John Woolman in England A documentary supplement By HENRY J. GADBURY FRIENDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY I97 1 The publication of this monograph has been assisted by a grant from the Friends Historical Association (Philadelphia) and the Friends Historical Society gratefully acknowledges their generosity. FHS and FHA both acknowledge with gratitude the generous help of a grant from a Trust Supplement No. 31 to the Journal of the Friends Historical Society © Friends Historical Society Obtainable from Friends Book Centre, Friends House, Euston Road London NWi, and Friends Book Store, 302 Arch Street, Philadelphia 6, Pa, USA PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY HKADLEY BROTHERS LTD ZO9 KINGSWAY LONDON WC2 AND ASH7ORD KENT FOREWORD The following compilation was started during the Second World War when conditions in England and for correspon­ dence with England were not favorable for such an enter­ prise. It has been intermittently resumed since then. The mere lapse of time has made some further materials available now. There is reason to suppose that still others will un­ expectedly appear, but it has seemed worth while to put in usable form what has accumulated up to the present. This work is not intended to replace the biographies of John Woolman by two American women Amelia Mott Gummere and Janet Payne Whitney. Readers will continue to be indebted to them for their valuable contribution to our understanding of the remarkable person whose qualities remain an example for our time. This book is modestly intended to supplement the information about that brief period of his life which is of joint interest in America and in England. I cannot expect that where others have labored a gleaner can avoid the kind of errors to which such studies are prone. Unfortunately Mrs Whitney's work, published in Boston in 1942 and in London in 1943, has different pagination and requires a double set of page references. In all the libraries mentioned I have over the years received the most cordial co-operation, outlasting all changes in personnel, for which I am most grateful. June 1966 HENRY J. CADBURY TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory I Sources 3 Preparation for journey 28 At London Yearly Meeting 39 Quarterly Meetings in the midlands 75 Travels to and in the northern counties 82 York: Quarterly Meeting, illness and death 105 Conclusion 133 Index 137 James Backhouse's map of northern quarterly meetings, 1773 frontis. Map showing places known to have been visited by Woolman at end PRINCIPAL SOURCES WITH ABBREVIATIONS USED Woolman MSS, in his own hand, unless otherwise indicated. MS. A Folio of American Journal ending at 1770, but added to by Samuel Comfort in 1839. At Historical Society of Penna. MS. B Quarto MS. of same, ending at 1770. At Swarthmore College (on deposit). MS. C Quarto MS. of same, ending in 1747. At Swarthmore College (on deposit). 1 MS. R Fragments of the same (see pp. 37, 107). At Rutgers University. MS. S Text (revised?) of the Sea Journal 1772, and the only text in his hand of his Journal in England, 1772. At Swarth­ more College. MS. T Text (unrevised?) of his Sea Journal 1772, formerly in possession of Thomas Thompson, taken to England by Thomas Shillitoe probably in 1829. Now divided at 24.v.i772, the first half at the Mount School, York, gift of Elisabeth Brockbank, the second half at Friends Library, London, the gift in 1943 of Violet Hodgkin. SeeJFHS, vol. 38 (1946), pp. 32,43/. Cf. pp. 25note2, sonotei, 1257,below. 1 C/Gummere, p. xviii, who however has inverted the symbols B and C. IB MS. Y Copy of his Journal in England, 1772, in the hand of William Tuke, formerly at Almery Garth, York, in possession of Malcolm Spence (d. 1920), his sister Ellen Spence, and now in possession of Guy Worsdell, 17 Bed­ ford Gardens, London, W.8. It includes copies of his last Essays and the account by others of his illness and death. Cf. Gummere 288, 316, 488. See p. 26 below. Letters written in England. See the list given, p. 4. MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS AND REPOSITORIES AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, Library, Fifth and Library Street, Philadelphia. DEPARTMENT OF RECORDS OF PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING, 302 Arch Street, Philadelphia, formerly at 140 N. i$th Street. BEVAN-NAISH LIBRARY, since 1938 at Woodbrooke, Selly Oak, England, formerly at Dr Johnson's Passage, Birmingham. EUSTACE STREET Friends Historical Library, 6 Eustace Street, Dublin. FRIENDS LIBRARY, LONDON, since 1925 at Euston Road, formerly at Devonshire House (and abbreviated D). HAVERFORD COLLEGE. Quaker Collection, Haverford, Pa. HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA (HSP), 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia. Cf. Guide to MS Collection, printed, 2nd ed., 1949. LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA, 1314 Locust Street, Phila­ delphia, formerly at Broad and Christian Streets. PEMBERTON PAPERS, a large collection at HSP. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore, Pt. PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS British Friend, vols. 1-49 (1843-1891): N.S. vols. 1-22 (1892-1913). BFHS (or BFHA). Bulletin of Friends Historical Society (or Associa­ tion), vols. 1-50 (Phila. 1906-1961). Indexes after vol. 10 and for each five later vols. Comly, Misc. Friends' Miscellany, edited by John and Isaac Comly, Phila., vols. 1-12 (1831-1839), 2nd ed., vols. 1-3 (1834-1845)! MS. Index by Norman Penney. Friend (Lond.), vols. i- (London, 1843- ). Friend (Phila.), vols. 1-128 (Philadelphia, 1827-1954). Friends Intelligencer, vols. 1-112 (Philadelphia, 1844-1954). Friends Journal, vols. i- (Philadelphia, 1955- ) successor to the two preceding. Friends Library edited by William and Thomas Evans, vols. 1-14 (Philadelphia, 1837-1850). Index to vols. 1-14 mimeographed by Pendle Hill (1949). FQ, Friends Quarterly, vols. i- (i947~ ) successor to the following. FQE, Friends Quarterly Examiner, vols. 1-80 (1867-1946). Index to vols. 1-34 (1901). Friends Review, vols. 1 48 (Philadelphia, 1848-1896). JFHS, Journal of Friends Historical Society, vols. i- (London vols. i- 1903- ). Index to vols. 1-50 in preparation. PMHB, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vols. i- (1877- ). Index to vols. 1-75 (1954). QH, Quaker History, vols. 51- (1962- ) succeeding BFHA. BOOKS: SELECTED EDITIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES (Cf fuller bibliography in Gummere, pp. 610-630). Remarks on Sundry Subjects by John Woolman, London, Mary Hinke [I773]- Serious Considerations . by John Woolman, London, Mary Hinde, 1773- The Works of John Woolman, Philadelphia, Crukshank 1774 Part I. The Works of John Woolman, London, Letchworth, 1775. The Journal of John Woolman, Philadelphia, Chapman, 1837, Edit. by John Comly. The Journal of John Woolman, Warrington, Hurst, 1840. Edit, by James Cropper. The Journal of John Woolman, Boston, Osgood, 1871, with preface by J. G. Whittier. The Journal of John Woolman, London, Headley, 1900, New Century Edition. Edited by Norman Penney. The Journal of John Woolman, Chicago, Regnery, 1950, Edited by Janet Whitney. (Paperback, 1951, omits all after 1770). John Woolman, Child of Light, New York, Vanguard Press, 1954, by Catharine O. Peare. The following, being frequently referred to in the text, are there referred to by the abbreviations shown: Gummere. The Journal and Essays of John Woolman, New York, Macmillan 1922. Rancocas Edition. Edited by A. M. Gummere. Whitney, 1942. John Woolman, American Quaker, Boston, Little Brown, 1942, by Janet Whitney. Whitney, 1943. John Woolman, Quaker, London, Harrap, 1943, by Janet Whitney. Guided thus, how passing lovely Is the track of Woolman's feet! And his brief and simple record How serenely sweet! (John Greenleaf Whittier, "To ——— with a copy of Woolman's Journal", originally entitled, "What the Quaker said to the Transcendentalist".) FROM JAMES BACKHOUSE'S MAP OF NORTHERN gUAKTEKLY MEETINGS 1773 INTRODUCTORY HE importance for Quakerism—for its spread, survival and solidarity—of the custom of itinerating ministry is Tgenerally recognized. But its importance for historio­ graphy is also great. The journeys of "publick Friends" were recorded on paper in various ways. The official minutes of the Society, those archives which to such a remarkable degree throughout Quakerdom were carefully made and carefully preserved, record the release and return of their own members who engaged on such travels and also the presence of similar visitors from elsewhere at their meetings. Less official but remarkably abundant are the lists of public Friends visiting a given community. These lists sometimes cover many score years, and give the date of the visit and the visitor's home community. Much more full and abundant are the auto­ biographical materials from the travellers themselves. Letters describing their travels are elicited by their absence from home in a way that never happens to stay-at-homes, while the Quaker journals tend to much greater fullness during periods of travel. The availability of such materials for general history, for religious history and for biography is constantly being ex­ perienced by any student. Nearly every one of my own ama­ teur excursions into such fields has found such items invalu­ able, whether it be a local study, a study of an individual or the study of a movement. The chief source for knowledge of Quakerism in Boston, Massachusetts, in the eighteenth century would be such letters and journals. An initial list of Friends in Barbados for the century of the Society's life on that island can be made from the signatures to certificates issued there to travellers. Indeed for the seventeenth century neither that colony nor some other American colonies, e.g. Maryland, can produce today any group of letters comparable in extent to the letters written by Friends. In an article on visitors to Long Island in that same century the journals by Friends were more than half of all journals that could be used. These materials also are noteworthy in the way they supplement and illuminate each other.