Reading the testimonies by flashlight Photo: Mark Smalley

Testimonies of those imprisoned in 1682

Bristol 1682

Testimonies of those imprisoned in 1682

by Young Friends of Bristol Meeting 21st July 2010

Extracts from accounts composed by Bristol young Friends and read at the event. All the accounts are based on Quakers who were imprisoned in the Bridewell in 1682 and are taken from primary sources.  Samuel Gibbon(s)  I was born in about 1667. On 18th June in 1682 I was part of a group of boys and girls in a house in Temple Street at a Meeting of divine service. I was part of a group of boys (Benjamin Wall, Elias Osborne, me and another boy younger than me) who were sent to the stocks.  In July 1682 most of the men and women Friends were in prison, so the Meeting was mainly made up of children, and some of the boys were put in the stocks.  There were more beatings on 3rd, 6th and 13th of August, but we refused to stop worship.