Thomas Wight (1641 - 1724)

Born 7 May 1641 in Bandonbridge, County Cork, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Susanna (Harwood) Wight — married 2 Mar 1670 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland

Descendants

Died 9 Dec 1724 at age 83 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Paul Hancock [send private message]

Biography

Thomas was a Friend (Quaker)

Thomas Wight is Notable.

Thomas Wight, 1641–1724, was a native of Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, and author of the first History of the Quakers in Ireland.

He was born in Bandon Bridge on 7 May 1641 ^[1] son of Rice Wight, Church of Ireland, minister of Bandon, and grandson of Thomas Wight, A.M. (fl. 1619-49) also a minister and a native of Guildford, Surrey.^[2]

A footnote in The History of Bandon ^{[3] [4]} gives the dates of Thomas Wight senior's appointments to positions in Ireland, dating from 1620 and notes speculation that he was induced to come by the family of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. Rice Wight was therefore present (with his infant son) in Cork when the rebellion started in 1641. He made a deposition to the Royal Commission ^[5] stating that he had lost a horse worth £5, debts worth £10 and his living worth £40pa. It is not known how the family survived during the war. A 'Rice Waight' (possibly the same person) appears in the lists of '49 Officers who had served Charles I in Ireland before that date ^[6] and he is also mentioned in 'savings' made under the Act of Explanation of 1665, indicating that he would have received a (probably small) grant of land. ^[7]

While a clothier's apprentice, Thomas Wight junior attended Quaker meeting out of curiosity. He was impressed by a speech by Francis Howgill (abt.1618-1669) - "Before the eye can see, it must be opened; before the ear can hear, it must unstopped; and before the heart can understand, it must be illuminated." Edward Burrough (1633-1663) was a further influence in causing Wight to move away from the Church of Ireland to becoming a Quaker himself. ^{[3] [4] [2]}

He married on 2 March 1670 and had a large family of ten daughters and two sons. ^{[8] [2]} He later abandoned his business interests in the clothing trade and devoted himself to the Society of Friends. Being an able scribe, he was appointed clerk to the meeting in Cork and for the province of Munster, posts that he held for 44 years from 1680 until his death. During this time he also compiled the first edition of A History of the Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers, in Ireland, from the Year 1653 to 1700. ^{[3] [4] [2] [9] [10]}

Thomas Wight was imprisoned several times for his Quaker faith:

1668. Tho. Cook, Geo. Webber, John Taylor, James Knolls, Rich. Pike, Geo. Neno, Tho. Mitchell, Tho. Wight, Christopher Pen∣nock, Arthur Johnson, James Dennis, Wil. Bigley, and Wil. Burch∣field, being met together at their usual Meeting-place in Cork, City to wait upon and worship the Lord, were taken thereout, and committed to Goal by the said Christo. Rye; and the Goaler told the Prisoners, That he was forbid to give them a Copy of the Mittimus. ... Thomas Wight, George Gamble, Alexander Atkins, Geo. Webber, Thomas Cook, John Gossage, and Geo. Neno, for meeting together as aforesaid, were haled thereout, and committed to Prison by order of the said Christo. Rye Mayor. ... Thomas Wight, Tho. Ridge, Charles Sinderby and James Toghil, for meeting together to worship the Lord at their usual Place in Cork City, on the 28th of the 12th Moneth, were sent to Prison by order of the said Christo. Rye; eleaven Seats or Forms carried then away, and still detained, worth about 50 s. by the said Mayor's Order.

1670. Thomas Wight, for being at a Meeting with the People of God, was committed to Prison by Order of the said Matthew Dean Mayor, and there kept close Prisoner Fifteen Weeks, until the next Assizes; and then, for Fees claimed by Robert Fletcher, as Clark of the Crown, &c. was sued, and Execution got against his Body, being then a Prisoner, by means whereof he was kept in close Restraint about Six Moneths.^[11]

He died on 9 December 1724 in his house in Cork at the age of 83. ^[12] He left a will in which he described himself as 'clothier', mentioned his various children and appointed his only surviving son, Joshua, as his executor and residuary legatee. ^[13]

Surprisingly, given the extent and length of his service to the Quakers, there is no testimonial to his life in the yearly meeting's book of testimonials, showing that these were usually reserved for ministers, rather than other servants of the Society.^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ “Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Births,” database with images, FindMyPast (https://www.findmypast.ie/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FBIRTH%2F24890 : accessed 23 August 2019), birth of Thomas Wight in Bandonbridge on 7d 3mo (May) 1641, father: Ricd, mother: Bridgett; citing Munster Family lists 1650-1876, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Wight, T and Rutty, J. A history of the rise and progress of the people called Quakers in Ireland, William Phillips, London, 1800, pp 299 - 301 (https://archive.org/details/historyofrisepro00wigh/page/298/mode/2up : accessed 19 July 2022)
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wight_(Bandon)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} George Bennett, The History of Bandon. Henry and Coghlan, 1862. p.299[1]
5. ↑ Deposition of Rice Weight, 8/11/1642, 1641 Depositions, Trinity College Dublin, MS 823, fols 131r-131v, http://1641.tcd.ie/index.php/deposition/?depID=823131r125. Accessed 03 September 2022.
6. ↑ Index Nominum of the adjudications in favour of the (1649) officers preserved in the office of the Chief Remembrancer, Dublin, being annex VII to the appendix to the 15th annual report of the Irish Record Commission, Dublin 1825, p635 (https://archive.org/details/op1244157-1001/page/635/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Rice : accessed 3 September 2022).
7. ↑ An account of the particular savings contained in the Patents under the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, being a part of annex I to the appendix to the 15th annual report of the Irish Record Commission, Dublin 1825, p305 (https://archive.org/details/op1244157-1001/page/303/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Rice : accessed 3 September 2022).
8. ↑ “Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Marriages,” database with images, FindMyPast (https://www.findmypast.ie/transcript?id=IRE/QUAKER/MARR/8953G : accessed 23 August 2019), marriage of Thomas Wight and Susanna Harwood in Cork on 2d 1mo (Mar) 1670; citing Register of marriages, CORK, 1859, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
9. ↑ Entry in 'Biographical notices of members of the Society of Friends who were resident in Ireland' https://archive.org/details/biographicalnoti00lead/page/154
10. ↑ Gough, John, 'A History of the people called Quakers, from their first rise to the present time, from authentic records and from the writings of that people', Robert Jackson, Dublin, 1790, Volume 4 page 266 https://archive.org/details/historyofpeoplec04goug/page/266/mode/2up?q=Wight accessed 06 October 2020
11. ↑ Thomas Holme and Abraham Fuller, A Brief Relation of some part of the Sufferings of the True-Christians, The People of God (in scorn caller Quakers) in Ireland for these last Eleven Years, viz., from 1660 until 1671, (Dublin, 1672), pp 19-21 (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/a44231.0001.001/20:4.1.3.1?page=root;size=125;vid=99854;view=text : accessed 29 October 2022)
12. ↑ Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Family Lists, image, FindMyPast (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FMMV111M-1%2F0036&parentid=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FBIRTH%2F11005 : accessed 13 October 2020), death of Thomas Wight on 9d 10mo (Dec) 1724 in his own house in Cork; citing Cork MM Family lists 1671-1872, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
13. ↑ Welply W. H. Abstracts of Munster Wills 1528-1829 quoted in Casey, A E O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and Upper Blackwater in Ireland, vol 14 p670 (https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/62062/images/62062_1020705384_0001-00243?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&clickref=1100liY7i4HA%2C1100liY7i4HA&adref=&o_xid=01011l4JYM&o_lid=01011l4JYM&o_sch=Affiliate%2BExternal [Ancestry.com] and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDQ-LQ1N-V?i=136&cat=259184 [FamilySearch - poor quality] : accessed 22 March 2022) Cork will of Thomas Wight of Cork, clothier sgd: 27 June 1724 pr: 22 April 1725 To the widow Abigail Abell 10/-. Dau Sarah Massey of Philadelphia, widow, and her 4 children - Sarah Wight Massey, Elizabeth, Mary. Dau Susanna. Her daughter-in-law Anne Dennis. My Dau Eliz Newenham and her 4 children - Richard, Eliz, Sarah, George. My dau Martha Griffiths of Kingstowne in Jamaica, widow and her two sons, Thomas and John Griffiths. My Dau Hannah (sirr-named Healy) "who has noe children". My two grandchildren Susanna and Thomas Wheddon, orphans. My grand dau Susanna Wight. Executor and residuary legatee son Joshua Wight. Overseers: sons-in-law John Dennis and John Newenham. Wits: Wm Thompson, John Kift, James Dagg.
14. ↑ "Ireland, Society of Friends (Quaker) Yearly Meeting Testimonies to Deceased Ministers," image, FindMyPast (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FYMF-1%2F0014&parentid=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FYMF-1%2F0014 : accessed 03 September 2022), no entry in the contents list for Thomas Wight, citing YM Sufferings Testimonies to Deceased Ministers 1661-1933, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.

See also Leadbeater, M,. Biographical notices of members of the Society of Friends, who were resident in Ireland, Harvey and Darton, London, 1823, pp 154-157 (https://archive.org/details/biographicalnoti00lead/page/154/mode/2up? : accessed 24 October 2022)