Francis Howgill (1618 – 11 February 1669) was a prominent early member of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

(Quakers) in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He preached and wrote on the teachings of the Friends and is considered one of the

Valiant Sixty The Valiant Sixty were a group of early activists and itinerant preachers in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Mainly from northern England, they spread the ideas of the Friends in the second half of the 17th century. They were also call ...

, men and women who were early proponents of Friends' beliefs and suffered for them.

Life

Howgill was born about 1618, probably of yeoman parents, in Todthorne, near

Grayrigg Grayrigg is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 223, increasing at the United Kingdom Censu ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

in northern

. He probably made his living as a farmer and a tailor. He studied theology and in 1652 became a minister of the established church in Colton. He explored the teachings of the

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

s, the Independents,

Seekers The Seekers, or Legatine-Arians as they were sometimes known, were an English dissenting group that emerged around the 1620s, probably inspired by the preaching of three brothers – Walter, Thomas, and Bartholomew Legate. Seekers considered all ...

and Baptists: but shortly after, he and John Audland (another minister) encountered

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...

, an early leader in the Friends movement, preaching on

Firbank Fell Firbank Fell is a hill in Cumbria between the towns of Kendal and Sedbergh that is renowned as a place where George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), preached. Fox described what happened there on 13 June 1652 in t ...

and were convinced. Soon after Howgill was imprisoned in

Appleby-in-Westmorland Appleby-in-Westmorland is a market town and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, with a population of 3,048 at the 2011 Census. Crossed by the River Eden, Appleby was the county town of the historic county of Westmorland. I ...

for refusing to remove his hat when appearing in court in defence of

James Nayler James Nayler (or Naylor; 1618–1660) was an English Quaker leader. He was among the members of the Valiant Sixty, a group of early Quaker preachers and missionaries. In 1656, Nayler achieved national notoriety when he re-enacted Christ's Palm ...

. Afterwards he met Edward Burrough. The two spread the Quaker message together and became close friends. Among those they converted around 1654 was Hester Biddle. They established the Religious Society of Friends in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and also worked in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Howgill published ''A Woe Against the Magistrates, Priests, and People of Kendall'', (1654) endorsing the Quaker practice of "going naked as a sign". The Quakers in London came under the influence of Nayler and when Fox parted company with him in 1656, Howgill tried, unsuccessfully, to bring about a reconciliation. In 1657 he was in Scotland, and in 1661 he was in prison in London. Howgill was married first to a woman named Dorothy. After her death in 1657 he married Mary, who is counted, along with him, as one of the Valiant Sixty, a group of early Quaker preachers and missionaries. After the Restoration he claimed, in his tract ''One Warning More'' (1660), that the nation had "chosen madness". In 1663 he refused to swear the oath of allegiance to the crown and was sentenced to life imprisonment at Appleby. During that time people came to support him and to seek advice. but his ''General Epistle'' (1665) showed pessimism as to any Quaker triumph over adversity. He became sick in prison and died on 11 February 1669.Catie Gill, "Howgill, Francis (1618?–1669)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 200
retrieved 11 November 2015. Pay-walled
/ref> In 1676 a collection of his writings, ''The Dawnings of the Gospel-Day, and its Light and Glory Discovered'', was published.

References

External links

*
David Murray-Rust's History of Quakerism
* ttp://www.calledtoholiness.com/quakers/lives/eburrough/appendixa.html Texts of Some Epistles by Francis Howgill and Robert Barclay, Jointlybr>The Quaker Women Online entry for Hester Biddle, who converted to Quakerism after hearing Burrough and Francis Howgill preach
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howgill, Francis English Quakers Converts to Quakerism People from Westmorland 1618 births 1668 deaths 17th-century Quakers

Life

See also

References

External links