History of Quakers . It was a time of unrest and change throughout Britain. Quakers were one of several groups who challenged many of the beliefs and ideas of the time. This timeline describes key moments in the history of Quakers.

He was largely self- educated and attended parish church regularly with his parents until the age of nineteen. This led to a personal crisis in Fox and he left his job and home to go looking for spiritual nourishment. He started travelling all over the country preaching to people and converting them to 'Friends of the Light'.

Workhouse Glossary Almshouse. An establishment, usually funded by a charitable endowment, providing free or subsidised accommodation for the elderly poor of good.

He was often punished and imprisoned for preaching his radical vision. This vision included denouncing the need for priests or churches, as they prevented a direct and personal experience of God, and expressing the incompatibility of belief in God and warfare. After this moment, Fox's preaching activity increased and the religion grew until by 1. Fox also travelled to Europe, the West Indies and America to help the spread of Quakerism. Visit Bunhill Fields (offsite link).

It was in the North of England that Fox would meet many of the important early Quakers who would help spread the religion, such as James Nayler, William Dewsbury and Richard Farnsworth. This energised Fox's preaching and over the following years, the numbers drawn to his vision increased dramatically, so that by 1.

Quakers. It was here that George Fox planned a campaign to travel nationwide and spread the religious movement. Fell also started an early form of charitable organisation from here in the 1. Kendal Fund gathered contributions and organised to support travelling ministers and others in need. This was also supported by the production of many pamphlets by Fell and other Quakers. Quakers became associated with radical groups such as the Fifth Monarchy Men and the Levellers.

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This fear of radical elements in society reached its peak in 1. Adult Dating Web Sites. Charles II to the throne, and a subsequent purge of the leaders of the regicide. Quakers suffered systematic persecution with imprisonments, the breaking up of Quaker meetings and mob attacks.

You can find the Great Books of Sufferings in the Library at Friends House. Quakers still keep a record of 'sufferings' today for members who face fines or imprisonment for protesting and acting out their beliefs. Act of Toleration allows Quakers to worship legally. The Toleration Act of 1. Christians to practice their faith in their own places of worship, with their own teachers, and using their own materials.

However Quakers still had to register their meeting places and were forbidden from meeting in private homes. This had repercussions for Quaker families who, among other issues, had no legal right to inherit. This was not extended to other nonconformist churches of the time. In 1. 76. 1 Yearly Meeting took the unprecedented action of making a 'Strong Minute' forbidding any Quaker from participating in the slave trade. The statement was plain and unequivocal in its wording, describing slavery as 'repugnant to our Christian profession' and 'reproachful to society'.

A pamphlet produced by Quakers William Dillwyn and John Lloyd The case of our fellow creatures, the oppressed Africans was printed over 1. MPs. The committee in 1. Anglican campaigners and became the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Led by the parliamentary spokesperson, William Wilberforce, the society campaigned on a strong abolitionist platform.

These efforts were successful and the slave trade was abolished in 1. British Empire. It took until 1. Abolition of Slavery Act to be passed by the British Parliament, which began to formally end slavery in British colonies. William Tuke, a Quaker businessman and philanthropist in York, was charged with finding humane treatments for those placed in asylums.

Tuke gathered support from Quakers around the country and in 1. The Retreat, an establishment just outside York.

Patients were treated with sympathy, dignity, and respect, and The Retreat banned the use of chains, manacles, and physical punishment. Tuke's centre pioneered the use of personalised attention and an early example of occupational therapy was developed, introducing walks and farm labouring in easy, quiet surroundings. The Retreat had a profound influence on public opinion, ultimately resulting in fundamental reform of the laws surrounding mental illness and its treatment, and the centre occupies a central place in the history of psychiatry. Similar Quaker treatments were established shortly afterwards in the United States, including a network of Quaker hospitals in Pennsylvania. Severely affected by the overcrowded, inhumane conditions at the prison, she recorded: .

In 1. 81. 8, she toured the prisons of England and Scotland and established Ladies' Associations to support and educate female prisoners across the country. Her work in Newgate focused on the treatment of the prisoners and she consistently endeavoured to raise public awareness to the inhumane conditions of the prison. As the first woman to ever give evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, Fry revealed the facts she had unearthed and outlined the principles of reform that she considered essential. The Association provided clothing, instruction and employment for the women and introduced them to scripture. They wished to encourage in female prisoners . Ultimately the Association would grow to become the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners. Newgate, and subsequently the rest of the prison system, was transformed by Fry's pioneering campaign.

She is widely acknowledged as the central figure of prison reform in Britain. From 2. 00. 1 to 2. English . Quaker connections financed the development of the early Stockton & Darlington railway in the North East; it became known as the 'Quaker Line'.

Edward Pease, a Quaker, had intended the line to be horse- drawn, but was influenced by ongoing correspondence with George Stephenson to work it (at least partially) by steam. Supported by a network of Friends, the Pease family opened the line in 1. Its success as both a commercial and infrastructure project ensured that Quakers were centrally involved in the construction and running of five more railways in Britain, including the London–Birmingham mainline. Pioneering industrial practice which combined philanthropy and charitable trusts, the chocolatiers broadened the reach of their businesses to provide accommodation for their workers, politically campaign for improved labour laws, and established businesses which united profit and ethical practice.

These businesses are no longer Quaker- owned but the legacies of these Quaker families continue. Quakers ran over seventy banks at the height of financial expansion in industrial Britain, pioneering fair and honest financial practice such as bill- broking from the early 1. The early diaries of the bankers John Gurney and John Freame, note that their commitment to Quaker duty was viewed as unusual by their contemporaries, and it was said they . They are no longer Quaker- owned. First conference of Quakers worldwide. A proposal was suggested at Yearly Meeting 1.

In November 1. 91. Meeting for Sufferings appointed a committee to begin arrangements and considerations for a Peace Conference of all Quakers.

The World Conference was proposed in 1. World War I preparations to facilitate the gathering continued between British Quakers in London and American Quakers in Richmond and Philadelphia. Devonshire House – the former central offices of British Quakers – on 1. August, 1. 92. 0 to begin the All Friends' Peace Conference.

Friends began with discussion of the historic Testimony and its application to . Attending the conference, Henry Hodgkin noted the enduring effects of the war on participants. For ourselves, the War has meant a certain measure of isolation and misunderstanding, but also a great fellowship with many very fine spirits in various circles.

Even more important, it has led us to see that the way for social renewal is the way of Christian adventure, the full acceptance of all risks entailed in the way of love. Read more about Quakers and World War I. Friends House opens as the home of Quakers in Britain.

Quaker architect Hubert Lidbetter (1. Quakers in London which opened to public entries in 1. Moving from its base at Devonshire House in Bishopsgate, the new building was constructed on Euston Road, close to Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross railway terminals. Friends House was completed in 1. Royal Institute of British Architects. Now a Grade II listed building, it not only contains within it the organisation space of Britain Yearly Meeting but also a restaurant, caf.

For more information about Friends House facilities please visit the Friends House website. Quakers evacuate children from Nazi Germany on Kindertransport. In 1. 93. 3 London Yearly Meeting appointed a Germany Emergency Committee to help Jewish people and other victims of Nazi persecution leave Germany. Bertha Bracey was appointed its secretary and led the committee's work to evacuate and support refugees. For the next five years Bracey and the committee supported hundreds of Jews seeking to escape: lobbying the British government, filing paperwork on behalf of the displaced people, and seeking to help those imprisoned for supporting their work.

Invited by German Jews, a six- person Quaker mission was sent to ascertain the facts of the violent event and the mission reported back to British Jews and the British Government. Based on their report a delegation of British Jews met with Neville Chamberlain, only five days after Kristallnacht, to ask him to lower the barriers to immigration and admit children, but their requests were denied. A joint Jewish/Quaker delegation including Bertha Bracey met the Home Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare, only a few days after Chamberlain. At a Commons debate later that evening, the Home Secretary announced that ten thousand children were to be admitted to Britain.