ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



Allegiance, and so on), though very close and of strong interest, is mainly 

 personal, for we catch very few glimpses of the growth of Quakerism in the 

 county as compared with the detailed accounts of the personal sufferings of 

 Fox himself, or other individual Friends. The ultimate source from which 

 Quaker history can alone be reliably written (if ever it is written), viz. the 

 records preserved at Devonshire House, have not even been opened or 

 arranged in a preliminary way, and it is utterly impossible in their present 

 condition to make any use of them for the purpose of historical research. 

 Outside this central repository of records at Devonshire House the various 

 local associations of Friends throughout the country (the quarterly meetings 

 and monthly meetings) in great measure still preserve their own records, but 

 these again in their present state are practically as good as a sealed book to 

 the historical student. The connexion between these local associations and 

 the central body in London was kept up by the double means of annual 

 delegations to the yearly meetings, and of annual letters or reports on the 

 state of the provincial churches sent up by the quarterly meeting to the 

 annual meeting. But as a rule these annual letters are purely pastoral. 

 They give no names of churches, no details either of church growth, or of 

 personalities. 



Some idea of the possible wealth of material at Devonshire House is 

 afforded by Mr. Penny's First Publishers of Truth, in which the present 

 librarian of the society has printed an early series of letters descriptive of the 

 first establishment of Quakerism in the various counties. But here again the 

 portion relating to Lancashire is disappointingly meagre. The only gathering 

 referred to is that at Knowsley in Huyton parish, where, we are told, the 

 first entry of truth was in 1654, the first Friends who published truth there 

 being William Holmes, William Halton, Peter Laithwait, and James 

 Fletcher.*^^ This last named, a husbandman of Knowsley, fills a large space 

 in the story of the missionary spread of Quakerism, not merely in England, 

 Wales, and Ireland, but also in America. Beyond further brief reference to 

 the cause at Marsden (founded in 1653), at Rossendale (started by William 

 Dewsbury and Thomas Stubbs), and Oldham and Ashton (started by John 

 Tetlaw), the particular record yields practically nothing. 



Such silence is all the more regrettable because it is clear from the 

 returns of conventicles in 1669*^' that the Quakers were exceedingly 

 numerous in the county.*''' 



In addition Fox's Journal contains a reference under 1669 to a large 

 meeting at William Barnes's house about two miles from Warrington ; and 

 under 1675 he refers to the men's and women's meeting at Lancaster, show- 

 ing that the meeting there was organized in quite a large and systematic way. 



*"" The Knowsley meeting was held at the house of Benjamin Boult, husbandman. 



"' Lamb. MS. 639. 



*'' The following particulars are given : 'At Heights [in Cartmel], a place on the Moors, there useth to 

 he a great assembly of Quaicers, above i,ooo. Haslingden — Quakers to the number of about twenty ; Burnley 

 —several meetings of Quakers ; Rossendale— Quakers ; Standish— monthly meeting of Quakers, their number 

 about forty or fifty ; Manchester — Quakers, the persons are tradesmen and mostly women ; Bury— meetings of 

 Quakers to a great number ; NorthMeols— several Quakers ; Ormskirk— Quakers ; Hauxhead— Quakers meet 

 in great numbers ; Ulverston— Quakers ; Cartmel— Quakers, about thirty ; Cartmell Fell Chapel— Quakers ; 

 Aldingham— some Quakers ; Coulter [Colton]— Quakers ; Tatham— meeting of Quakers, about forty or 

 upwards ; Melling— Quakers to the number of twenty and upwards ; Larton— Quakers ; Heightham— 

 Quakers, about forty ; Kirkham— Quakers near Little Eccleston.' The Visitation records m the Diocesan 

 Registry at Chester contain numerous particulars. 



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