Visiting the George Fox memorial in Fenny Drayton. Photo: Photo courtesy of Bridget Oliver.
Eye - 09 September 2016
From seating to titles
New seat for historic seating
A beautifully-carved chair that may once have upheld George Fox has been on a journey.
The ‘George Fox chair’ had been upstairs in Exeter Meeting House since before living memory. However, research into the intriguingly-named piece of furniture unearthed that, prior to its move to Exeter around 1890, its home had been Membury Meeting House – a Meeting George Fox visited in 1677 and, therefore, potentially a chair he may have sat in.
Bridget Oliver, of Exeter Meeting, told Eye that the chair had ‘deteriorated over the years: a sunny room and, more recently, central heating having dried out the wood and causing it to crack’.
In 2003, after a local museum was unable to offer it a more wood-friendly habitat, Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria, where George Fox lived, agreed to give the chair a new home – if it could be transported there. ‘No one from Exeter seemed to be going that way, and the years went by.’
But all was not lost! Bridget writes: ‘This story came to the attention of historian and member of Exeter Meeting, Richard Oliver. He persuaded me to have a holiday in the north of England this year and to deliver the chair to Swarthmoor Hall. A test had to be carried out in the car park of Exeter Meeting House to make sure that the chair would actually fit in the car. It did – just! All the holiday luggage had to be packed around it.
‘The holiday began with a visit to relatives in Leicestershire, where it seemed an ideal opportunity for the chair to visit the memorial to George Fox in his birthplace of Fenny Drayton.
‘From there the chair travelled direct to Swarthmoor Hall, where it was welcomed by the resident Friends and, after a photo opportunity in front of the hall, was taken direct to the George Fox room upstairs in Swarthmoor Hall. There was a space that looked just right for the chair and it immediately looked much happier than it ever has done in the Victorian Exeter Meeting House.’
Christianity’s conscience
Richard Holloway, in his latest book, A little history of religion, describes George Fox as ‘one of the most attractive figures in the history of religion.’ He goes on: ‘Quakers gave a push to what is now known as the historical-critical study of scripture… The Society of Friends may be one of the smallest denominations in the world but its influence is enormous. It remains Christianity’s conscience…’
Taking away titles?
Friends have cropped up in correspondence to the Guardian recommending the newspaper stop using titles.
The comments follow reports on David Cameron’s highly criticised resignation honours list.
In a letter on 2 August Yorkshire-based Ann Lynch suggested: ‘Perhaps the Guardian could take the lead and reduce the nonsense of the resignation honours by referring to all by only their given name and surname…
‘It would reduce the sense of importance of people with any title and would also give women the same rights as men as marital status would not be inferred in the use of the titles Mr or Mrs.’
Janie Cottis, from Oxfordshire, lent her support to the proposal in the next day’s clutch of letters: ‘…An excellent idea. Quakers have been doing this for more than 350 years.’
