Quakers in society in north-east Norfolk, 1690-1800
University of Sunderland
2005
Ph.D.
University of Sunderland
2005
A few of the eighteenth-century Quakers who lived in the area of north-east Norfolk thatis the focus of this study were well-known within their locality and among Quakersnationally; others were probably known only within their own regional meeting forchurch affairs and their own small towns or villages. Leaving few printed records of theirexperiences, they appear fleetingly or not at all in works of synthesis on the history ofQuakerism. This thesis argues that it is important to attempt to restore at least some ofthese men and women to their places in their meeting houses and parishes in order toprovide a wider base from which to make assessments about the nature of eighteenthcenturyQuakerism. It uncovers new evidence about generational change. It uses a localstudy to investigate the ways in which, within their local and national circumstances, andwithin and beyond their own religious group, these men and women negotiated thebalance between sustaining and witnessing to their beliefs, and incorporating newcircumstances and interests into their lives. Deliberately set outside the main urban centrein order to avoid over-concentration on well-known Friends, the study covers a period thatis still under-researched, and examines a wide range of sources, some previouslyunavailable. A case study analyses how a retired Quaker sailor and a Quaker shopkeeperwho exhibited curiosities negotiated their Quaker values with the interests of politesociety. The thesis opens up consideration of the written and spoken word as means oftransmission within middle-ranking societies, and initiates an analysis of under-usedmaterial relating to late eighteenth-century witness stories and providentialism thatcrossed denominational boundaries.