Joseph Besse (c. 1683–1757) was an English Quaker controversialist. He quantified the sufferings and persecution undergone by the Quakers.

Biography

Besse was born about 1683 and lived in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

, where he was a writing master. There he married on 9 October 1716 Hannah Dehorne, who died in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

. Besse then moved to

Ratcliff Ratcliff or Ratcliffe is a locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames between Limehouse (to the east), and Shadwell (to the west). The place name is no longer commonly used. History Etymolog ...

, now part of east London, where he died on 25 November 1757 and was buried in the Friends' burial ground. His son of the same name emigrated to Pennsylvania. Besse was a convert to the Quakers from the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

, in which he had refused a

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

worth 400

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

a year.

Works

Besse was a vigorous controversialist. Various works of his have been edited by William Sewel, Richard Claridge, Henton Brown, Isaac Penington, and Samuel Bownas. His main books and tracts were: *''Carmen Spirituale . . . olim a Richardo Claridge Anglice compositum et editum et nunc Latine versum ab J. B.'', London, 1728 *''A Cloud of Witnesses proving that the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry hath misrepresented the Quakers'' (signed J. B.), London, 1732 *''A Defence of Quakerism'', London, 1732 *''Abstract of the Sufferings of the People call'd Quakers'', London, vol. i. 1733, vols. ii. and iii. 1738 (not an abridgment of the ''Sufferings'' mentioned below) *''The Protestant Flail'' (anonymous book on

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

), London, 1735 *''A Brief Account of many of the Prosecutions of the People call'd Quakers for Tithes, Church-rates, &c.'' (anon.), London, 1736 *''A Collection of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers, for the Testimony of a Good Conscience, from 1650 to 1689'', London, 1753, 2 vols, folio. Among those mentioned is Barbara Blaugdone as "a Woman of good Parts and Education". *''The Universality of the Love of God to Mankind'', London, 1755 *''Some Scriptural Observations on (1) the Spirituality of Gospel-worship; (2) the Nature of true Christian Prayer; (3) Our Saviour's Direction concerning Fasting'', London, 1756 His prime work is the ''Sufferings of the Quakers'', a laborious compilation of cases of persecution against Quakers, arranged by British counties, followed by New England, Barbados, Nevis, Bermudas, Antigua, Maryland, Jamaica, Europe and Asia, Isle of Malta, Hungary and Austria, Danzig, Hamburg, Germany, Ireland and Scotland. In 1746, Blesse edited and published a work by Penington, which he entitled ''The Doctrine of the People called Quakers, in relation to bearing arms and fighting; extracted from the Works of a Learned and Approved Writer of that Persuasion''. This defended Quaker beliefs on

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

, reacting to anonymous writings by Richard Finch.

References

English Quakers 18th-century English people 1680s births 1757 deaths People from Colchester Converts to Quakerism English religious writers Quaker theologians Quaker writers English male non-fiction writers {{England-reli-bio-stub