Durham E-Theses A Community of Quakers in seventeenth century County Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne VARNER, LINDSAY,ANN How to cite: VARNER, LINDSAY,ANN (2015) A Community of Quakers in seventeenth century County Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11138/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 A Community of Quakers in seventeenth-century County Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Lindsay A. Houpt-Varner Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History, Durham University 2014 Abstract This study explores community relationships and religious divisions through an examination of the seventeenth-century Quaker community in County Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne. It places Quakerism within the context of wider society to show how the early Quaker community was a manifestation of the struggle between government, authority and religion in the seventeenth century. It focuses on who the first Quaker were in English society and in County Durham’s society. It explores the processes and reasons for religious governmental organisation among the early Quakers through the experiences of the Quaker membership in Durham. Chapter 1 discusses the historical context and research questions that frame this thesis. It establishes an understanding of the Society of Friends by examining the structure and character of the Quaker meeting system. Chapter 2 discusses the genealogy of the Quaker movement in Durham through the social and religious traditions in the region. It examines the history of radical Protestantism beginning in the 1560s to the rise of the Quakers in the 1650s. Chapter 3 analyses the beginnings of the Quaker movement in Durham and Newcastle in the 1650s by examining the experiences and reactions to the Quaker ministers. Additionally, it explores the beginning of community organisation in Durham in 1654 and 1659. Using quantitative data, Chapter 4 seeks to better understand who the individuals were that joined and maintained the Quaker meetings in the first decades of their establishment. Using my own database of occupations, hearth tax assessments and probate records this chapter explores the middling nature of Durham’s Society of Friends. Chapter 5 analyses Durham’s Quaker meetings after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and the extent of civil and ecclesiastical persecution against Quakers in Durham. Chapter 6 explores Durham’s Society of Friends throughout the seventeenth century to analyse the codification of belief and the acceptance of authority within the community. It highlights the significant similarities between Quaker communal attributes and those found in wider society. Lastly, it explores the how Durham’s Quakers negotiated their lives between their moral obligations and social and economic responsibilities, and how regulation of these principles defined the Quaker meetings in Durham. 1 Table of Contents Tables, Figures and Images ...................................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Conventions .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Copyright .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................... 6 Modern Map of North-east England....................................................................................................... 7 Map highlighting the known Quaker residences in North-east Englandc. 1670…………………………………… 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION - A COMMUNITY OF QUAKERS IN DURHAM AND NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, C. 1650-1730 ..................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 2: THE SOCIAL GENEALOGY OF THE QUAKER RELIGIOUS TRADITION, 1561-1649 .... 41 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 41 The Protestant Tradition in Durham ......................................................................................................... 455 Education, Puritanism and Quaker beginnings ......................................................................................... 588 Quakers as Puritans .................................................................................................................................. 677 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 744 CHAPTER 3: ‘THE CHYMERICALL NOTION OF THOSE GIDDY TYMES’: EARLY QUAKER MINISTERING AND DURHAM’S DEVELOPMENT OF A QUAKER COMMUNITY, 1653-1659 ..... 766 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 766 “Enthusiastic” Quakers and ministering in north-east England................................................................ 777 The Religious Disputations in Newcastle – ‘The False Jew’ and ‘The Perfect Pharisee’ ........................... 855 Anthony Pearson and Durham Quakerism ............................................................................................... 966 Community organization before 1660 .................................................................................................... 1111 Durham’s meetings in the wider Quaker community .......................................................................... 12020 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 1244 CHAPTER 4: THE SOCIAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF DURHAM AND NEWCASTLE’S SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 1653-1727 ..................................................................................... 12626 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1266 Quaker Economic Status in England and Wales – Studies to date ......................................................... 1344 County Durham Hearth Tax Assessments ............................................................................................... 1441 Occupations – County Durham and Newcastle ...................................................................................... 1522 Probate wills and inventories ................................................................................................................. 1622 Quakers in urban and rural communities – Newcastle and Brancepeth .............................................. 16969 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 17777 CHAPTER 5: QUAKERS, PERSECUTION AND COMMUNITY, 1659-1689 ................................. 179 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………179 Quakers, the Restoration and societal disorder ....................................................................................... 181 Risings, Rebellions and the backlash against Durham’s Society of Friends .............................................. 193 Civil and Ecclesiastical persecution of religious dissent............................................................................ 196 2 The First Conventicle Act................................................................................................... 196 Ecclesiastical Persecution of Dissent ....................................................................................... 200 The Second Conventicle Act and the Civil Persecution of Religious Dissent ........................................ 21010 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 22323 CHAPTER 6: THE QUAKER COMMUNITY: CODIFICATION OF BELIEF, DISCIPLINE AND EDUCATION IN DURHAM AND NEWCASTLE, 1671-1710 ...................................................... 22626 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 22626 Persecution, financial relief and Community Organisation .................................................................. 22929