Samuel Bownas (1676–1753) was a
Quaker travelling minister, and writer. He lived in the
Lancaster and
Dover areas of England. His book ''A Description of the Qualifications Necessary to a Gospel Minister'' is used to inform Quaker ministry to this day.
Childhood
Samuel Bownas was born in 1676, to Quaker parents, although his father died when he was a month old. His father had been a Friend during the time of Quaker persecution, with meetings of the Friends having been held in his house. Bownas was admitted as a member of
Great Strickland (
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 ...
) Monthly Meeting as a baby. During his childhood he did not have a great taste for Quakerism or religion at all, although his mother would read accounts of his father's sufferings to him in the evenings, and he went with his mother to meeting and to visit Friends imprisoned in
Appleby. He was apprenticed to his uncle as a blacksmith, at the age of 13.
Religious conversion
In 1696, his life was changed. At this time he was apprenticed to Samuel Parrott, a Friend from
Briggflatts
''Briggflatts'' is a long poem by Basil Bunting published in 1966. The work is subtitled "An Autobiography." The title "Briggflatts" comes from the name of Brigflatts Meeting House (spelled with one "g" in Quaker circles), a Quaker Friends meet ...
meeting in
Sedbergh
Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. The 2001 census gave the parish a population of 2,705, increasing at the 2011 census to 2,765. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies about east of Kendal, nor ...
. Attending
meeting for worship, another Friend, Anne Wilson rose in worship and accused him of being no better for his attendance of meeting for worship, and that would prove perilous for him "in the end". Afterwards he felt called to preach and read the Bible with greater ease. His famous ''A Description of the Qualifications Necessary to a Gospel Minister'' was first printed in 1750.
Having first journeyed to Scotland, he sailed for America aboard the ''Josiah'', John Sowden, master. He landed two months later in
Potuxant River,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
about 29 May 1702, and continued his work.
Bownas died at
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and wit ...
, Dorset on 2 April 1753.
[Gil Skidmore, "Bownas, Samuel (1677–1753)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200]
6 February 2015
/ref>
Notes
References
* Bownas, S. ''A Description of the Qualification Necessary to a Gospel Minister.'' Pendle Hill Publications, 1989.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bownas, Samuel
English Quakers
English religious writers
English tax resisters
1676 births
1753 deaths
17th-century Quakers
18th-century Quakers