creed his fathers taught. 
 One faith alone, so broad that all mankind 
 Within themselves its secret witness find, 
 The soul's communion with the Eternal Mind, 
 The Spirit's law, the Inward Eule and Guide." 
 
 The Pennsylvania Pilgrim. 
 
 I. E^TISHAM. 
 
 In Chapters III. and IV. we have traced the 
 history of the Friends in Evesham, from their rise in 
 1655 to the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689. 
 We have seen that the soul-stirring ministry of 
 Humphrey Smith led to the establishment of a 
 meeting at Thomas Cartwright's house, and that the 
 congregation afterwards took shelter under the hos- 
 pitable roof of Edward Pitway, near the Waterside. 
 
 Bengewokth Gkave-yakd. — With the desire to 
 provide a select resting-place for themselves and 
 their descendants, the Society acquired in 1675 a 
 piece of garden ground " behind the dwelling-house 
 of Edward Pitway, and adjoining the parsonage 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 187 
 
 close, with way or passage through the yard-gates on 
 the south side of the said dwelling-house." This 
 plot of land, by feoffment dated 16th July, 1675, was 
 in consideration of £5 conveyed by Edward Pitway, — 
 and again by feoffment of 19th March, 1678, by 
 Stephen Pitway, — unto trustees, their heirs and 
 assigns. Fresh trustees were appointed in 1703, 
 1728 and 1774. The last appointment was by lease 
 and release, Jan. 26th and 27th, 1802. In 1838 the 
 ground was sold for £100, and this sum was applied 
 to certain uses in Cowl Street. 
 
 The grave-yard is now used as a garden, and is 
 situated behind the " Northwick Arms " Hotel. It 
 probably contains the remains of most of the early 
 Evesham Friends, although it is said that their 
 bones have been occasionally turned up from the 
 soil, — 
 
 " They dared not plant the grave with flowers, 
 
 Nor dress the funeral sod, 
 Where, with a love as deep as our's, 
 
 They left their dead with God." 
 
 The Cowl Steeet Meetixg-House. — By indenture 
 of lease, dated 1st January, 1676, Elizabeth Young, 
 of Hampton, in consideration of £52, demised to 
 James Wall, of Evesham, and his assigns, two 
 messuages, with cherry-orchard and garden in Cowl 
 Street, Evesham, from December 21st, for 2000 
 years. The orchard was converted into a burial- 
 ground, and a meeting-house was formed out of one 
 of the messuages. The other messuage was divided 
 
188 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 into two. The meeting-house was erected early in 
 1676, and was probably put together in the rudest 
 possible manner, as in twelve years time it needed 
 extensive repairs. On the 20th of March, 1676, 
 an assignment was made from Mark Staines, Isaac 
 Moss, and Benjamin Wall '* of the said premises 
 and late erected building," to John Beaufoy, William 
 Eamell, John Eoberts, William Koberts, William 
 Cartwright, Henry Mutton, and John Andrews, for 
 the remainder of the term of 2000 years. 
 
 In 1698 it was agreed that the Meeting-house at 
 Evesham shall be put into good and sufficient 
 Kepair ; the costs and charges thereof to be deposited 
 by the friends belonging to the said Meeting." The 
 simple edifice was accordingly completed in a sub- 
 stantial manner. It was a poor fane, doubtless, 
 
 " For those who find religion in dim light, 
 Strange vestments, incensed air, and blazoned pane " ; 
 
 but all that the Friends needed for their quiet 
 spiritual worship was found within its humble walls. 
 
 A glance round the unadorned interior impels the 
 imagination backward to the cradle of Christianity 
 itself : to that early period when the Galilean fisher- 
 men flocked round their divine Master in that ' large 
 upper room, furnished and prepared,' where they 
 hung upon his gracious words till their minds par- 
 ticipated in that sacred influence which imbued 
 himself. 
 
 * May's ' Hist, of E.' p. 203. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 189 
 
 In 1731 a small piece of ground, piu'chased of 
 Anthony Smith, was conveyed by him and Ann his 
 wife to John Beaiifoy and others, by deed of feoffment. 
 It is believed that this now forms part of the grave- 
 yard. 
 
 In 1723 the premises were purchased of Mark 
 Staines, Isaac Moss, and Benjamin Wall, and by 
 them conveyed to John Beaufoy and others, who 
 declared that the one messuage should be for a 
 meeting-house for the people called Quakers, and 
 that the other, with the orchard and garden, should 
 be applied only to such purposes as were agreed 
 between the parties and others. This trust was 
 renewed in 1716, 1784, 1821, and lastly 9th 4 mo., 
 1866. 
 
 In the year 1805 a few alterations were effected in 
 the interior of the meeting-house, and in 1870 the 
 whole building was thoroughly repaired. The old 
 timber waUs were removed and replaced with brick ; 
 the roof was re-tiled, and the ceiling renovated ; the 
 ancient casements gave i^lace to windows, and the 
 outside doors were renewed. 
 
 The total cost was £198 Is. 8d., the £100 accumu- 
 lated at £10 per annum out of the rent of six acres 
 of land at Hampton being appKed in part payment 
 (See p. 198, Sect. iv.). 
 
 The property adjoining the entrance -yard on the 
 south side was pm-chased in 1823, and altered in 
 1874 (See p. 198, Sect. v.). We have no information 
 as to the early history of the house in Cowl Street, 
 
190 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 now occupied by the custodian of the premises. It 
 is believed, however, that it stands on one of the 
 messuages acquired in 1676. A " small tenement " 
 is noticed in the agreement of 1698. The meeting- 
 room over the porch was enlarged in 1838, and an 
 approach to it made from the court-yard, the cost 
 being defrayed with the consent of the Mo. Meeting 
 out of the proceeds of the sale of Bengeworth 
 grave-yard. In 1874 the custodian's house was 
 thoroughly repaired, the walls being raised, and a 
 new roof and front windows provided. The total 
 cost of these improvements, with those effected at 
 the same time on the other side of the entrance - 
 porch, was £313 16s. 7d., which, with £53 17s. 5d., 
 the balance remaining unpaid of £198 Is. 8d., ex- 
 pended in 1870 on the repairs of the meeting-house, 
 made a grand total of £367 lis. Od. With the 
 sanction of the Mo. Meeting, 10 mo. 8, 1874, 
 £350 was borrowed at 4 per cent, from the trustees 
 of B. Pierce's Charity, on security of the property, 
 the loan to be paid off by annual instalments. 
 
 A large number of names are rudely scratched on 
 the old oak wainscoting of the meeting-house, the 
 following amongst others being fairly legible : — 
 
 "John Beaufoy His place, November ye 13. 1698." "John 
 
 Beaufoy His place, 1099." 
 John Koberts, 1697 " (?) " Joseph Cartwright, 1691." 
 " Benjamin Cartwright." " Thomas Boberts." "Clifford." 
 'George Koberts His Place, 1731" (?). "John Fowler." 
 
 " John Humphris." " Kamell." " Bichard Washborne." 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 191 
 
 " Joseph Cartwright, August 1704." " Fraxcs Waeixg." 
 
 " Benjamin Colloy 1709." 
 " Richard Eudge." " Francis Rogers place." 
 " An n Sheldon 1699." " John Corbin His place, Anno 
 
 Domini 1711." " William Stafford." " John Stevens." 
 "John Beaufoy His place, May ye 1st, 1701." '-Joshua 
 
 Smith." " HowAKD Wap.ing." "John Corbin, Feb. 26, 
 
 1712." 
 
 " Mark Merrick, June ye 30th, 1702 (?). 
 
 It will be seen that the above are the names 
 of many well-known Evesham Friends, long since 
 passed away. It is not difficult to account for their 
 being there. Soon after its erection the meeting- 
 house was probably employed as a school-room for 
 the childi-en of Friends, and the names on the boards 
 are those of some of the juvenile scholars. This 
 view is supported by the fact that the most in- 
 dustrious contributor (John Beaufoy) was only ten 
 years old in 1698. 
 
 PiELiGiors Meetings. — There is good reason to 
 beheve that the religious meetings of Friends in 
 Evesham were numerously attended during the first 
 part of last century, and that they were held in a 
 large measui-e of hfe and power. The following 
 minutes from the Quaiterly Meeting Books show, 
 however, that this state of things did not always 
 continue : — 
 
 1770. Evesham Friends ai'e " desh-ed to stir up their 
 Members to a more Diligent attendance of 
 Meetings, both for worship and discipline, 
 
192 
 
 Evesham FHends in the Olden Time, 
 
 a deficiency having appeared in their 
 Answers in this respect." (At the same 
 time all the Meetings were cautioned 
 against " a drowzey disposition.") 
 1772. " Several of the answers to the usual Queries 
 afford Cause for Sorrow, because therein we 
 find an Indifferency prevailing respecting 
 the Attendance of our Meetings, as also 
 that a Sleepiness is therein sometimes 
 
 Indulged Evesham and Chadwick 
 
 Mo. Meetings are particularly desired to 
 give due attention to this Minute." 
 In 1775 a " deficiency in the attendance" was 
 again a matter of much concern" to the Q. M., 
 and in 1777 a small Committee was appointed to sit 
 with Evesham Friends, " and endeavour to stir them 
 up to a more consistent conduct in this respect." It 
 is sad to relate, however, that in 1778 " it still 
 sorrowfully appeared that the deficiency in attending 
 meetings at Evesham continues." By the year 1804 
 this decline had become still more serious, and the 
 Mo. Meeting made the following minute: — 
 
 " Evesham meeting having requested leave to hold 
 but one meeting on first-days during the winter, this 
 meeting consents thereto, on account of the fewness 
 of the members, and the distance of others." Some 
 of the causes of this decline have been alluded to in 
 the last chapter. Disownments and removals had 
 thinned the ranks of the old members, and it is 
 lamentable to observe the almost complete silence of 
 
The Ten Associated Meetimjs. 
 
 193 
 
 the minutes with regard to the admission of others 
 from the outside world. In 1772 Margaret and 
 Mary Field became " disatisfied with the established 
 mode of worship," and were received into member- 
 ship upon their own application ; but the Friends, as 
 a body, did little or nothing in their collective 
 capacity to evangelize the surrounding population. 
 The Society ceased to be aggressive, and the here- 
 ditary principle being imported into what was once 
 " the household of faith," decay inevitably ensued. 
 
 It is not difficult to find another important cause 
 of the decline at Evesham during last century. The 
 vocal ministry of the Word ceased to occupy a 
 prominent place in the religious gatherings of the 
 Church. " Syllabled by silence," the later gene- 
 rations of Friends lapsed into a state of comfortable 
 quiescence, and failed to attract the multitude 
 hungering for the bread of Life. After Thomas 
 Eoberts' visit to London in 1727, no record exists of 
 a ministerial journey made by any Evesham Friend 
 until Eichard Burlingham travelled into Gloucester- 
 shire and Wiltshire in 1815. Indeed, it is question- 
 able if there were any Friends at Evesham occupying 
 the station of "recorded ministers" between about 
 1740 and 1813. Many visits were, however, received 
 from ministers distinguished for their fervent piety, 
 untiring zeal, and deep discernment, amongst whom 
 may be mentioned Thomas Story (in 1728, '31, '33, 
 '35), Benjamin Holme (1727), John Fothergill (1733),, 
 James Gough (1739), John Griffith (17'18, '58), 
 
 o 
 
194 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Catherine Phillips, nee Payton * (1753 — 1780), 
 James Daniell from New Jersey (1762), John Hall, 
 Cumberland (1784), Deborah Darby and Eebecca 
 Young (several times), Deborah Townsend and 
 Hannah Stephenson (1793), Hannah Jarrett and 
 Priscilla Gurney (1796), Mary Capper (1797), John 
 Kirkham, Essex (1808), John Yeardley (1824), and 
 Stephen Grellett in 1812 and 1833. 
 
 Yearly Meetings' Committees, composed for the 
 most part of well-known Friends, visited Evesham 
 and other Worcestershire meetings in 1761, 1776, 
 1786 and 1806. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — In its early days the congrega- 
 tion of Friends in Evesham was largely composed of 
 small shopkeepers and labouring men. Coming 
 down into last century, we find that Thomas Kamell 
 was a merchant, Henry Fowler a mercer, Henry 
 Mutton a weaver, John Beaufoy a yeoman, John 
 Andrews a cordwainer, and Thomas Eoberts a 
 weaver. There are occasional references in the 
 minutes to relief for " poore Friends." 
 
 Edward Pitway, Jr., emigrated to Pennsylvania 
 about the year 1700. 
 
 The last of the Cartwrights was buried in 1801. 
 Griffin Beaufoy died in 1805, and George Brimyard 
 in 1806. Eichard Burlingham removed to Evesham 
 
 * Catherine Payton was grand-daughter of Henry and Eliz. 
 Fowler, of Evesham. She married W. Phillips in 1772. She 
 travelled as a minister in England, Scotland, Ireland, America, 
 and Holland. (See ' Life '). 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 195 
 
 in 1805, and was recorded a minister in 1813. John 
 Fincher removed to Evesham in 1804. The first 
 mention of the name of Pumphrey in Evesham 
 M. M. Min. Book is in 1757, when Thos. Pmiiphrey, 
 son of Thos. and Anne P., of Tewkesbmy, married 
 Mary, daughter of Kichard Stanley, of the Parks 
 Farm, Offenham. 
 
 William Koberts, Elizabeth Nelson, and other 
 Friends, were frequently robbed of their goods and 
 crops between 1767 and 1782, as they persistently 
 refused to pay " navy and militia rates," or " church 
 rates, so called." 
 
 Between the years 1705 and 1708 collections were 
 made to relieve sufferers by fire in many parts of the 
 country, the first amounting to 18s. lOd., for a fire 
 '* att Iniskiling in the Kyngdom of Ireland." 
 
 In 1709, "in consideration of some excesses and 
 disorderly feastings that have sometimes happened at 
 marriages," it was decided to appoint " two honest 
 friends of blamelesse conversation," to see that 
 
 the sayd excesses be avoyded." 
 
 Great care was taken by the meeting that the sons 
 of Friends should be suitably apprenticed. One 
 Evesham lad ran away from a Quaker firm at Leeds, 
 and got on board a gun-boat ; but after receiving his 
 prize-money, returned to his employers. Of course 
 he was placed " under the dealings of Friends." 
 
 In 1739 George Whitefield " breakfasted with one 
 of the Evesham Quakers." 
 
196 
 
 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Local Endowments. 
 
 The local endowments pertaining to the Society 
 are as follows : — 
 
 I. William Roberts' bequest. — In 1672 William 
 Eoberts, of Evesham, bequeathed to his " friends 
 which are called Quakers that liveth in the Burrough 
 of Evesham for ever, all that Barne and Cherry 
 Orchard lying at a sertaine place in Evesham afore- 
 sayde, called the horse lane, to hould the rente and 
 profitte thereof and the same to dispose accordeing as 
 Edward Pittway, Steeven Pitway, John Woodward, 
 James Wall, John Tandy, and Thomas Cartwright 
 shall thinke convenient." 
 
 It is not known when this property was disposed 
 of, or how the funds arising therefrom were applied. 
 
 II. Richard RitsseVs gift. — Funded proceeds of a mes- 
 suage, garden and close situated at Broadway, valued 
 at £6 per annum, conveyed in 1722 by the legatees 
 of Kichard Kussell, of Evesham (chandler), for the 
 remainder of a term of 900 years ; upon trust for 
 certain charitable purposes. In 1810 the surviving 
 trustees, by direction of Evesham Monthly Meeting, 
 sold the above property under certain conditions ; 
 and by indenture of Aug. 11, 1810, the united 
 proceeds, being £485 nett, were invested in govern- 
 ment funds in the names of trustees, who have 
 settled the same upon trust, to distribute the divi- 
 dends among "poor Protestants commonly called 
 Quakers, dwelling in the County of Worcester." 
 
The Ten Associated Meetinqs. 
 
 197 
 
 Since the above date the manner of investment has 
 been several times changed, but the apphcation 
 of the dividends remains unaltered. 
 
 III. Benjamin Pierce s gift. — Proceeds of a messuage 
 in High Street, together with four acres of land in 
 the then open fields of Little Hampton, since ex- 
 changed by allotment under the Enclosure Act for 
 1a. Ik. in the same parish, conveyed to trustees in 
 1716 by the devisees of Benjamin Pierce, of Benge- 
 worth (paper-maker), upon trust to charitable uses, 
 with power to appoint new trustees. In 1732 a new 
 appointment was made, and again in 1756 ; and in 
 1794 the trusts of the messuage in High Street, as 
 also the allotment at Hampton, were renewed. In 
 1822 the survivors of that trust, by direction of the 
 Monthly Meeting, sold the messuage for £400 ; and 
 by indenture of 8th Mar., 1825, this £400 and the 
 securities thereof were vested in trustees, who are to 
 dist^itaite the nett xDroceeds to " such poor people 
 inhabiting the county of Worcester" as they shall 
 think fit. The same conveys the allotment of 
 Little Hampton upon the like trust. This £400 is 
 now placed out on mortgage, the iuterest being 
 apphed according to the trusts. In 1875 the whole 
 of the Hampton land was sold to the Evesham 
 Biu'ial Board for £500, and the proceeds invested in 
 the name of the Official Trustees for Charitable 
 Funds ; the dividends arising therefrom to be re- 
 mitted by the said Official Trustees to the acting 
 trustees for the time being of the said Charity, iu 
 
198 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 order that the same may he applied hy them to the 
 purposes of the said Charity. 
 
 IV. Six acres of land at Little Hampton, purchased 
 in 1794 with gifts and bequests to the Society, 
 conveyed in 1798 to trustees, upon trust to let or 
 demise the same, not longer than 21 years, and 
 to pay the nett rents to the Clerk of Evesham 
 Meeting, to be applied by him as the Monthly Meet- 
 ing shall determine. In 1844 the M. M. directed 
 that two -thirds of the rent be applied for general 
 purposes, and one-third for the poor. In 1866 that 
 £100 be accumulated out of the rent for repairs of 
 the Meeting House and premises. In 1875 1a. 2r. 26p. 
 of the above land was sold to the Evesham Burial 
 Board, and the proceeds invested in the purchase of 
 Three per Cent. Consols. 
 
 V. A messuage, yard, garden and appurtenances, in 
 Cowl Street, Evesham,, purchased in 1823 with funds 
 of the Society, and conveyed upon trust "that the 
 same and the rents thereof should for ever after be 
 be disposed of as the bargainees, or the trustees for 
 the time being, or the major part, with other re- 
 cognized inhabitant members, should in writing 
 direct." In 1874 this messuage, being untenable 
 from age and dilapidation, was pulled down, and a 
 new house erected on the same site. A new boun- 
 dary wall to the garden, extending along the east 
 side of the grave-yard, and affording a better 
 approach to the same, was also built. The cost was 
 defrayed out of funds borrowed at 4 per cent, from 
 
The Ten Associated Meetimjs. 
 
 199 
 
 the Trustees of B. Pierce's Charity. When this 
 loan is paid off by annual instalments, the property 
 will be free, and the rent of the newly-built house 
 available for general purposes. (The other altera- 
 tions of the adjoining property in 1874 are noticed 
 p. 190). 
 
 II. Bboadway. 
 
 The large straggling village of Broadway lies at 
 the foot of the North Cotswold Hills, about 6 miles 
 from Evesham. The high road to Oxford and 
 London passes through its long open street, and 
 winds up the steep slopes behind, commanding 
 extensive views across the valley of the Avon. 
 
 The first mention of a Friends' meeting at Broad- 
 way occurs in 1662, when, " on the 7th of December, 
 a Lieutenant, with a party of the Trained Bands, 
 came to a meeting, and commanded those that were 
 met to depart."* One of them, named Eobert Bayliss, 
 not moving at their order, the Lieutenant suddenly 
 drew his sword, which so terrified Bayliss' wife, who 
 was nearing her confinement, that she was " in great 
 danger of her life." It has already been observed 
 that three Friends from Broadway were present at a 
 meeting in Evesham on the last day of December, 
 1662, and the sufferings of poor old Kichard Walker, 
 on his way to Worcester Gaol have been recounted 
 in an extract from Besse's work ( see p. 112). Keference 
 has also been made to the shameful treatment of a 
 
 *Besse, vol. ii, p. 67. 
 
200 Ecesliam Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Broadway Friend at Campden, in 1657 (p. 115). It is 
 most likely that several persons from Broadway were 
 attracted to the meetings at Evesham in the Com- 
 monwealth days, and that these soon afterwards 
 established a regular gathering for worship in their 
 own village. William Heyders, of Stanway, and 
 Gervas Harris, of Willersey (see p. 116), probably 
 attended this meeting, with others from adjoining 
 I)arishes. It is not known whether a meeting- 
 house was eventually provided for the little congre- 
 gation, but, as the Minutes are silent on this point, 
 we may conclude that they continued to meet in 
 some private dwelling. 
 
 Isaac Averill, of Broadway, was a regular attender 
 of Monthly Meetings, and at his death, early in last 
 century, he left £60 to the Q. M. Funds. He was a 
 determined opponent of ecclesiastical demands, and 
 suffered great pecuniary losses by his consistent 
 refusal to pay Church Bates and other un- Christian 
 impositions. Between the years 1700 and 1726 he 
 was robbed of farm produce, household goods, imple- 
 ments, &c., to the value of well-nigh £400. One 
 instance will suffice to show the method of procedure. 
 In 1703 he was prosecuted at the suit of John 
 Phillips, John Davies, and William Lampitt, tithe- 
 farmers under Lady Coventry. The amount supposed 
 to be due was £4 6s. 8d., for which were seized grain, 
 hay, straw, and implements worth £38 4s. 4d. The 
 name of " John Griffiths, Priest of Broadway," 
 occurs several times in the record of these shameful 
 proceedings. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings, 
 
 201 
 
 William Sambach, another Broadway Friend, be- 
 queathed £20 to the County Stock. 
 
 The Society appears to have died out m this 
 village before the year 1750. 
 
 III. Netherton. 
 
 Nestling beneath the wooded slopes of Bredon 
 Hill, at a distance of five miles from the town of 
 Evesham, lies the little hamlet of Netherton. It is 
 situated in the parish of Elmley Castle, and adjoins 
 the windmg road which leads to that retired village. 
 Netherton consists of a few scattered houses, mostly 
 built in the picturesque style common to many parts 
 of Worcestershire, and their black and white walls 
 peep out shyly from among the trees and gardens 
 which surround them. Violets, primroses, and bright 
 blue periwinkles fringe the lanes in the early spring ; 
 
 * Abstract of Will of William Sambach the elder, 27 Sept., 
 1710. — All real and personal estate to " my esteemed ffriend," 
 Francis Winnington, of Broadway, Esquire, for payment of 
 debts and legacies. To my sister Norris, £4 yearly. For the 
 use and benefit of the poor of the people called Quakers, 
 among whom " I have lied in a Religious Comunity," £20, to 
 be paid into the hands of John Beaufoy, of Evesham, and by 
 him into the next quarterly meeting. To the poor " among 
 the meeting of ffriends at Broad Campden," 50s., to be disposed 
 of by John Warner and Thos. Symonds. To Elizab. Adames, 
 of Snowshill, 50s. To John Davis the next half year's rent 
 that shall become due after my decease. To the children of 
 my nephew Thos. Lane, deceased, £5 apiece, at their age of 21. 
 Residue of my estate to the said F. Winnington, sole exor. 
 
202 Evesham Fnends in the Olden Time, 
 
 and as the season advances, roses, snapdragons, sweet- 
 williams, and other old-fashioned flowering plants, cul- 
 tivated by the villagers in their tiny plots, charm the 
 eye by the variety of their glowing colours. An ancient 
 chapel surmounted by a belfry, and bearing traces of 
 Norman handiwork,* leads our thoughts back to 
 some remote time when this rural spot was invaded 
 by the clergy of the Church of Eome ; but we look 
 in vain for any material traces of the little colony of 
 Friends, who at a later period strove to witness for 
 the simplicity that is in Christ." 
 We find that at the commencement of last century 
 representatives from Netherton were usually present 
 at the Monthly Church Meeting in Evesham, their 
 names being given as Francis Moore, Ealph Marshall, 
 Thomas Moore, and Francis Marshall. In 1723 
 "several" appeared from Netherton, and as late as 
 1755 mention is made of " several " representatives. 
 In 1725 and again in 1755 it is recorded : " No 
 Friends appeared from any of ye out Meetings except 
 Netherton only." 
 
 The family of Sambach of Broadway, an offshoot probably 
 of the Sambachs of Sambach in Cheshire, was seated at 
 Broadway as early as 1545, when Kichard S. was married to 
 Isabel Ellins, William S. to Eliz. White, and John S. to 
 Margery Truelove. The family continued for several genera- 
 tions at Broadway, Childswickham, and Snowshill. 
 
 See Grazebrook's ' Heraldry of Worcestershire,' ii., p. 491. 
 
 * This Chapel is mentioned in an old document of Worcester 
 Priory as existing in the time of Henry HI. It is now used as 
 a barn. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 203 
 
 The following minute refers to the place and time 
 of meeting: — " Netherton ffriends request yt a 
 Meeting for Worship be held ye first-day in every 
 Month, at ye House [of the] late Thos. Moor, were 
 ye sd. meeting formerly used to be held ; to begin at 
 ye eleventh hour. This Meeting concurrs therewith." 
 
 In 1760 it was reported that " Neatherton friends 
 are like to loose the youce of the Eoom they kept 
 their meeting in once a Month, and [considering] 
 the nearness to this Meeting [Evesham] it might be 
 as well for them to drop theirs." 
 
 In 1789 the Quarterly Meeting decided that our 
 meeting usually held at Pershore in every 6th 
 month be in future held at Netherton, that neigh- 
 bourhood having discovered a good disposition to 
 receive such opportunities." In 1803 this annual 
 gathering was discontinued, as, although it was 
 " large and to a good degree of satisfaction," there 
 were not enough ministering Friends present to make 
 it really edifying to the village folk.- About the 
 year 1808 a re-saval seems to have taken place among 
 the Netherton Friends, as we find them obtaining 
 leave from the Monthly Meeting " to hold a meeting 
 among themselves on first-days and week-days during 
 the winter months, at the house of Thomas and 
 William Marshall, at the 11th hour in the forenoon." 
 It is not known whether these little gatherings were 
 kept up for more than that one season. 
 
 Giles Quarrell, of Norton, was a member of 
 
 * Evesham Mo. M. Minute, p. 486. 
 
204 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 Netherton meeting, and his name appears frequently 
 in the Q. M. Kecords, " of what Friends have 
 suffered on acco. of Tythes and priest Dues (so 
 called)." John Webb, "Priest of Breedon," seized 
 a portion of his harvest every year, from 1704 to 
 1713. William Marshall, of Netherton, also suffered 
 from these priestly depredations in 1778-9. 
 
 In 1734 the Q. M. granted £3 " for a poor family 
 at Elmly." In 1724 took place the marriage of 
 Francis Elton and Margaret Claydon, both of 
 Netherton. In 1731 Margaret Elton removed to 
 Sibford. John Beavington, of Netherton, was dis- 
 owned in 1756. 
 
 Francis Moor died in the year 1727, making in his 
 will the following bequest: — "I give unto Ealph 
 Marshall, Henry Mutton, and Thomas Eoberts, 
 mercer, of Evesham, ye sum of fourscore pounds, 
 to be laid out as soon as may be with conveniency 
 in some purchase, or to be put forth at interest, and 
 ye yearly rent and income thereof to be distributed 
 to such poor people and for such charitable uses as 
 they shall judge fit and convenient." 
 
 The Marshalls were the leading Friends in the 
 little meeting of Netherton for upwards of a century, 
 and as late as 1813 Friends of that name were 
 residing in the village. Som.e particulars concerning 
 their descent from the Marshalls of Little Tew, in 
 Oxfordshire, are given on page 223. An old woman, 
 bearing the name of Marshall, is now living in a 
 cottage adjoining the road. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 205 
 
 TV. Peeshoee. 
 
 Situated on the direct road from Worcester to 
 Evesham, the town of Per shore was frequently 
 visited by the travelling preachers of the Society 
 of Friends. George Fox himself held meetings 
 there in 1667 and 1678, and probably passed through 
 its streets when journeying between Worcester and 
 London to answer the charges laid against him by 
 the Justices of Worcestershire in 1673. 
 
 On the 20th of July, 1662, "a meeting at Pershore 
 was broken up by a party of soldiers, who, with 
 their swords drawn, forced the people out, and drove 
 them along the streets, striking and beating some of 
 them, and so constrained them to go to Worcester 
 prison, where they were taken in and confined, 
 though never examined by any civil magistrate, nor 
 had they any legal mittimus thither. The General 
 Meeting for the County, held at Henry Gibb's house 
 in 1667, has been described on page 141. The 
 meeting of Friends at Pershore became a part of 
 '^Evesham Monthly Meetmg " m 1699. 
 
 No records exist by which the site or date of the 
 meeting-house and grave-yard can be determined, 
 but the premises appear to have been acquu-ed before 
 the junction with Evesham Friends was efiected. In 
 1773 a letter was received by the Quarterly Meeting 
 from Mark Beaufoy, of London, stating " that in 
 his conveyance of his estate in Pershore, lately sold 
 
 * Besse, vol. ii., p. 63. 
 
206 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 to Captain Thomas Blomer, he had reserved for the 
 use of Friends, that part of the said estate com- 
 monly used by us a Meeting House, and that he 
 had remitted the said Thomas Blomer £40, for and 
 in consideration of the same." A Committee was 
 appointed "to acknowledge the obligation we think 
 ourselves under to the said Mark Beaufoy for this 
 act of his kindness." In 1779 the Meeting-house 
 was thoroughly repaired at a cost of £86 18s. After 
 the year 1719 a meeting was held at Pershore " on 
 the fourth first-day in every month only," and in 
 1742 this arrangement was altered, and a meeting 
 once a quarter only was decided on.- In 1796 
 Evesham Monthly Meeting resolved to "hold a 
 meeting at Pershore only once in the year, in hopes 
 of its proving more beneficial, it being at present so 
 ill attended." After this dismal record of failure 
 and decline, we cannot be surprised that in 1808 a 
 Committee of the Q. M. advised that even the 
 annual gathering should be discontinued. In 1801 
 it was minuted that " the lawyer Bedford, of Per- 
 
 * " Accompanied by Mary Oldbury, a young woman of Wor- 
 cester, who had an acceptable gift in the ministry, I went to 
 Pershore (in 1757), a town wherein no member of our Society 
 resided ; but Friends, having a meeting-house there, held a 
 meeting quarterly, which was this day. It was large, but 
 mostly composed of people of other societies. I sat about an 
 hour and a half silent, but was afterwards much favoured in 
 service. The people were very solid and attentive, and I left 
 the town in peace." — Memoirs of Catherine Phillips, 1797, 
 p. 151. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings, 
 
 207 
 
 shore," had been granted a lease of " that piece 
 of land commonly called Pershore grave-yard, now 
 turned into a garden ground;" and in 1813 the 
 Meeting House itself was finally disposed of for the 
 sum of £100, which was invested in Three per Cent. 
 Consols. 
 
 The following brief notes are all that can be 
 gleaned from the records of the Monthly Meeting 
 respecting the internal condition of the httle society 
 at Pershore, and it must be owned that they point to 
 a state of things which was far from satisfactory. 
 There are few redeeming features in the sad history 
 of the dechne of Friends in that town, although it 
 is quite possible that, if our information were more 
 complete, we should find many bright examples of 
 individual faithfulness in well-doing in the midst of 
 the lukewarmness which so generally prevailed. In 
 1716 Pershore Friends were admonished for neglect- 
 ing the attendance of Monthly Meetings, but it does 
 not appear that they profited much by the warning 
 given, as AYilliam Workman, Kichard Millard, and 
 Kichard Powell, jr., continued to be the only repre- 
 sentatives for a number of years. The frequent 
 grants of small sums for the relief of ' ' poore friends 
 at Pershore " show that the congregation was largely 
 composed of persons in lowly circumstances. One 
 Friend, however, named John Bissell, bequeathed 
 £50 to the County Stock in 1735. 
 
 In 1699 a paper was received from Ann Collins as 
 follows : — 
 
208 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 " Dear friends of ye monthly meeting at Evesham 
 my love is to you all, acknowledging your love and 
 care both towards me and mine in your tender 
 admonitions, and this do I confess and acknowledge 
 that things have been not so well as they should 
 have been, insomuch yt trueth have been dis- 
 honored, but I hope for the time to com yt ye like 
 occation will naver be given any more. 
 
 "Ann Collins." 
 
 This paper was not altogether satisfactory to 
 Friends, and the sd Anne Collins was " admon- 
 ished to give out a paper somewhat more fully, to 
 condemn her miscarriage, and the same to be read 
 in their meeting at Pershore, where the scandal was 
 given." At the same Monthly Meeting several 
 Friends were appointed to speake to Eichard 
 Harding, of Pershore, concerning his beastliness and 
 drunkeness"; and in 170.5 William Sambadge (or 
 Samback), of Broadway, was desired " to write to 
 Christopher Cartwright, of Pershore, concerning his 
 scandalous walking." In 1793 Samuel Waring 
 " made a stop in trade and absconded," for which he 
 was very properly disowned. In 1727 occurred the 
 marriage of Richard Powdle, of Peojpleton, who was 
 probably a member of Pershore meeting. Between 
 1704 and 1717 Richard Millard suffered heavy losses 
 by "ye renters of ye tythes," his wheat and barley 
 being seized and sold. 
 
 Richard Claridge, Rector of Peopleton, near 
 
The Ten Associated Meetiiir/s. 
 
 209 
 
 Pershore, became a prominent figure among the 
 Nonconformists of Worcestershire. He was horn at 
 Farmhorough, in Warwickshire, in 1649, his father 
 and mother being " sober and rehgious persons, of 
 good reputation." Having a great aptitude for 
 learning he studied at Oxford University, and was 
 accounted " a good orator, philosopher and Grecian." 
 He was inducted to the rectory of Peopleton in 1673. 
 Here he taught a grammar-school and attended to 
 the ordinary duties of a parish priest, although his 
 life was " a mixture of virtue and vice." After 
 passing through much conflict of soul, he became a 
 truly converted man, and soon saw that many of the 
 doctrines and practices of the Church of England 
 were inconsistent with the teaching of the New 
 Testament. After several conferences with William 
 Hankins and Eleazer Herring, pastors of the Baptist 
 societies at Upton and Tewkesbury, he resigned his 
 living, and was formally introduced to the Baptist 
 communion m October, 1691. Eichard Claridge 
 continued as an itinerant preacher among the 
 Baptists for several months ; his habitation being at 
 Bredon, he sometimes preached there ; at other 
 times at Tewkesbury, Bromesgrove, Pershore, West- 
 mancote, and other neighbouring places." In 1692 
 he became pastor of a Baptist church at the Bagnio, 
 in Newgate Street, London, and continued in this 
 work for more than two years. Besse's ' Life of 
 Claridge' (1836) contains full particulars of his 
 subsequent adoption of Quaker principles, and of 
 
 p 
 
210 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 his extensive travels in the ministry of the Grospel. 
 He died in 1723, and was buried at Bunhill Fields, 
 London. " His piety toward God, his love to his 
 neighbour, the truth and justice of his words and 
 actions, made him as a light in the world." 
 
 V. BiSHAMPTON. 
 
 The village of Bishampton is pleasantly situated 
 on the high open ground to the west of the Lench 
 Hills, at a distance of seven miles from Evesham. 
 In 1701 a motion was made " by Eichard Kinman, 
 of Bishampton, and other Friends thereabouts," that 
 "a meeting for the worship of God" should be 
 established once a month, and leave was given by 
 the Monthly Meeting in the following terms : — 
 " This meeting doth approve of the same, and the 
 said meeting is appointed to be held at Eichard 
 Kinman's house upon the 4th first-day in every 
 month, if God permit." It is not known how many 
 attended this gathering, or what number of years 
 elapsed before it was discontinued. 
 
 Eichard Kinman occasionally attended the church- 
 meeting at Evesham. In 1706-7 he was robbed of 
 several pounds' worth of wheat and hay by the priest 
 of the parish, who sent a man to take it away "for 
 tythes, so called." John Aleigh, of Hob Lench, was 
 another Friend who was victimized in 1710 in a 
 similar manner. "John Woodward, ye Constable, 
 came with a warrant under the hands and seals of 
 Thomas Haselwood, Francis Sheldon, and George 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings, 
 
 211 
 
 Gardner, Justices, and took from him two cows 
 worth £6, and sould them for £5, whare of he 
 retm-ned thirty-two shilhugs." 
 
 Among the Monthly Meeting papers is a very long 
 confession given forth by Jonathan Hazard, of 
 Bishampton, in 1700/'' stating that it "was not 
 because the Quakers' judgment, or doctrine, or way 
 of worship) was false " that he fell away from them, 
 but because he had "hearkened to other voices," 
 which brought him into a snare by hearkening to 
 the voice of his father, and " by taking a wife 
 contrary to the people of God called Quakers." His 
 acknowledgment of wrong-doing was accepted by the 
 meeting ; and we meet with his name again in 1728 
 in connection with the purchase of Naunton Beau- 
 champ meeting-house. 
 
 VI. Nauxton Beauchamp. 
 
 Naunton Beauchamp is a small village, lying about 
 four miles north of the town of Pershore. Its ancient 
 timber-framed Court is conspicuous from a distance, 
 but the cluster of tiny black and white cottages and 
 the old square church-tower are almost entirely 
 hidden by a mass of tall elm trees. In 1728 John 
 Beaufoy, Thomas Kamell, Thomas Marshall, and 
 James Elley, w^ere desired by ^Yorcestershire 
 Quarterly Meeting " to review a little messuage of 
 Jonathan Hazard's at Naunton, and if they approve 
 
 * Perhaps a son of John Hazard, who died in 1717, aged 
 93, and was buried in the south aisle of Bishampton church. 
 
212 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 thereof, to purchase the same. Note : ye same is 
 intended for a meeting-house and burying -ground." 
 The Committee decided to purchase it, and £12 13s. 
 was accordingly paid out of the county stock. 
 
 Note : that the purchase-money was £14 13s., but 
 Jonathan Hassard returned £2 thereof, to be applyed 
 to ye repairing thereof.") Worcester and Evesham 
 Friends soon met on the spot, and arranged for the 
 needful repairs to "ye little house at Nanton " ; and 
 in 1729 it was arranged to commence a meeting " at 
 the afores^ littel house on ye 2d first-day in ye next 
 month, and that Friends would attend the same." It 
 was shortly afterwards reported that *' there has been 
 three meetings at the meeting-house at Nanton, and 
 acco*^ given of people's sobriety and some hopes of 
 fruits ; and its desired that Fr<^^ will continue their 
 care in attending the same." In December, 1729, a 
 paper was prepared by the Q. M. ''to represent our 
 Grievances to ye justices of ye Peace, in their refusall 
 to record a House at Naunton Besham for a Meeting- 
 House." For some unexplained reason, the work in 
 this village did not prosper ; and in 1748 William 
 Eoberts was sent over to see what "reparations" 
 were necessary, and to inform " any person whom he 
 may think proper that it will probably be sold." A 
 purchaser was soon found, and the " Nanton meeting- 
 house, with the boards and benches therein," was 
 disposed of for the sum of £15 19s. Qd. Thus ended 
 the mission to the villagers of Naunton, begun so 
 hopefully only twenty years before ; and another sad 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 213 
 
 failure was added to the long list of abortive Quaker 
 enterprises. 
 
 In 1719 John Stanley, of Naunton Beauchamp, 
 was married to Sarah Kilsby, daughter of William 
 Kilsby, of Kersoe, deceased. 
 
 VII. Laight's Gkeen.''' 
 
 Remote and obscure as were many of the meeting- 
 places of the early Friends, few were more completely 
 removed fi'om the busy haunts of men than the little 
 house at Laight's Green, near the village of Flyford 
 Flavell, on the Alcester and Worcester road. 
 
 Following the winding lanes past Kmgton Mill 
 and Townsend, we reach the rethed spot now known 
 as "Light Green," where Eichard Laight formerly 
 resided. Inside the gate of a large orchard are the 
 scattered remains of the house once occupied by the 
 Laights, which fell down many years ago. At the 
 west end of the orchard stands a timber-framed 
 cottage in a most ruinous condition. Its walls are 
 bulging and ready to fall ; its doors and windows are 
 gone ; its roof is broken through, and masses of dark 
 ivy and wild clematis trail freely over its tileless 
 rafters. Around it is a garden, in which the few 
 remaining roses are well-nigh choked by nettles and 
 hemlocks. A dark stagnant pool, covered with green 
 weeds, lies in one corner of the small enclosure. 
 
 * In the parish of Kington (or -'Kineton"), and for this 
 reason always called " Keinton Meeting" in the Q. M. 
 Minutes. 
 
214 Evesham. Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 This must be "the little tenement" bequeathed by 
 Eichard Laight to the Society of Friends in 1724 ; 
 and its present condition is strikingly emblematic of 
 the decay of Quaker influence in that rural district. 
 
 We first ineet with the name of Kichard Laight in 
 the year 1690, when a distress was issued against 
 him for £ithes." By that time the meeting was 
 probably established at his house. It was at first 
 included in the " Monthly Meeting of Alcester and 
 Eedditch"; but was transferred to "Evesham 
 M. M." in 1706. 
 
 When Eichard Laight died, in 1724, he left " a 
 little house and garden" to the Society, and a 
 Committee was appointed by the Q. M. to see " what 
 may be proper to be done to ye same for ye accom- 
 modation of Friends to meet there." It is believed 
 that the meeting was continued for many years. 
 The house was sold to Elizabeth Andrews in 
 1754. 
 
 The property at Light Green is still owned by the 
 Laight family, two of whom are now living at Flyford 
 Flavell. 
 
 VIII. EUDGEWAY. 
 
 After visiting Lady Conway in 1677, George Fox 
 proceeded to the house of a Friend named " John 
 Stangley," who lived "about two miles" from 
 Eagley Hall. Here he held two meetings, and 
 
 * Besse, ii., p. 89. Phillip Clough, another member of this 
 meeting, was also prosecuted for tithes. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 215 
 
 enjoyed the company of William Dewsbury, -who 
 stayed with him " about half a day." 
 
 John Stanley's house was situated at Cladswell, 
 not far from the road between Evesham and 
 Kedditch, which is here conveyed along a line of 
 low hills, dividing the counties of Warwick and 
 Worcester. From this Eidge, or Eudge-way, a fine 
 view is obtained of the surrounding country. George 
 Fox's visit to Cladswell appears to have resulted in 
 the establishment of the " Eudgeway Meeting." The 
 following minutes contain the sum-total of informa- 
 tion respecting this little company of worshippers : — 
 1727 ( M. M.).— " This meeting hath thought fit to 
 appoint Henry Mutton, John Stanley, jun., 
 and Thos. Beesley, to meet Eichard Lucas, of 
 Ipsley, at ye next Eudgway meeting, in order 
 to advise him to reclaim his disorderly con- 
 versation." 
 
 Eeport was made that " such an answer 
 had been received from him as imply'd his 
 regret for his past conversation, and desire 
 to be of better behaviour for ye time to 
 come." 
 
 1737. — " Whereas a meeting for worship was us'd 
 to be held once a month at ye Eudgeway, it is 
 now agreed by ffriends which constitute ye 
 same to drop meeting there, and for ye future 
 to hold ye said meeting at Aulcester." 
 A Friend named Joseph Foord, who lived on tlie 
 Eudgeway, sufi'ered heavily for his consistent testi- 
 
216 Evesham, Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 mony against '* the anti-christian and oppressive 
 yoke of tithes." Between 1785 and 1794 (inclusive) 
 he lost crops of the value of £145 12s. lOd. 
 
 The Stanleys. — The Stanley family were early 
 connected with the Society of Friends in this district, 
 and many of their descendants became firm and con- 
 sistent supporters of the principles of Quakerism. 
 The following notes are chiefly taken from the 
 registers of the Monthly Meeting. 
 
 In 1672 John Stanley, of Cladswell, married Mary 
 Beading, daughter of William Beading, of Linn, in 
 the parish of Shenstone, Staffordshire. From a 
 paper, "wrote by John Stanley with his own hand, 
 as touching himself, and Mary, his deceased wife, 
 and what they pass'd through during the time they 
 lived together" (dated 1649), we learn that he was 
 the son of Foulke Stanley and Frances his wife, and 
 that he was baptised " according to the Protestant 
 way, Jan. 3rd, 1648." At the age of nineteen " the 
 Lord, in His great love, opened his understanding, 
 and by His power, thro' His servant Bichard Moore, 
 he was convinced of God's everlasting truth." In the 
 same paper he goes on to say : — " When the Priest 
 that I had been a hearer of perceived that I had took 
 a wife contrary to their way, and came not to hear 
 him nor to pay him, he was soon filled with envy, and 
 forthwith began to prepare war against us." The 
 remainder of the paper is occupied with a long 
 account of the persecutions and imprisonments 
 endured by John Stanley, because he would not pay 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings, 
 
 217 
 
 tithes, Easter-dues, &c., being convinced " that inno- 
 cent suffering most became the Gospel of Christ." 
 The " John Stanley, of Inkborough," mentioned by 
 Besse (vol. ii., p. 89), was probably the same indivi- 
 dual. He concludes the paper by saying that his 
 experience had been that God did not forsake those 
 who suffered for His name's sake. Mary Stanley 
 died m 1693. In 1694 John Stanley was married a 
 second time to " Elizabeth Chandless, widow, late of 
 Pirton, in the Co. of Stafford, now of Worcester." 
 He died in 1706. 
 
 Mary, daughter of the above-named John Stanley, 
 was married in 1718 to John Foord, son of Joseph 
 Foord, of Grafton. 
 
 The farm at Cladswell was afterwards occupied 
 by a second John Stanley, who married Ann 
 Brame of Long Compton in 1748. Like his father, 
 he consistently opposed all ecclesiastical demands ; 
 but Beresford Baker, the Vicar of Inkberrow, 
 removed a portion of his crops almost every year 
 from 1741 to 1775. The farmhouse where he lived 
 is situated among the trees on the west slope of the 
 Eidgeway, within sight of the road leading to 
 Eedditch. At the east end of the house is the small 
 plot of ground *' given and granted by John Stanley 
 the elder for the use of Friends as a burial place." 
 The present proprietor states that the graveyard is 
 full of human remains, but all the mounds have now 
 disappeared, and no hedge or fence divides it from 
 the adjoining field. 
 
218 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 The Stanleys of Arrow (afterwards of Egioake)* 
 were distantly related to the Stanleys of Cladswell. 
 The marriage certificate (dated 1687) of " Kichard 
 Stanley, of the Manor of Arrow, yeoman," with 
 Grace Enssell, of Warwick, is still preserved. 
 Kichard Stanley died in 1718, and Grace, his widow, 
 in 1722. They had several sons, one of whom 
 married Hannah Pace, of Maisemore, in 1717, and 
 another, Sarah, daughter of Paul Kilsbey, of Kersoe, 
 in 1719. Eichard, the youngest son, who then lived 
 at Cleeve Prior, married Eebecca (daughter of old 
 John Stanley, of Cladswell) in 1726. He afterwards 
 removed to the Parks Farm, Offenham. In 1757, 
 Mary, daughter of this Eichard Stanley, of Offenham, 
 was married at Alcester meeting-house to Thomas 
 Pumphrey, of Tewkesbury (maltster and cooper). 
 The union between these two families will not be 
 forgotten so long as the name of Stanley Pumphrey 
 is a household word in the Society of Friends. 
 
 Other members of the Stanley family resided at 
 Naunton Beauchamp, Bretforton, Kingley (near 
 Alcester), Netherton, and Bengeworth ; and they 
 became connected by marriage with the Harrises, 
 Marshalls, Beesleys and other well-known Friends. 
 
 IX. Eedditch. 
 The history of the little body of Friends at Eedditch 
 presents few features of general interest. Nothing 
 is known of the origin of the meeting there, the 
 * A hamlet not far from Cladswell. 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 219 
 
 only information that we possess being that it was 
 established before the close of the 17th century. 
 In 1708 Worcestershire Q. M. " thought it conve- 
 nient to purchase Kedditch meeting-house and a 
 little piece of land adjoyning thereunto." Accord- 
 ingly the sum of £40 7s. 6d. was subscribed by the 
 Friends of the county, and " the meeting-house, 
 graveyard and slingett of land " became the property 
 of the Society. In 1709 "the above-mentioned 
 slingett of land was sold unto Moses Sarjant for 
 fifteene poundes." 
 
 Eedditch Friends were remonstrated with in 1709 
 for the non-attendance of Monthly Meetings. The 
 only representatives whose names are placed on 
 record were Isaac Lewis, John Lewis, Moses 
 Sheward, and John Sheward. Several disownments 
 afterwards took place, and the Society appears to 
 have almost entirely died out before 1750. 
 
 In 1766 it was decided only to hold the meeting 
 by special ax)pointment. In 1771 the Q. M. minuted 
 the fact that a meeting was held at Redditch, and 
 attended by many Friends of the county, as well as 
 several from Warwickshire, and Timothy Bevington 
 reports that it was large, solemn, and to good 
 satisfaction. Many of the neighbours attended." 
 From this time a religious gathering once in twelve 
 months was arranged for, and care was taken that 
 the innkeepers were informed of the date of the 
 meeting. The last mention of such an assembly is 
 in 1798. 
 
220 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 The meeting-house was thoroughly repaired in 
 1785. In 1805 it was converted into a dwelling- 
 house, and this was disposed of in 1820. 
 
 X. Alcester. 
 
 The town of Alcester is situated within the limits 
 of Warwickshire, and for this reason we should 
 expect to find that Alcester meeting of Friends was 
 originally associated with the other meetings in that 
 county. But this was not the case, for it was 
 included in the boundary of Worcestershire Quarterly 
 Meeting from the earliest settlement of the Quaker 
 discipline. Its junction with Evesham in 1706 has 
 been already referred to. 
 
 In 1706 Warwick Quarterly Meeting ordered its 
 subordinate meetings "to bring in as ample an 
 account as may be, by whom their meetings were 
 first settled and the Friends that first declared truth 
 to them." As the result of this inquiry it was 
 recorded " that Eichard Hubberthorne did largely 
 declare the blessed truth of Christ in Warwick, 
 Coventry, Kenilworth, Alcester, and Stratford, and 
 other places, by the space of one month, in 1660, 
 and did gather many to the truth."" From this 
 it appears that " the famous Richard Hubberthorne "t 
 was the founder of Alcester meeting. 
 
 * Minutes of Warwick Meeting (' White's Friends in 
 Warwickshire,' p. 61.) 
 
 t " They had got to their champion the famous Eichard 
 Hubberthorne, well known by his printed pamphlets, and, to 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings. 
 
 221 
 
 The newly-gathered company of Friends were not 
 allowed to worship unmolested, for, " on the 9th of 
 December, 1660, Humphrey Becland, Richard 
 Woodward, and John Tombs, were forcibly dragged 
 out of the meeting and carried before Justice Lee, 
 who abused them both by words and blows, and, not 
 admitting them to speak in their just defence, 
 committed them to prison, where the cruel gaoler 
 put them in irons, and shut them up in the dungeon 
 among felons. There they were kept close prisoners 
 from one assizes to another, and never brought to 
 any legal trial. '"^ We have no means of knowing 
 to what extent the Friends at Alcester suffered under 
 the oppressive laws against Nonconformity, which 
 wrought such fearful havoc during the reign of 
 Charles II. ; but they probably came in for then* full 
 share of persecution, shame, and loss. 
 
 The meeting-house, with its adjoining graveyard, 
 was secured on lease in 1677, and in 1727 was 
 conveyed to six trustees. The house itself was 
 rebuilt or much altered in 1699, and again in 1829. 
 In 1745 a " small j)arcel of field land lying near 
 Aulcester" was purchased for the sum of £80, this 
 amount being available from the legacies of Isaac 
 Averill and William Sambadge, of Broadway. The 
 
 speak truth, the most rational, calm-sph'ited man of his 
 judgment that I was ever pubHcly engaged against." — ' Adam 
 Martindale's Autobiography,' p, 115. 
 * Besse, vol. i, p. 702. 
 
222 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time, 
 
 yearly rent arising therefrom was placed at the 
 disposal of Worcestershire Quarterly Meeting. 
 
 In 1798 Thomas and Mary Pumphrey, of Alcester, 
 suffered for their refusal to pay church rates, or to 
 contribute towards "raising men for the navy." 
 
 Friends were never very numerous at Alcester, 
 and the meeting grew smaller and smaller, until 
 the removal of several families and the death of old 
 and respected members at last led to the discon- 
 tinuance of the regular gatherings. Charles Trusted, 
 of Oversley, removed to Koss in 1806, and Samuel 
 T. Westcombe to Worcester in 1835. The meeting- 
 house was then altered into a dwelling, and let, but 
 it still remains the property of the Society. 
 
 A long Testimony respecting Joseph Wiblin of 
 Alcester, is inserted among the minutes of the 
 Monthly Meeting. "He was a man that feared 
 God and eschewed evil. Especially in what related 
 to church discipline, he was very zealous, spareing 
 no paines whereby he might be serviceable in ye 
 promoting of Truth. He had in some degree a 
 continual care of jealousy over the Church of 
 
 Christ His care was great over the widows, 
 
 and he was frequent in visiting the sick, wherein he 
 had a great service. His ministerial testimony was 
 very lively, answering to life in such who were made 
 sharers with him therein." He died at Alcester in 
 1710, aged thirty-eight, having been engaged as a 
 minister since his twenty-second year. The Testi- 
 mony is signed by nineteen Friends, who conclude 
 
The Ten Associated Meetings, 
 
 223 
 
 by saying: — "We have good grounds to believe he 
 has received ye recompence of reward that is layd 
 up for ye faithful!." 
 
 The Marshall Family. — Before concluding this 
 brief account of Alcester Meeting, some allusion 
 must be made to the old family of the Marshalls, 
 whose history is closely interwoven with that of the 
 Society of Friends at Alcester, Netherton, and other 
 places. 
 
 The laborious researches of Dr. G. W. Marshall"^ 
 have resulted in the collection of a vast amount 
 of information respecting the Marshall family ; and 
 the details contained in his " Miscellanea Mares- 
 calliana " show conclusively that the name was at 
 one time a very familiar one in many parts of the 
 county of Worcester. Extracts are given from the 
 parish registers of All Saints and St. Lawrence, 
 Evesham (1542-1729), proving that a numerous 
 family of Marshalls was settled there over a con- 
 siderable period.! The registers of Salford, Offen- 
 
 * See his ' Miscellanea Marescalliana, being Genealogical 
 Notes on the surname of Marshall,"' 2 vols. (" To all Marshalls 
 all over the world I bequeath this work gratis.") 
 
 t Abstract of will of Anthony Marshall, of All Saints^ 
 Evesham, " apothecarie," April 3, 1646. To be buried in 
 churchyard of All Saints aforesd by my father. My mother 
 Margaret M., widow, messuage and garden now in possession 
 of Henry Birch, glover, and the reversion thereof to brother 
 Phillip Marshall in fee, in con'son whereof sd. Phillip is to 
 pay £30 to my sister Ann, wife of John Suffield. My sister 
 Ales. M. £25. WilHam Martin, Edmd. Young, and Thomas 
 Jones, of Evesham, ex'ors. 
 
224 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 ham, Littleton, Hampton, Badsey, and other i^laces, 
 bear a similar testimony to the existence of the 
 family all round this neighbourhood during the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 
 The branch of the family in which we are more 
 particularly interested came, however, from the 
 county of Oxford, although "it seems probable that 
 the family of Marshall, in Oxfordshire, was originally 
 allied to the Nottinghamshire family of the same 
 name."- In the year 1645 Ealph Marshall, of Little 
 Tew, was married to Anne Hacker, a sister of the 
 Colonel Hacker who commanded the forces at 
 Whitehall on the execution of Charles I. It is 
 believed that this same Kalph was a near relative 
 of Stephen Marshall, the Puritan divine who dis- 
 tinguished himself in several noted controversies.! 
 The will of Kalph Marshall, " the elder," yeoman," 
 was dated 24th August, 1666. He appointed his 
 son Kalph executor, and in his will mentioned the 
 names of Kalph's children, viz., Mary, Susanna, 
 Kalx)he, Nicholas, Elizabeth, Thomas, John, and 
 
 * * An Account of the Township of Church Enstone,' by 
 Eev. E. Marshall, M.A., F.S.A. 
 
 + " He formed one of ' the five Smectymni,' as they were 
 called from the title of a book, very famous in its day, in 
 reply to Bishop Hall's defence of episcopacy and liturgy, 
 which book purported to have been written by ' Smectymnuus,' 
 a word composed of the initials of the authors' names, 
 Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Mathew 
 Newcomen, and William Spurstow." — ' Mem. of Joseph 
 Sturge, p. 5. 
 
Tlie Ten Associated Meetings. 225 
 
 Francis. It is impossible to give the genealogies 
 with much certainty, but it appears that John 
 Marshall mentioned above, who was born at Little 
 Tew in 1646, married Mary Eimmel (or Eamel) in 
 1671, and was the first to connect himself with the 
 Society of Friends. He had a large family, who, as 
 they grew up, were scattered about in different parts 
 of Worcestershire — Edmund to Upper Lemingdon 
 (near Moreton-in-Marsh), and afterwards to Sedge- 
 berrow ; John to Elmley Castle ; Ealph to Xetherton; 
 and Thomas to Lemingdon. It is probable that the 
 other sons and the two daughters were also located 
 within the Hmits of ^Yorcestershhe Quarterly 
 Meetiag.^^^ 
 
 It would be gratifying to the Quaker taste for 
 genealogical lore if these family details were more 
 fully exposed, showing how the Marshalls became 
 connected with the Stanleys, the Harrises, the 
 Kilsbeys, the Enochs, the Brimyards, and the Hunts; 
 but the result would be lacking in general interest. 
 Thomas Marshall (son of John M. of Xetherton) 
 married his cousin Rebecca Marshall in 1760, and 
 went to hve at Kingley Farm, near Alcester. Their 
 daughter Mary married Joseph Stm'ge, of Olveston, 
 in 1787, and became the mother of the renowned 
 
 * Dr. Marshall gives the wills of Digoiy Marshall, of 
 Ratcliffe (1712) ; John M. of Limehouse (1703) ; and EHz. 
 M. of Limehouse (1705), whose bequests seem to show that 
 they were members of the Society of Friends. — ' Miscell. 
 MarescaUiana,' i. p. 150. 
 
 Q 
 
226 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 philanthropist Joseph Sturge, of Birmingham, whose 
 youthful days were partly spent at his grandfather's 
 farm at Kingley. The little lad loved to roam in the 
 Eagley Woods, and took the keenest delight in 
 accompanying old Thomas Marshall in his fishing 
 and shooting expeditions. Nearly sixty years later, 
 when passing the "Fish Inn," at Wixford, Joseph 
 Sturge recollected that he had once defrauded the 
 landlady of the sum of sixpence, and he did not feel 
 easy until he had remitted £5 to her only surviving 
 descendant.* 
 
 Thomas Marshall removed from Kingley to 
 Olveston, in Gloucestershire, in the year 1803. 
 
 *Bichard's ' Memoirs of Jos. Sturge,' Chap. I. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 In closing this brief page in the great book of 
 English Church History, we cannot help being 
 struck with the fact that it closely resembles many 
 another page in the same mighty volume. There is 
 the usual record of Divine faithfulness, and of human 
 infirmity ; of revival and progress ; of indifference 
 and decay. We see God working with imperfect 
 instruments, and man hindering His work by that 
 perversity of mind which refuses to learn from the 
 experience of the past. But notwithstanding that 
 there is much over which we would gladly draw the 
 veil of forgetfulness, there is far more which is 
 worthy of our constant remembrance ; and we 
 cannot peruse these annals of sufferings bravely 
 endured, and victories peacefully won, without feeling 
 that the best evidences of the truthfulness of 
 Christianity are to be found in the lives of its 
 devoted adherents. 
 
 The Society of Friends is adapting itself socially, 
 intellectually, and politically to the changing needs 
 of the present day. It remains to be seen whether 
 it can still play its part as a Christian Church in 
 ministering to the spiritual wants of the human heart. 
 The law of development operates with appalling 
 
228 Evesham Friends in the Olden Time. 
 
 faithfulness in the spiritual sphere, and is closely 
 allied with the law of adaptation. Unless both are 
 recognized by the Society of Friends in the closing 
 years of this nineteenth century, a revival of its 
 former usefulness can hardly be looked for; but a 
 recognition of these principles, if coupled with 
 dependence upon the Divine blessing, may yet 
 reserve for it an honourable place in the great 
 harvest-field of the world. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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