The Divine Revelation of George Fox
By Robert Adams & Dylan Potter
The Quakers began in the 1650’s
George Fox was disenchanted with Christianity. He felt that people didn’t need priests or bishops to come into contact with God. Priests were all powerful at this time and if you didn’t go to church, you were fined or punished. In addition to this, they would often dispose of people in the most inhumane and unpleasant ways possible; especially non-church-goers, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, etc.
George Fox was born in Leicestershire in 1624. By the age of 19, he toured the country preaching that there was no need for churches or priests. After three years of wandering around the country, getting beaten up, imprisoned and thrown out of towns and villages, he had a ‘divine revelation’ in which he discovered that all belief comes from within.
Because of his beliefs, he was sent to prison in 1649 until 1651. While in there, he was requested to join Oliver Cromwell’s roundheads against Charles II’s invading force. This showed he was a pacifist and soon became part of the Quaker way.
Meanwhile, in Ulverston, a lady called Margaret Fell lived in Swarthmore Hall. In 1652, her husband, Judge Fell, was away for work, when George Fox came knocking. Fox then preached to the family about his ideas and Margaret soon became Quaker.
Swarthmore Hall became the first Quaker Meeting House in Britain. With the advent of Judge Fell’s death in 1658, the protection that he offered the Quakers went. At this time it was illegal to hold religious meetings of more than three people outside of the accepted places.
This had been set out to stop other religions, such as Catholicism, from spreading. This law was used against the Quakers. Mobs would arrive at Swarthmore Hall, drag them down to Dragley Beck in Ulverston and throw them in. Even one of Judge Fell’s sons, who did not believe in Quakerism, was once at the edge of the mob and involved in beating up the Quakers!
During the reign of Charles II the Quakers were terribly persecuted, with 13,562 arrested and imprisoned, and 198 transported as slaves. Around 338 died in prison. In 1664 Margaret herself was arrested and imprisoned for life in Lancaster gaol, but released four years later on the order of the King.
Margaret married George Fox in 1669. In their vows they said that if Margaret Fell was to die then George could have nothing, as it was against his beliefs to inherit money from her. Usually in this time the man in the relationship got everything, and the woman got nothing.
After their marriage in 1671, George Fox went off on a religious mission around the American colonies, which was a hell of a journey in those days, taking many months. While in Maryland, Fox travelled to meet some of the Indians who were interested in some of the Quaker’s beliefs. He thought they were a very nice people, “loving” and “respectful.”
Fox travelled with William Penn, who, in 1681, was granted the land now known as Pennsylvania by the King. Penn made sure that there was full religious freedom in Pennsylvania and separation of church and state. This attracted lots of people from other religions in Europe, including Quakers, Jews, Huguenots, Catholics and the Amish. He fought to abolish slavery and bought land from the Indians, rather than throwing them off it. George Fox, however, owned a quarter of a ship in Portsmouth, that was possibly involved in the slave trade.
The town of Dalton-in-Furness in Cumbria, is twinned with Dalton in Pennsylvania to commemorate the Quaker link. George Fox died in 1691 and was buried in Bunhill Fields, London. He was the Mahatma Gandhi of his day; fighting for freedom of religion and pacifism.
LINKS
Many regions or Britain have strong links to parts of America, particularly the East Coast. For a look at the founding of British America and relations with the Native American Indians, take a look at The Virginian Princess in the London section.