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About the Book

'A fascinating spotlight on a Quaker community, its faith and practices, at the end of the seventeenth century.'

BETTY HAGGLUND, former Senior Lecturer for the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham

'A valuable series of readily accessible records that will be prized not only by academics interested in Quakerism but also by everyone interested in the vicissitudes of late seventeenth-century nonconformist London life.'

ARIEL HESSAYON, Reader in Early Modern History at Goldsmiths, University of London

'Judith Roads has done a favor to researchers of early Quakerism and early modern London. The frontmatter, from Justin Meggitt's foreword to Roads's introduction, provides context and clear understanding of the transcription process.'

JORDAN LANDES, Friends Historical Library Curator, Swarthmore College

'This is a fascinating record of a small community living out its distinctive religious witness in the everyday, navigating internal and external pressures in a rapidly changing context. We enter the world of late-seventeenth-century London Quakers at ground level, and sit with them as they persistently seek divine guidance in the decisions that shape ordinary life. Judith Roads has made available a wonderful treasure-trove for anyone interested in Quaker history or in early modern English life.'

RACHEL MUERS, Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh

'This transcription is a real labour of love: not just the love the transcriber clearly has for the Quakers of Ratcliff in the 1680s, but their love for one another, their love of good process, fair decisions and good record-keeping. There are fascinating stories here, many of them tantalisingly half-told — there are many minutes which tempt the short-story writer to complete the tale. What happened to the Friends imprisoned in Algiers, and how did they get there? Did the hopeful glazier’s apprentice end up thriving in the hat trade? What were the ‘undue proceedings’ of Eliza Kern?'

PAUL PARKER, Recording Clerk, Britain Yearly Meeting

About the Editor

Judith Roads

JUDITH ROADS is a long-standing London member of Quakers in Britain. She has studied early Quaker language in its many genres, and holds a PhD in the subject from the University of Birmingham. As an experienced clerk herself and a Woodbrooke associate tutor leading courses on clerking, her research into early Quaker minuting has helped to answer the question: 'so, have we always done it this way?' The Ratcliff Meeting transcription is a reader-friendly contribution to this field.