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The following history traces the Irish Quakers from their beginnings in the mid-17th century to the aftermath of the Williamite War (1689-1691). Future installments will cover the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Early Quakers

The Religious Society of Friends began as a Christian movement in Lancashire, England in the mid-17th century. Members are informally known as Quakers, as they were said "to tremble in the way of the Lord". The Quakers were one of the many dissenting Protestant groups that flourished in the turmoil of the English Civil War (1642-1651). These groups were united in their dissatisfaction with the Church of England's toleration of certain practices they associated with the Roman Catholic Church, and advocated greater purity of worship and doctrine. The first Quaker leaders like George Fox (1624-1691) and James Nayler (1618-1660) gained a considerable following in England and Wales and by the end of the 1650s the Society had begun to make inroads into Scotland, Ireland, continental Europe and America.

The Quakers stressed direct relations with God without the need for priests. They rejected baptism, the taking up of arms, and the giving of oaths, and lived simply and honestly. They worshipped mainly in silence because they believed that they needed to follow an “inward light” to the Truth.

William Edmundson

The founder of Quakerism in Ireland was William Edmundson (1627-1712), an English ex-soldier who came to Ireland in 1652 and opened a shop in the town of Antrim. Ireland at this time was approaching the end of a long period of war which had begun in a rebellion by the Irish Catholics in 1641 and ended in the conquest of the island in 1649-1653 by the parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658). Catholic-owned lands had been confiscated and were being distributed to supporters of the parliamentary cause and to soldiers in lieu of pay. In England the authorities were advertising for traders and craftsmen to populate the half-empty towns, and to become tenants and stewards on the new estates.

Edmundson became a member of the Society of Friends in 1653 after hearing James Nayler (1618-1660) preach in England. The following year he established the first meeting of Friends in Lurgan, County Armagh. Over the following years Edmundson met and accompanied many of the Quaker missionaries who visited Ireland and, after gaining experience as a minister, traveled indefatigably around Ireland, preaching and founding Quaker meetings.

The Missionaries

It is estimated that 200 Quaker missionaries visited Ireland before 1700. While Ireland provided less fertile ground for converts than England, by the end of the century they had managed to establish meetings in most of the population centres. Representative examples of the enterprising missionaries of this period are Edward Burrough (1633-1663) and Francis Howgill (abt.1618-1669). Both of them were preaching in London when God spoke to them, ordering them to go to Dublin to spread the Truth. After arriving in Ireland in 1658, Burrough remained in Dublin while Howgill proceeded to County Cork with cornet Edward Cook (abt.1630-) of Bandon, who served in the Protector's own troop of horse. Howgill’s preaching produced a new crop of Friends, including Cook and his wife, who founded a meeting in their house in Cork. Even Colonel Robert Phaire (abt.1619-1682), the Governor of Cork, attended the meetings and said that more was being done by the Quakers than all the priests in the county had done for a hundred years. Alarmed by these successes, Henry Cromwell (1628-1674), the head of the army in Ireland, brought Burrough and Howgill to Dublin in chains and then deported them to England; Cornet Cook and other soldiers who had become Quakers lost their positions. Nevertheless, the missionaries had managed to sow the seeds of the Quaker movement in Cork, which was later to become one of the larger Quaker meetings on the island.

Given the Quakers’ current reputation as a modest and sober people, it is striking how confrontational their early preachers were. They interrupted Church services, harangued crowds in the market squares, and lectured officials, and some of them went naked as a sign that God would imminently strip the priestly and ruling class of its power and privileges. An extreme example in Ireland was Solomon Eccles (abt.1618-abt.1682). A shoe-maker from London, he travelled to Ireland in 1669 where he appeared naked at a Catholic Mass, carrying a dish of fire and brimstone on his head and crying “repent”. The next year Solomon was still in Ireland, and spoke at a service in the Anglican cathedral in Cork; for this he was imprisoned ten days, then whipped through the city, receiving 87 lashes.

The First Generation

Many of the hardy folk who formed the first generation of Quakers in Ireland had been soldiers in Cromwell’s army. A prominent example was Captain William Morris (abt.1620-1681), who was the governor of the garrison in County Fermanagh until he was discharged for becoming a Quaker. Like many soldiers, he had received confiscated land in lieu of arrears of pay, which he eventually consolidated into an estate of 1500 acres in Ross Carbery near Cork. His means and status as a landowner allowed him to provide material assistance and protection to the Quakers in the area and he was called ‘'ye principal ffrd” of the western parts of County Cork.

Another large proportion of the early Quakers in Ireland were English farmers, traders and craftman who had been attracted to Ireland by the opportunities available there. A good example is Anthony Sharp (1643-1707). Anthony was born in 1643 in Gloucestershire and apprenticed in his father’s wool manufacturing concern before going into business as a wool merchant. Sharp came over to Dublin in 1669 and established a successful business there. He was notable for his advocacy for Friends, friendships with prominent Quakers, and business acumen.

A few of the early Quakers were descendants of “Adventurers for Land”, who had helped to finance the Parliamentary army in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in return for land seized from the rebels. Gershon Boate (1648-1704) was the son of an “Adventurer” who had received six townlands in the barony of Ikerrin, County Tipperary.

Rounding out the first generation of Quakers were a few individuals whose families had been in Ireland since before the Irish rebellion, such as William Nicholson (1632-1716). Nicholson’s family had been all but wiped out during the rebellion and he grew up with relations in Cumberland, where he became a Quaker before returning to Ireland.

Role of Women

The Quaker movement was notable for the relatively more equitable role it provided for women in spiritual and practical matters. From the very beginning, women had the prerogative to speak during worship meetings and a large proportion of travelling Quaker preachers were women. Many of these visited Ireland in the early years. For example, in 1655 Elizabeth Fletcher (abt.1638-1658) went to Ireland where she joined Francis Howgill and Edward Burrough in Quaker missionary activity. The latter commented, "Truly I suffer for her, she being as it were alone, having no other woman with her in this ruinous nation, where it is very bad travelling, every way afoot, and also dangerous." Fletcher was followed in 1656 by a Bristol Quaker preacher named Barbara Blaugdone (abt.1609-1704) who met Henry Cromwell in Dublin and delivered her message with such power that it was said that "the Deputy so much troubled, and so melancholy, that he could not go to Bowls, nor to any other Pastime." Blaugdone was eventually imprisoned and banished from Ireland.

Persecution

Quakerism was regarded by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities as an anti-social force that subverted civil government and military discipline. Measures were therefore taken to suppress the movement, culminating in the Quaker Act of 1662, which effectively forbade Quakers from assembling for worship. Quakers were liable to suffer attack or arrest at any time.

Edward Cook (abt.1630-), the soldier who was convinced by the preacher Francis Howgill in 1656, was relentlessly abused and imprisoned for his beliefs. On one occasion he was attacked while speaking in a church service in Cork; hair was pulled from his head, his clothes were torn, and he was beaten so badly that he hardly escaped with his life. On another occasion he was stoned by a mob and only avoided death through the timely intervention of a soldier. For allowing Quaker meetings to be held in his house, stones were thrown through his windows, severely hurting one of his children.

Robert Turner (1635-), a Dublin merchant who became a Quaker around 1657, also provides an example of the hardships many of the early Quakers had to endure.

Rob. Turner, for speaking a few words in the Steeple house at Bandon, (after the Priest had done) had his Hat taken away, and was beaten : And for speaking a few words in the Steeple-house at Dublin, was very much abused, and had his coat taken from him in the said place, and not restored to him again : And for asking a Question of a Priest in Dublin, was sent to Bridewell, and after kept three months in prison, was put into a Cell or Dungeon, a very noisome place, graves being over his head, and under his feet : And being in a meeting at London- Derry, was violently haled thereout, and drawn along the street by the Arms and Legs, (the Mayor of that City then present, and helped with his own hands) and put him out of the said town ; and two dayes after hailed him as before, and one with a Knif in his hand, threatened to cut off his Members, and turned him out again, and tyed him back and legs on a Horses bare back, with a haire rope, and led him about as their sport, at their pleasure.

Perhaps the most common reason for the persecution of the Quakers was their refusal to pay tithes to support the Church of Ireland. To recover the value of these tithes, magistrates allowed collectors to seize goods which were usually worth many times that was owed. For example, John Watson (abt.1649-1710), a Quaker farmer in County Carlow, had a staggering amount of goods seized over the years to pay for tithes, reaching a peak in 1700 when he lost the following:

John Watson had taken from him for tithe ... thirty two lambs, seventy fleeces of wool, thirty carrloads of hay, fourteen kishs of turfs, a hogg, a goat & some potatoes, all worth eighteen pounds ... more taken from him ... one carload of bare, four Carloads of Barley, & one carload of pease, twelve fleeces of wool all worth twenty one pounds six shillings.

Less frequently, non-payment of tithes resulted in imprisonment, often in appalling conditions. For example, William Chandlee (abt.1592-1695), one of the first converts to Quakerism in Ireland, was prosecuted in 1666 for refusing to pay tithes and was imprisoned in the gaol in Trim for two years and five months. He survived this ordeal, but others were not as fortunate. Richard Poole (abt.1608-1665), an ex-soldier in County Wexford, was sent to prison in 1663 for not paying tithes, and died there 18 months later, his health broken by the bad conditions. He left a widow and four young children.

The Friends were also inconvenienced on account of their refusal to take the oath in a court of justice. For example, Robert Cuppage (1619-1683), a prominent Quaker, was imprisoned in Wexford in about 1662 for refusing to take the oath as a grand juryman.

Friends’ refusal to observe the holy days of the Church of Ireland was also a source of resentment among the general population and often led to violence. For opening his Dublin shop on Christmas day in 1671, Marke Newby (1638-1683), "had his house assaulted by a rude multitude" who threw dirt and stones into his shop, "endangering his Life and his Families ; spoyled Shop-goods, broke Glass-windows and Pewter vessels, abused their neighbours for reproving them; the said Mark was damnified."

Persecution of the Quakers eased after the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689, which allowed for freedom of conscience and made it illegal to disturb anybody else from worship. However, the seizure of property in lieu of tithes continued well into the 18th century.

Meetings and Discipline

One of the distinctive features of Quakerism was its system of weekly, monthly and yearly meetings. The weekly meetings were generally intended for worship whereas the monthly and yearly meetings were to ensure good order and discipline in the church and to provide care over the poor, the fatherless and the widows. George Fox set up the first monthly meetings in Ireland in 1669 because, according to a Quaker history,

… by this time many Friends' children were growing up, that came no nearer to truth than the outward form and profession of it, which they had by education and not by inward sense and experience; and some others … did live too much in the world's liberty and became loose in their conversations….

The disciplinary meetings, in particular, had a significant impact on the development of Quaker life. They had the power to “disown” Quakers who acted in a manner contrary to discipline. Members were occasionally disowned for doctrinal reasons, such as George Gamble (abt.1626-bef.1694), a shopkeeper in Cork, who was disowned for becoming a follower of Lodowicke Muggleton (1609-1698), an English religious thinker. However, most offences were more prosaic. By far the most common reason for disownment was "marrying out" (marrying a non-Quaker). For example, Phebe Morris (1658-) was disowned in 1677 for marrying out, and her father presented a paper to the Munster meeting condemning himself for having consented to the marriage.

Quakers were also frequently disowned for scandalous behaviour with members of the opposite sex. For example, nineteen-year-old Richard Fayle (1687-) of Mountmellick meeting was disowned in 1706 because he had "behaved in a vain and airy manner in ye company of a certain young woman” and Robert Biker (1675-), a widower in Dublin, was disowned in 1717 for getting his servant pregnant and then refusing to marry her. Other reasons for disownment were theft, drunkenness, violence, insolvency, and “backbiting”.

William Penn and Emigration to America

In 1669, William Penn (1644-1718) traveled to Ireland to deal with many of his father's estates. While there, he attended many meetings and stayed with leading Quaker families. He became a great friend of William Morris (abt.1620-1681), the leading Quaker in Cork, and often stayed with Morris at Castle Salem near Rosscarbery. The persecution of Quakers in England and Ireland became so fierce that Penn decided that it would be better to try to found a new, free, Quaker settlement in North America. His chance came in 1681 when he was granted land west of New Jersey, which became the colony of Pennsylvania.

One of the first Irish Quakers to take an interest in William Penn’s new colony was Thomas Holme (1624-1695), who had been a Captain in Cromwell’s Irish army who received land in lieu of pay. When he became a Quaker he lost his position as a justice of the peace, and suffered imprisonment on several occasions. He produced a pamphlet on Quaker sufferings together with Abraham Fuller (1622-1694) and was one of the signatories of an address to Parliament on the sufferings of the Irish Quakers. He was one of the first purchasers of land in Pennsylvania and, after going there in 1682, was appointed Surveyor General of the province.

By the year 1700, about 50 Irish Quaker families had made the perilous journey to the New World. A representative example was William Gregg (abt.1640-1687). Originally Presbyterians, his family became Quakers after a visit to Waterford by William Penn in 1678. They emigrated to Pennsylvania with several other Quaker families in 1681 aboard the ship “Caledonia”. He received a grant of land on the west side of Brandywine Creek near the present-day Delaware border, where he built a log cabin and farmed until his death in 1687.

Some of the Quaker emigrants were very successful. An example is Marke Newby (1638-1683). Newby and his family moved from their native England to Ireland in 1662 in an attempt to escape persecution, but they continued to face rough treatment there. Finally in 1681, at the age of 43, he boarded the emigrant ship "Ye Owners Adventure” in Dublin harbour and sailed for America. He was the founder of the first bank in that province, and was twice elected to the Provincial Assembly.

Williamite War

In the Glorious Revolution of 1688, James II, a Catholic, was overthrown and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and nephew and son-in-law William, ruling as joint monarchs. James's supporters initially retained control of Ireland. In the war that followed, many Friends in the Provinces of Munster and Leinster were killed or robbed by the Irish soldiers and rapparees (guerrilla fighters), and many others lost their homes and property. Some, like John Hull (abt.1611-1692) and Thomas Cooke (abt.1639-abt.1706), fled to England and never returned.

After the defeat of James II at the Battle of the Boyne, in 1690, chaos reigned in Ireland as bands of disbanded Irish troops roamed through Protestant districts. In Dublin, Mary (Ridgway) Raper (abt.1649-1690) died of “frights & fears and hard usages from the unreasonable cruel Irish soldiers and rapparees.” Rapparees set fire to the house of William Edmundson (1627-1712) one night, abused his wife Margaret with such violence that she died months later, and dragged William and his two sons into the woods intending to hang them; they were only saved by the intervention of an Irish officer.

Economic Ruin

The war left Ireland devastated. Thousands had been killed or had succumbed to plague and famine. Whole towns had been razed to the ground and rural districts laid waste. The Quakers alone computed their losses in the war at £150,000.

The war was followed by a series of harsh penal laws imposed by the English parliament to restrict the religious, political and economic activities of Catholics and Protestant dissenters, including the Quakers. Measures were taken to prohibit exportation of all manufactured goods, which decimated Irish industry and led to the emigration of tens of thousands of craftsman and factory workers, including many Quakers. Among these was Samuel Coomb (1663-), a cooper in Cork, who emigrated with his children to Philadelphia about 1709. His certificate of removal states:

ye sayd Samuel being a Bristall [Bristol, England] man came over into this Country with his wife some time after ye Wars ended to settle in Corke and follow ye Cooping trade and although he was observed to be a Laborious painful man ye world favoured him not with success. We hope and Desire it may be better in that Countrey where we suppose Workmen of that Calling are no so plenty as in this nor materials to worke on so hard to be obtained as here.