Persecution
The Society grew rapidly, but the activities of its members almost immediately attracted persecution. Charges were frequently brought against them for not attending church. There were laws against attending religious meetings other than the services of the established church. Informers who notified the authorities of breaches of this law were rewarded, and they were therefore tempted to offer false evidence, or at least to exaggerate what they had.
Friends refused to take oaths. Jesus said, "But I say to you, Sweare not at all ... But let your communication be Yea, Yea: Nay, Nay: For whatsoever is more than these, commeth of evill." Friends also believed that using oaths on some occasions implied that a lower standard of truth was acceptable for others. This laid them open to prosecution for refusing oaths of allegiance. The law at that time did not give them the right to call council in their defence, to call witnesses or to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses. Such defences as they made in court had to rely on questions of law or technicalities in the wording of the charge since, without taking the oath, they were hardly able to testify to matters of fact in evidence.
When they refused to pay tithes their goods were distrained, often to a value much in excess of the amount due, as it was known that Friends were unlikely to seek redress for this through legal action. A final sanction was excommunication; a paradox as their crime was separating themselves from the established church, but the practical effect of this was to debar them completely from the protection of the law.
Friends testified against exaggerated and insincere displays of etiquette. A Justice of the Peace who had arrested George Fox visited him in prison. He doffed his hat and said, "How do you do, Mr Fox? "Your servant, Sir." Fox replied, "Take heed of hypocrisy and a rotten heart, for when came I to be thy master and thee my servant? Do servants use to cast their masters into prison?" While others removed their hats in the presence of a superior, Friends removed their hats to no one, wearing them even in Meeting except when in prayer. They dropped the use of 'thou' and 'you' as indicators of rank, and insisted on 'thou' for one person, and 'you' for two or more.
Friends would not use the names of days of the week, as these were named after heathen gods, nor the names of the months, most of which were objectionable for similar reasons, apart from the last four which, after the reform of the calendar, were untrue - September, for example, is not the seventh month. Quaker dress was merely ordinary dress of the plainer kind, and had not yet become archaic, but the 'plain speech' and refusal of 'hat honour' made Friends immediately identifiable. Members of all of the dissenting denominations were subject to persecution, and it is likely that they suffered in larger numbers than Friends did, but only Quakers kept detailed accounts. Many of the following extracts are from these books of sufferings.
In 1658 they wrote: The inhabitants of this town have in these two yeares past dealt very cruelly to and wickedly with friends as they have come to and fro to their meetings, and in their meetings there hath been fire thrown in among Friends severall times to the danger of fireing the house, some friends receiving much wrong by the fire, and they have allso thrown in water, dirt and cowdung upon friends in their Meeting, and have broke the glass windows very much, and have beaten friends as they have passed to their meetings, and that in sight of an Officer of the Place who have been present, and beheld such things done as these, and have rather incouraged the wicked than endeavoured to keepe the Peace.
And at one meeting held in the old Castle Green at Lewis, the rude people, the sons of some of the Independents, with swords, guns, and pikes, running violently upon friends as they were kneeling downe in prayer, wickedly to disturb what they could - none of the officers of the towne seeming to take any notice at all of the abuse, or to appease the rude people.
Friends rejected the churches, on the grounds that their priests were 'hirelings' who had studied theology but had no experience of God in their lives. Quakers refused to speak of buildings as 'churches', following the New Testament in using the word 'church' only in the sense of the company of people who followed Christ. They called the buildings 'steeplehouses'. It was the custom in those days for divine service to be followed by public discussions, and Friends at first took advantage of these to debate their views with the preachers, although some impatiently interrupted before the sermon was over.
In this year [1659] Mary Akehurst, the wife of Ralph Akehurst, of the Cliff, neare Lewis, beeing moved to goe to St Michal's Steeplehouse (soe called), where an Independent priest [Walter Postlethwaite] was speaking, she for asking him a question, was by people haled out, and then sent for her aforesaid husband, who after she came home, did so hunch and pincht her, that she could not lift her arms to her head.
The same Ralph again on the seventeenth day of the third month of this present yeare, bound the hands and feet of his said wife and pinioned her, and then covered her very hot with bed-cloathes, and soe kept her for the space of foure or five houres; this it seems he did because she tooke occasion to reprove a hireling priest for belying her.
Againe, upon the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month, the aforesaid Ralph did sorely abuse his wife, on which the following lines were sent unto two Justices of the Peace (soe called), to complain of and to declare the same that she might not perish in private, but to lay it home to them, then in authority, viz.:
Whereas complaint hath beene made unto two of those who are in place to doe justice as, namely, Richard Boughton and Nathaniel Studly, of cruel persecution inflicted upon the body of a woman in the Clift, neare Lewis, by the hands of a wicked tirant, who is called her husband; his name is Ralph Akehurst, he hath chained his wife in a close back chamber in his house, between two high bed-steads, with a great chain much like a timber chain, containing thirty-five links, and a staple and lock, soe that this woman cannot move aboute the roome, or lye in the bed without this chaine, soe that with wait of itt it hath done much wrong to her legg, besides blows and bruses that he hath given her in executing his cruelty in putting on of this chaine, soe that thereby her body is much weakened at present, and murther may ensue if the Lord by his providence doth not some way for her deliverance; for this man hath promised that he will never unlock the chaine from off her, soe that in all likelyhood his heart is bent to destroy the body of this woman someway, for he hath attempted her life, as she hath said, by endeavouring to throatle her.
We set this forth to declare to the world, that if this woman shall putt off the body or sacrifice her life through his cruelty, that none shall hereafter upon just grounds say that she hath destroyed herself, or done any evil to her owne body, soe that if inocent blood be shead, we shall be cleare and the guilt shall remaine upon the heads which suffer such things to be done.
Subscribed by
Mary Akehurst
Mary Coulstock
Ambrose Galloway
Mary Dapson
This paper was not only sent to two justices, but a copy of it was placed on the church door in the Cliffe, and another on the market-house post in Lewis. We do not know how this affair ended, but we do know that Ralph Akehurst died a few years later, while Mary's name appears again frequently in the records, as does that of her daughter, also Mary. Records of the goods which they imported show that their shop prospered and traded in a wide variety of commodities. When, as a consequence of the Civil War, there was a shortage of small change many traders, including Mary Akehurst and Ambrose Galloway, had trade tokens made for them.
In 1672 they were visited by William Penn who came through much wet and dirt safe to Lewes, and are lodged at the widow Acres. This day being the first we had a good meeting. The Lord's Heavenly power was with us, and a good sense there was.
Many of the first Friends lived in the Cliffe
In 1660 William Holbem, Walter Scrase, Richard Scrase, John Wenham, Francis Randall, Thomas Brightridg, John Adams, Elner Robinson, Ann Cottingham, Elizabeth Hilton, Susanah Cooper, and Stephen Eager, for being at a peaceable meeting of Friends of Truth, worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in Truth, were committed to prison by Sir John Stapley, and other justices (Soe called), and there remained until they were thence discharged the 9th day of the first month following 1660/1661. Traditionally the New Year began on Lady Day, March 25th, but January 1st gradually replaced it, and dates were written in both styles until the new calendar was recognised by statute law in 1752.
James Mathew, John Scrase, Nicholas Yokehurst, Ambrose Galloway, Thomas Mills, William Yokehurst, William Gereing, Thomas Pettet, Henry Scrase, for being at a peaceable meeting of friends of Truth at Lewis, waiting upon the Lord in the way of his worship, were committed to prison by Richard Bridger and Nisell Rivers the 22nd day of the 11th month, 1660, and there remained until they were thence discharged the 8th day of the first month following, 1660/61.
In 1663 Ralph Richardson, an alehouse keeper, complained that Stephen Eager 'Did not go to the Steeple-house', and he was thereupon called to appear at the sessions at Michaelmas 'soe called'. So called, because Friends were already refusing to recognise the feasts of the church, just as they had abandoned the use of the 'heathen' names of the days and months. Eager, appearing before them, was asked if he went to Church and replied that he 'Did go to the True Church which was in God.' After some words, they in their wrath to ensnare him asked if he would swear allegiance to the King. He owned allegiance to the King, but would not swear, and was committed to prison where he remained for more than five and a half years.
It was Ambrose Galloway, a tailor, who kept the records of sufferings on which much of this chapter is based. He is not always easy to distinguish in the records from and grandson who bore the same name. The family had a shop just to the west of the bridge, and also owned property at the foot of School Hill. In 1664 Ambrose and his wife had been absent from church on four Sundays, as he was in prison and his wife had no one else to look after the children. A warrant was issued for four shillings, and on account of this William Bryant, a church warden of All Saints, took about forty ells of lockram. In 1670 George Tye, innkeeper of the White Lion, took two thin cheeses worth three shillings from Galloway as he had refused to contribute to the repair of the church.
The sign of the White Lion is still visible on the town wall in Westgate Street,although the White Lion was demolished in 1937
In 1670 William Snatt, the priest of All Saints, was owed two shillings and eight pence for two year's tithes. He sent his maid servant to Galloway's shop for two fustian waistcoats worth eight shillings, but later refused to pay for them, and 'soe the unreasonable priest, for eight groats pretended due, had eight shillings.'
All Saints as it was in the early 18th century. Only the tower survives in its original form: the rest has been rebuilt.
Note the Meeting House just visible through the trees at the right.
The name of William Snatt begins to appear frequently in the records. He became Rector of St Thomas's in the Cliffe in 1674, and then Rector of St Michael's and All Saints in 1675, until he left in 1681 to take a living at Cuckfield. He was determined to 'root out' the Quakers from Lewes. Friends have left many accounts of attempts to prosecute them by due process of law, and also by sharp practice. They reported that the priest, which is said to be a person of sober conversation, would often be drunk and stay up unseasonable hours in the night, and his conversation was with the wickedest men of the town and parish where he lived, and this priest whose name was William Snat did often joyne with wicked men to persecute friends, and he himself was an informer joyned with James Clark the Register, and he lived at Lewis till the yeare 1681, and was much hated by his own hearers for his wickedness, and did keep in his house a Crucifix and other Popish relics.
Other sources show Snatt in a different light: Bishop Guy Carleton wrote that 'Lewes is so factious a place that the good that Mr Snatt has done is remarkable', and his ministry in Cuckfield seemed happier. He was clearly a man of principle and courage as he refused the Oath of Allegiance to William and Mary in 1689, and was deprived of his living as a result.
The list of imprisonments and fines is long. In 1664 several Friends were sentenced in a 'praemunire'. The Statute of Praemunire, of 1393, imposed severe penalties on those who appealed to the authority of a foreign ruler, especially that of the Pope, ignoring the English Monarch. In late times it was applied (with dubious legality) to various offences not connected with its original purpose. As Friends would not swear allegiance to the King it was sometimes perversely presumed that their allegiance was elsewhere.
A judge's outburst is recorded as follows: At the Michaelmas Sessions (Soe called), at Lewis, in this yeare, 1664, Nicholas Beard, Richard Scrase, Walter Scrase, John Wenham, William Harrison, John Shutter, Thomas Avery, John Ellis, the elder, William Gereing, William Norton, Moses French, and John Martin, were sentenced in a praemunire, though very illegally, unjustly and ungodlily, by Philip Packer, judge of the court, who would not grant them a copy of their indictment, nor time to consider it, though they much desired it.
But he, making haste to do them what mischief he could, passed a sudden and rash sentence, as it were, in a breath, in a broken confused manner, telling them that their goods and chattels were forfeited to the King for ever, and their lands and tenements during life, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure, or words to the purpose. He spoke in a disturbed spirit, that few knew whether it were in jest or in earnest, in wrath or in malice. He was so confounded in himself and his spirit or mind so distracted or unsettled that he passed sentence presently after upon a thief, that he should be stripped from the middle downwards, and whipped until the blood appear. But John Pelham, a Justice that stood by him, said from the middle upward, and then Judge Philip Packer said so too. He plainly appeared more fit to be taught than to be a teacher, much less a judge in such matters of high concernment wherein twelve men through his want of the true wisdom might have been ruined with their wives and children as to their outward estates and liberties, had not the Lord in His infinite wisdom provided better things for them, although ten of them remained prisoners on that account above five years or more.
In 1668 the Lewes Quaker meeting formally became part of the movement which was eventually to be named the 'Society of Friends.' The survival of the society is as much a consequence of the organisational genius of George Fox as of his spiritual insights. There are peculiar difficulties in maintaining a religious group with no stated creed, no paid clergy and following as far as possible the principle of equality among all members. Other sects destroyed themselves by internal dissension, or were brought into disrepute by individuals who claimed divine inspiration for their extreme teachings. Friends brought their revelations to their meetings for worship where their authenticity was tested against the experience of the group. Both in worship and business meetings the periods of silence had a moderating effect, often preventing direct conflict. No voting took place, or has taken place since, as the will of God is to be revealed by the Inner Light and not by force of numbers.
Each local meeting known as a Weekly Meeting was grouped with others to form a Monthly Meeting. The Weekly Meeting appointed representatives to the Monthly Meeting to ensure a presence, but every Friend in good standing was entitled to attend. Every Weekly Meeting sufficiently large would have a session just before Monthly Meeting to consider any business which they should send forward, and so the term 'Preparative Meeting' became almost synonymous with 'Weekly Meeting'. A group of Monthly Meetings made a Quarterly Meeting, and at the top of the structure was Yearly Meeting. This organisation, almost unchanged since 1668, still allows each individual Friend, as of right, to attend and speak at any level of the structure, from the bottom to the top. A central committee was founded so that speedy action could be taken to act for the society and relieve those who were suffering for Truth. The 'Meeting for Sufferings' has retained its name and function as an executive committee since that time.
The first Monthly Meeting for Lewes, Blatchington and Rottingdean was held on the 26th November 1668 at the house of John Wenham in Kingston. Although men and women worshipped together, from as early as 1677 there were separate meetings for business, on the grounds that men and women had different concerns, but there is no doubt that the women's meeting had less 'weight' in the affairs of the Society than that of the men.