John Braithwaite (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1660) was an English

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

Early life

Braithwaite was probably born in 1633, as there is an entry in the Cartmel registers of the baptism on 24 March 1633 of John, son of James Braithwaite of Newton.

Career

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 ...

records in his ' Journal' that, being at Newton-in-Cartmel in 1652, where he attempted to preach to the people after service, he spoke to a youth whom he noticed in the chapel taking notes. The young man was John Braithwaite, who afterwards became his earnest follower. He published three tracts in support of Fox's doctrines: * ''A serious Meditation upon the dealings of God with England and the State thereof in General'' (not dated) * ''The Ministers of England which are called the Ministers of the Gospel weighed in the Balance of Equity, &c.,'' (1660) * ''To all those that observe Days, Months, Times, and Years, &c.,'' (1660) In 1658 he, or one of his name, travelled many miles to visit a friend confined in Ilchester gaol, but was "unmercifully beaten by the wicked gaoler and not suffered to come in;" and at another time he was sent to prison, along with Thomas Briggs, a

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

man, for preaching at Salisbury. A John Braithwaite, who may be the same man, was resident in the island of

Barbadoes Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

between 1669 and 1693, where he suffered frequent fines in default of not appearing in arms, and for refusing to pay church dues. Braithwaite is stated by Smith in his ''Catalogue of Friends' Books'' to have died at

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

, Wiltshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braithwaite, John 1630s births Year of death unknown English religious writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers 17th-century Quakers English male non-fiction writers People from Cartmel