Mary Dudley born Mary Stokes (1750 – September 24, 1823) was a

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Quaker minister. Despite having four step children and five of her own children, Dudley, preached throughout Britain and Ireland. She was recognised as a role model because the freedom granted to her, as a woman, allowed her to achieve more.

Life

Dudley was born 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 ...

in 1750 into a family that may have had thirty members. Her family were so strong members of the Church of England, that when Dudley decided to follow the Quakers there was angry relatives and talk of disapprobation by

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

. She had joined the Methodist Society too, and Wesley had wanted her to be a leader. He wrote a troubled letter to her in 1772. Dudley was 21 and an adult and with her mother's support she defended her position and replied to Wesley. She was already preaching when she became the third wife of Robert Dudley on 9 July 1777 and they lived in

Frenchay Frenchay is a village in the County of South Gloucestershire, England, and the Civil Parish of Winterbourne. It is on the outskirts to the north east of the city of Bristol. Frenchay was first recorded in 1257 as ''Fromscawe'' and later as '' ...

. Her Irish husband had four children and their son Charles Stokes Dudley was born in 1780. She started preaching more widely in 1786 and by 1788 she was leaving her family to tour on the continent with a group of other Quakers. She continued to tour Britain and her preaching would attract considerable interest. In the early 1790s she was one of several Quaker preachers who evangelised throughout Ireland, but in 1796 ill health drove her to convalesce in

Hotwells Hotwells is a district of the English port city of Bristol. It is located to the south of and below the high ground of Clifton, and directly to the north of the Floating Harbour. The southern entrance to the Avon Gorge, which connects the docks ...

. She returned to Ireland and to work after a few weeks but by 1798 she was back convalescing in Bristol. By 1807 she was living in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

, she had three more children, but all of her step children had died and her husband also died. One consolation was that she was supported by a strong Quaker community in Clonmel.

Death and legacy

She died in Peckham in 1823. In 1825 her autobiography "The life of Mary Dudley, with some account of the illness and death of her daughter, Hannah" was published after being edited by her daughter Elizabeth Dudley. Her daughter Elizabeth Dudley became a leading Quaker and her son Charles Stokes Dudley was active in the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

. Charles' son

Robert Charles Dudley Robert Charles Dudley (1826 – 28 April 1909) was a British watercolourist and lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone ( ...

was a noted artist. In 1880

Matilda Sturge Matilda Sturge (29 May 1829 – 13 June 1903) was a British Quaker minister, poet and essayist from Bristol. She wrote about the lives of four Quaker women who had achieved because they were allowed the freedom to do so. Sturge is considered to ha ...

wrote about four leading Quaker women: Elizabeth Gurney Fry, Hannah Chapman Backhouse, Mary Dudley and her daughter Elizabeth Dudley. The book was titled ''Types of Quaker Womanhood'' and it was published by the Friends' Tract Association. The short work showed how Mary and the other Quaker women had contributed good works because they enjoyed less restrictions in their lives than many women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Mary 1750 births 1823 deaths Clergy from Bristol British Quakers