Page 25 - SPRING 2024 News and Views

already free of prison by the Autumn of 1658). Out of these 115, 60 had been arrested over tithes, the
next largest category was for interrupting ministers in church (42) and the rest were in prison for various
offences. It ended with a pronouncement including the following words: ‘Now is the lambe risen and
rising to make warr with the great dragon, the beast, and false prophets (i.e. the clergy) … Therefore lett
all Kings, Princes, Rulers, Magistrates be warned not to take part with the beast, not to uphold their
power with false prophets. But leave Christ Jesus in his saints to manage the warr… yett are they mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds … that way may be made for the Lord Jesus Christ who is
coming to reign & to take ye dominion to himself …’ The petition was not successful.

Living with such excitement, early Quakers, such as Thomas Smallbone, saw persecution as proof of the
‘warr’ and were steadfast in their refusal to go against their consciences. Obviously fines and
imprisonment brought great hardship but they also brought the strengthening bonds of support and the
encouragement of martyrdom. On the other side of the argument, John Parkes, an educated man married
into the local gentry and perhaps with a London knowledge of Cromwell’s increasingly hard stance over
tithes, pounces on the dangerous insubordination as soon as he dares. The record of Thomas Smallbone’s
arrest suggests that he was subpoenaed before the Lord Protector died in September.

The battle between the Quakers and the establishment produced a benefit for us today. Early on in the
movement , accounts of ‘sufferings’ were sent to London and collected in great volumes which are still
held in the Friend’s House. The first pieces of evidence were copied down in the late 1670s including the
indignant account of our local affair:

‘Thomas Smallbone, of Eadon in the County of Northton was subpoenaed … to London by John Parkes
priest of the Towne … Thomas appeared accordingly but his appearance would not be taken on his own
person without an attorney, and after a while the priest gott an (execution?) for body and goods and by
virtue thereof cast him into prison, and while he was there took away or caused to be taken .. goods as
was (valued?) about nine pounds for the sum of three pounds ffive shillings w(hi)ch the priest counted his
due and was not satisfied with the goods but cast Thomas into the … Goal in Northampton, where he lay
ffive weeks.

Note: To put the sums of money into context the average incomes in 1688 were roughly as follows:
labourers £15, artisans £38 and lower clergy £50 per annum
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hugh Barbour, The Quakers in Puritan England, Yale University. 1964, p225
Barbour, op.cit.p156
Edward Burrough, A Message for Instruction to All the Rulers, London, 1658
Barbour, op.cit. p181
QFHS, Extracts from State Papers, Sup 8-11. Cited in Barbour, op.cit., p199
SJ Yyrrell, A Countryman’s Tale, Constable, London. 1973 p28
Ellis Hookes, The Record of Friends ‘ Sufferings, Voume II, 1650-1680
SJ Tyrrell, op. cit. p30

Eydon is a small village in the county of Northants but actually only 10 miles from Banbury, Oxfordshire. Sadly it has
lost all the amenities it once had. Only the parish church remains as a focal point in the village.

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