Friends mark Fox’s Cornish connection
‘I’ve said you may not want to tell your story, but I do. I’ve become very warm to Quakers.' Barry West, a Methodist and historian by hobby.
George Fox’s Cornish connection will form part of the celebrations to mark the Quaker co-founder’s 400th anniversary.
Two events will take place at Launceston and St Austell. Quakers in Cornwall and Devon are hoping to arrange a small memorial Meeting for Worship on 7 July at Doomsdale in Launceston Castle, where George Fox was imprisoned in 1655. Another focus will be the connection between George Fox and Loveday Hambly of Tregongeeves. According to Barry West, a ‘historian by hobby’, Loveday Hambly ‘was one of the first in that county who embraced the religious principles of Friends, as well as one of the foremost in upholding them, under many trials, with faithfulness and constancy’.
Her nephew Thomas Lower married Mary Fell, daughter of Margaret Fell, around two years after the latter was in Cornwall on religious service in 1668.
The celebrations so far include a book and slate memorial to Loveday Hambly, which Barry West is working on. The memorial will go in the former Quaker cemetery at Tregongeeves. ‘Loveday Hambly’s name will go first because George believed in equality,’ he said.
Barry West, a Methodist, is also in talks with Cornwall Heritage Trust about installing a blue plaque for Loveday Hambly at the Tregongeeves Farm. The house where Thomas Lower and Mary Fell lived – ‘Penans’ – was also nearby. ‘I’m researching to see if it’s still there.’
‘I wanted to do this project nearly seven years ago,’ Barry West told the Friend. ‘But Covid got in the way. I then discovered that this year is the 400th anniversary of George Fox and, of course, he came to Cornwall. He was in prison at Launceston Jail, where he said the urine was so deep, it went above the top of his shoes. One day, he set fire to the straw to get rid of the smell and the prison officer poured excrement over him. According to George Fox, they were so “bespattered”, he couldn’t touch himself for days. Another thing he said was that there was no “house of office” in the prison. This is a phrase that Samuel Pepys also uses, meaning “latrine”.’
Barry is travelling to Friends House Library to research letters from Thomas Lower, and is in talks with local Friends. ‘I’ve said you may not want to tell your story, but I do. I’ve become very warm to Quakers. I’ve been researching since before Christmas and it’s been the most extraordinary journey. The things Quakers have done over the centuries have made such an impact, particularly for working people, and people of colour.’
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