George Fox, the inspiration for the Amersham Quakers

This year is the 400th anniversary of the birth of George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends, otherwise known as Quakers. Fox was a visionary, a radical, and a perpetual thorn in the side of authority. From a deeply troubled young man, he came to inspire followers around the country and across the world with the simple idea that every man, woman and child could have a direct experience of God, unmediated by priests or doctrines. Fox and his followers were rudely nicknamed ‘Quakers’, for their habit of ‘Quaking’ at the Word of the Lord. However, the seriousness of their faith often put the Established Church to shame.

One of the places where Fox’s ideas quickly came to take root was right here in Amersham, which he visited on several occasions. This history is what is explored in Be Patterns; Be Examples, a concert to be held in St Mary’s Church this Sunday 17th November.

Dissent and Geography

Catriona Troth, the scriptwriter, who is also a novelist, has published numerous articles on Quaker history for the website, Quakers in the World. She argues that there were two key reasons why Fox’s radical ideas flourished in this area. The first is historic. Many readers will know the story of the Martyrs of Amersham – the group of Lollard dissenters who were willing to lay down their lives for the right to read the Bible and say their prayers in English rather than Latin. Of course, by the mid-1600s, English had long since become the language of the established Church. But many other beliefs of the Lollards overlapped with the teachings of George Fox, and these may well have found a willing ear among the descendants of Amersham’s Lollards.

The second reason was an accident of geography. Coleshill, home of Amersham Quaker Thomas Ellwood, was a pocket of Hertfordshire in the middle of Buckinghamshire. At a time when Quaker worship was still illegal and those attending were frequently rounded up and thrown into gaol, Ellwood’s home, Hunger Hill, became a place where Quakers from all over Upperside (a large area to the north of the Thames) could gather in safety. Here the Buckinghamshire sheriffs had no authority, and the Hertfordshire sheriffs rarely troubled themselves to travel so far.

The Amersham Quakers

The stories of those early men and women inspired by Fox are fascinating. There is Isaac Penington, an older man in frail health who wrote deeply spiritual prose during the long periods he spent in dank and plague-infested prisons. Isaac’s stepdaughter, Gulielma Springett, who played her lute to blind John Milton when he came to live at Chalfont St Giles. Gulielma’s husband, William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, who is buried with her at Jordans. Thomas Ellwood himself, who defied his father and was cut off from his family for becoming a Quaker, but who treated the wounds of other prisoners and taught them skills so that they could earn money to keep themselves. And Edward Perot, a wealthy maltster, who gave Amersham Meeting House its beautiful meadow for use as a burial ground but who was ironically prevented by the authorities from being buried there himself after he died in 1655.

Perot’s Funeral

Justice of the Peace, Ambrose Bennett of Bulstrode, a staunch persecutor of the Friends, had been tipped off that Quaker Perot’s funeral would take place that morning in Amersham. He gathered together police constables and local thugs to ambush the procession, whilst he waited drinking in the Griffin Inn.

Thomas Ellwood, who was one of the mourners described in his diary what happened next: “Bennett rushed out of his inn with his constables and a rabble of rude fellows and having his drawn sword in his hand struck one of the foremost bearers with it, commanding them to set down the coffin. Enraged by their delay, Bennett set his hand on the coffin and threw it to the ground in the open street and in the cartway, so that all the travellers that passed by (whether horsemen, coaches, carts or wagons) were fain to break out of the way to go by it, that they might not drive over it. The body was later buried in an unconsecrated part of the churchyard. The Friends were taken before Bennett and another JP at the Griffin Hotel, ten of them being committed to the Gaol at Aylesbury.”

Writings

“Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come” was written by Fox in a letter from prison in 1656 to encourage his followers to become the embodiment of positive change and influence wherever they travelled. Catriona Troth says that, in their writings, we can still hear the voices of Fox, Ellwood and Penington speaking to us today. It is their words - touching, inspiring, sometimes funny – that her fellow narrator, Martin Pounce, speaks during the concert. These stories are interwoven with music from the period, played by three professional musicians, pianist, Esther Cavett, violinist, Jane Faulkner and celloist, Elizabeth Corbett.

Maria Fairfax’s Bonnet

Catriona is also proud of the fact that, through the bonnet she wears as part of her costume, there is a direct connection to another famous piece of Quaker history. The bonnet once belonged to Maria Fairfax, sister of George Cadbury who founded the Cadbury chocolate factory in Bourneville. It is still a bit of a mystery how it came into the possession of local Quakers. Could it have been through Edith Bigland, Quaker suffragist and social activist, who lived at Stone Dean near Jordans? As yet there is no proof. If anyone with a knowledge of local history has any suggestions, we would love to hear them at info@amershammuseum.org.

Be Patterns. Be Examples will be performed at St Mary’s Church, Amersham at 3pm on Sunday 17th November 2024. Tickets are £12, including refreshments and are available from the Amersham Museum website: https://amershammuseum.org/events/ or on the door.

Quakers are still an active presence in the Chilterns. To find out more, visit https://caqm.org.uk.