Page 15 - NewsandViews Summer 2024

Books for Wimborne Len Wigg

We can never foresee what may follow a decision….

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Saturday April 24 2024 was a significant day for the Area Meeting, held that afternoon, when the
decision was made to sell the Bournemouth Meeting House. Understandably it was a long and complex
meeting.

Two of us present, Tom Sanders and I, heard of an amazing bit of synchronicity they had experienced
recently, for which we had some responsibility.

In order to explain this, the real starting point was last summer when Pat and I went to Wimborne; she
looked round a few shops and I went to the Minster. I noticed the famous Chained Library was open for
visitors, so I climbed the spiral staircase. The library was founded in
1686.

Roger Gillett, a member of Poole Friends for many years, had bought
quite a lot of old books during his lifetime, many of which were still in
Poole Meeting House Library. Their storage conditions there were not
ideal, since in the winter the heating is only on for a couple of hours at a
time. One of the special books was a first edition of George Fox’s
‘Journal’ printed in 1705. I wondered if the Wimborne library might be a
better home for it.

Subsequently I consulted Poole Friends and then Roger’s widow, who
agreed to the donation, since Roger had previously given books to various national libraries like The
Bodlean at Oxford. So I made an official request for a ‘change of abode’ and in November there was a
‘welcoming’ party for us. Tom and I had a remarkable hour long conversation with the Rector and library
helpers and they were so obviously delighted to have such a book in their collection. Although George
Fox never recorded a visit to Wimborne, he was as near as Longham, pausing for refreshment and
presumably a rest for his horse, when travelling from Ringwood to Poole four times between 1655 and
1663.

However the Meeting House library had a lot more old books, including a very special pair donated in
1755 of Joseph Besse’s ‘A Collection of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers’. In 1727 London
Yearly Meeting had minuted a desire that details of ‘ye sufferings and imprisonments of Friends for
Tythes and on all other accounts, into proper heads from ye beginning of our being a People to this time’.
This work took 26 years to complete and 1000 copies were printed in 1753. The first 700 went to
subscribers, but in 1755 100 copies were distributed to 43 Quarterly Meetings. A fairly pristine set
inscribed to ‘Members of the Peculiar Meeting at Poole’ now resides in Wimborne.

The library opened for visitors at Easter and they decided to put the opened Journal in a special ‘featured
book’ cabinet for the month of April. A visitor came from America, who had Quaker connections, and she
was astounded to find the Journal on display, and spent a long time reading it. We heard this story as we
took a further dozen or so Quaker books to them. They are now planning a special Quaker section,
possibly in the crypt. This is a totally unexpected outcome from the first donation, which we could not
have forseen at all! The Minster has a very welcoming policy to all and they have very clearly shown this
to us.

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