Henry Pickworth (c.1673?–c.1738) was an English religious controversialist, from about 1702 hostile to the

Quakers 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 ...

Life

The son of Henry Pickworth, a farmer of New Sleaford,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, he was born there about 1673, and was in business in Sleaford as a tanner. After joining the Quakers, he was appointed an elder and overseer by the Waddington monthly meeting. Hearing that

Francis Bugg Francis Bugg (1640–1727) was an English writer against Quakerism. Life Bugg's father was a wool-comber at Mildenhall, Suffolk, who died when his son was about fifteen, leaving him the business and some property. While still a young man he joine ...

proposed coming, at the instigation of the bishop, to confute the Quakers in Lincolnshire, Pickworth sent him a challenge to visit Sleaford, and hold with him an open dispute. Bugg arrived 11 August 1701, and on 25 August the conference was held in the sessions house, before justices and clergymen. Pickworth was thought to have performed disappointingly, and Bugg was given a certificate, dated 11 March 1702, that he had made good his charges. Two Quaker books were publicly burned in the market-place. Both disputants issued their own version of the conference, and Pickworth then attacked Bugg in pamphlets. Pickworth was soon after completely won over to Bugg's views, and began writing against the Quakers. He went repeatedly to the yearly Quaker meeting held in London in May and June, to present addresses, protests, and "testimonies", but was generally refused an audience. At last, on 9 June 1714, he was disowned by the quarterly meeting of Lincoln for supporting the Camisards. Pickworth vainly petitioned the Lords and Commons for another public conference. He moved to Lynn Regis, Norfolk, before 1738, when he issued a defence of his indictment against the Quakers. He died at Lynn some time after that date.

Works

Among other pamphlets, Pickworth issued ''A Charge of Error, Heresy, Incharity, Falshood, Evasion, Inconsistency, Innovation, Imposition, Infidelity, Hypocrisy, Pride, Raillery, Apostasy, Perjury, Idolatry, Villainy, Blasphemy, Abomination, Confusion, and worse than Turkish Tyranny. Most justly exhibited, and offered to be proved against the most noted Leaders, &c., of the People called Quakers'', London, 1716. Pickworth sought to show that all Quakers were papists, and that

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 ...

died insane. His book provoked replies from

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 ...

and Richard Claridge. In his writings the influence of Thomas Crisp, George Keith and Charles Leslie is seen, as well as Bugg's arguments. In 1730 Pickworth sent another expostulatory letter to the yearly Quaker meeting, which he printed on their refusal to read it.

Family

He married, on 28 March 1696, Winifred, daughter of John Whitchurch (died 1680) of Warwick Lane, London, by whom he had five sons, all born at Sleaford. His widow remained a Quaker minister until her death at Lynn, 1 May 1752.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickworth, Henry Year of death missing English Quakers People from Sleaford, Lincolnshire 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers 18th-century English people English male writers Year of birth uncertain People from King's Lynn