‘Victorian Quakers were not always teetotal, as we can see in an article spotted in the summer 2020 issue of Beer, the journal of the Campaign for Real Ale.’
Eye - 28 July 2023
From Quakers and beer to Herons and frogs
Quakers and beer
A Friend recently discovered an unexpected connection between Quakers and a certain fermented beverage.
They write: ‘Victorian Quakers were not always teetotal, as we can see in an article spotted in the summer 2020 issue of Beer, the journal of the Campaign for Real Ale.’ [In an article delightfully titled: ‘Yeast Enders’!]
Between this article and the internet rabbit hole it inspired the Friend to explore, they found some surprising facts: ‘Round the corner from Shoreditch Station is Quaker Street, named after Sampson Hanbury, partner and then sole owner of Truman, Hanbury and Co, one of the largest breweries in nineteenth-century London. Despite the disapproval of many members of the Society, beer was a sensible choice in the East End because it was healthier than water and in this case the profits were put to good use, as we shall see.
‘Started in 1666 as a small brewhouse, the business expanded into the nineteenth century. Truman died in 1780, and then Hanbury ran it for several decades, bringing in his nephew, Thomas Fowell Buxton, to oversee further expansion.
‘Today there is a plaque commemorating Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, anti-slavery campaigner. Thomas married Hannah Fry, sister of Elizabeth, and helped finance much of her prison reform work. He also helped raise money for the weavers of London who were being forced into poverty by the factory system.
‘As an MP, he campaigned on criminal law and pushed for the abolition of the death penalty. Today the brewery buildings have been transformed into a flourishing centre for the arts and businesses.’
Talking of Quakers and pubs, this same Friend offers the following titbit: ‘Ye Hole in the Wall, said to be Liverpool’s oldest pub, has its cellar on the first floor, because it was built over a Quaker burial ground!’
On this day
Between the tribunal reports and adverts for flannel trousers within the issue of the Friend dated 21 July 1950, Eye spied a curious column written by ‘Q.Q.’
In this edition it turned its attention to the name ‘Religious Society of Friends’ and wondered how far back it stretched: ‘Most Friends would guess about 250 years, allowing for the gradual formation of a Society out of the “Friends of Truth” and “children of the Light” who gathered round George Fox.
‘My attention was recently drawn to this matter by the column “Questions and Answers about Quakers Past and Present” in the Friends’ Intelligencer of Philadelphia, in which Frederick B. Tolles, of the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College, informed his readers that the term “Society of Friends” was not, apparently, used until about 1800. Before that date Friends usually described themselves in official publications as “The religious society of the people called Quakers.”
‘This is fully confirmed at the Library at Friends House. The description now used, says T Edmund Harvey in Quaker Language, published in 1928, seems to have been used officially for the first time in an Address to King George III in 1793.’
Herons and frogs
By the seaside are Quakers in Wells
On the quay side the fishing excels
There the herons chase frogs
Through the ditches and bogs
Which are rich in their nautical smells.
Alec Davison
Eye spy
Have you spotted any surprising mentions of Quakers? Eye, being a sci-fi fan, remembers being thrilled to discover that Connor Trinneer, who played Trip Tucker on Star Trek: Enterprise, was raised a Quaker!
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