William Mead (1628–1713) was a London merchant, and a prominent early

Quaker 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 ...

, connected by marriage to

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 ...

Life

Mead became a wealthy linen draper of

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate offic ...

in the City of London, and member of the Company of Merchant Taylors. He was captain of a train-band, before joining the Quakers in 1670. On 14 August of that year he was present at a crowded meeting in

Gracechurch Street Gracechurch Street is a main road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London, which is designated the A1213. It is home to a number of shops, restaurants, and offices and has an entrance to Leadenhall Market, a covered ...

, at which

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

was the preacher; both were arrested and committed to

Newgate Gaol Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, th ...

William Penn & William Mead - plaque - 01

The trial of Penn and Mead, at which they defended the right of free worship, began at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The ...

on 1 September 1670. They were accused of disturbing the peace by unlawfully assembling together by agreement, and pleaded not guilty. The jury pronounced on 5 September that Penn was not guilty of breaking the law, and that Mead was not guilty at all; but jury and prisoners were committed to Newgate. Penn's father, Sir William Penn, was stated by

Gerard Croese Gerard Croese (26 April 1642, Amsterdam – 10 May 1710, Dordrecht) was a Dutch Reformed minister and author. He is now remembered as an early historian of the Society of Friends, with his ''Historia Quakeriana'' (1695). It is considered sympatheti ...

to have paid fines to secure their release. A detailed account of the trial, under the title ''The People's Ancient and Just Liberties asserted'', was published (London, 1670) by Penn and Mead, and it is also related at length by

Joseph Besse 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, where he was a writing master. There he marr ...

in his ''Collection of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers''. The handling of the trial gave rise to Bushel's Case. Thomas Vere, the jury foreman, paid a fine and was released. Edward Bushel(l), one of a group of four jurors who disputed their treatment, successfully applied to the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against o ...

for a writ of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

, and they were released, following a ruling by

Sir John Vaughan John Vaughan may refer to: Gentry * John Vaughan, 1st Earl of Carbery (1574/75–1634), Welsh courtier and MP for Carmarthenshire 1601, 1621 *John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Carbery (1639–1713), Governor of Jamaica and President of the Royal Society, ...

. Mead later lived at

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

, and entertained George Fox there in 1677. He held a leading position among the Quakers, and several times waited on the king with George Whitehead and others. He purchased about 1684 the estate of Goosehays (also Goosehayes, Gooses), in

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a ...

parish,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Gr ...

, where Fox was a visitor. He died at Goosehays 3 April 1713, aged 86, and was buried in the Friends' cemetery at Barking with a headstone.

Works

Mead wrote, with Whitehead and others, several vindications of "the people called Quakers". One of these was delivered to the House of Lords, 21 February 1701.

Family

Mead married and lost his first wife, Mary Lawrence, in 1679. A child, Jonathan, died in 1680. In 1681 Mead married Sarah Fell, fourth daughter of

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

(died 1658) and

Margaret Fell Margaret Fell orMargaret Fox ( Askew, formerly Fell; 1614 – 23 April 1702) was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends. Known popularly as the "mother of Quakerism," she is considered one of the Valiant Sixty early Quaker preachers and m ...

; Margaret married George Fox as her second husband. Sarah Fell was a preacher, Hebrew scholar, manager of the large household at Swarthmoor, and a correspondent of William Penn and

Robert Barclay Robert Barclay (23 December 16483 October 1690) was a Scottish Quaker, one of the most eminent writers belonging to the Religious Society of Friends and a member of the Clan Barclay. He was a son of Col. David Barclay, Laird of Urie, and his ...

. She had been sought in marriage by Richard Lower, court physician, whose brother

married her sister Mary. Sarah Fell obtained from the king in 1670 the order for the release of her mother (then Mrs. Fox) from prison, which she herself conveyed to Lancaster. She was the first clerk of the Lancashire Women's Quarterly Meeting, and before she left Swarthmoor drew up for her sisters ''Instructions how you may order the business in the Quarterly Women's Meeting Book''. Her account-book of family expenditure and many letters were preserved in the Swarthmoor Manuscripts. She died at Goosehays, 9 June 1714, and was buried with her husband at Barking. To Nathaniel Mead, a lawyer and politician who was knighted, his "dear and onely child", Meade left by will his estates in London, Middlesex, Kent, Essex, and Surrey. He left also legacies to the poor among Quakers and others.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Mead, William 1628 births 1713 deaths English merchants English Quakers