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Quaker Meeting records
In September 1666, Fox was released from prison in Scarborough Castle to find the movement stagnating. Systematic persecution of dissent following the Restoration had cut a swathe through the ranks of the 'First Publishers of Truth'. Fox began a nationwide, and largely personal, review of the condition of Quaker Meetings, which reached Yorkshire in March 1669. The boundaries of five pre-existing Monthly Meetings were broken down and re-formed into 14 smaller units, ranging from Owstwick in the Holderness peninsular, to Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales, and Balby on the southern edge of the region. A pyramid structure of Meetings at local, regional and national levels was devised as part of this process of transition from a spontaneous movement to a formal society. These included:
- Meetings for Worship, with Preparative (or business) Meetings
- Monthly Meetings (for local districts)
- Quarterly Meetings (for larger areas)
- A national Yearly Meeting (now known as Britain Yearly Meeting)
In parallel, the development of written records began in this period. The first surviving minute book for York Monthly Meeting for example refers to the appointment of Friends to record births, marriages and burials in 1670/1, and the purchase of a book to record sufferings in 1676 [minute book vol. 1, 1688-82, D 1, Clifford Street archive, Leeds University Library]. Important classes of records have often survived from the mid-17th century onwards. They include: minute books of the various types of Meeting; membership records (including lists of members, copies of certificates of removal from one Monthly Meeting to another, and copies of wills and inventories); financial records; educational records, and records of property ownership. The Registers of Births, Marriages and Burials are naturally valuable for their genealogical content, but also often show the locality from which Friends had come, where they settled and sometimes the trade or occupation. Apart from the Registers, probably the most significant records relate to Sufferings: these are factual records of imprisonment, fines, distraint of goods, excommunication and other penalties imposed for members’ religious beliefs. As sources for the early history of Quakerism they are invaluable. Libraries of Quaker and associated writings were also built up for spiritual and educational purposes.
Follow this link to access the Quaker Family History Society's website and choose 'Genealogical research' to find information on different types of records and the location of surviving records for each county.
For an overview of the development of Quaker Meetings and their records, the following are recommended:
- Edward Milligan and Malcolm Thomas, My ancestors were Quakers (Society of Genealogists, 1999)
- Michael Mullett, Sources for the history of English Nonconformity 1660-1830 (British Records Association, 1991), ch.VI
- For developments specifically in Yorkshire, see W Pearson Thistlethwaite, Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting 1665-1966 (published by author, 1979)
