Solomon Eccles (abt. 1618 - 1683)

Died 11 Feb 1683 at about age 65 in Spitalfields, Stepney, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Solomon was a Friend (Quaker)

Solomon Eccles was born in 1618 in London, where his father was a professor of music. From about 1647 he was a musical composer and teacher. About 1660 he became a Quaker, and, as music was considered objectionable by the Society of Friends, publicly burnt all his books and instruments on Tower Hill. To support himself he became a shoemaker, and spent much of his free time preaching. He was repeatedly imprisoned for disrupting church services, attending unlawful meetings, and refusing to swear oaths or pay fines. During the progress of the plague Eccles frequently perambulated the streets stripped to the waist, and, with a brazier of burning brimstone on his head, announced the coming destruction. In 1667 he went to Scotland and Ireland, where he exhibited himself stark naked in Catholic masses. Eccles was one of the Friends who accompanied George Fox to the West Indies in 1671, and New England in 1672, where he was arrested in Boston and banished by order of the Governor.

It is believed that towards the end of his life Eccles returned to the study of music. He died on 11 February 1683, and was buried at Spitalfields, leaving three sons, John, Henry, and Thomas, who were all musicians.

Eccles is called 'Solomon Eagle' in Daniel Defoe's semi-fictional account of the plague of 1665 titled A Journal of the Plague Year.

Sources

• Wikisource contributors, "Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eccles, Solomon," Wikisource , https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Eccles,_Solomon&oldid=10732468 (accessed August 1, 2022).
• Wikipedia contributors, "Solomon Eccles," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solomon_Eccles&oldid=1094249637 (accessed August 1, 2022).
• Wikipedia contributors, "John Eccles (composer)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Eccles_(composer)&oldid=1063813883 (accessed August 1, 2022).
• Wikipedia contributors, "Henry Eccles," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Eccles&oldid=1083139751 (accessed August 1, 2022).
• https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/11436/
• https://musicalics.com/fr/compositeur/Solomon-Eccles