Jacob Bell: pharmacist, MP and patron of the arts
Briony Hudson explores the life of a man who once came dressed as a woman to Meeting for Worship as a challenge to the practice of male and female Friends having to sit on different sides of the Meeting room
One hundred and fifty years ago, at Holy Trinity Cemetery in Tunbridge Wells, Timothy Hickmott, a parish clerk, accosted a gentleman who was apparently looking for something and asked if he could help. ‘Yes, you can; in fact I am looking for a nice sunny place for my grave. I am going to die soon, the doctors tell me, and I want to get a pleasant place to be buried in.’
" Bell caused great affront in the Quaker community by dressing up as a woman to break the custom of separating men and women on opposite sides of the room during a Meeting"
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