'Many sons have done virtuously in this day, but dear George, thou excellest them all.'

                                                                                                                     William Penn

George Fox visited Jamaica briefly in 1671.

from The Autobiography of George Fox
[1908 edition]

Chapter XVIII Two Years in America, 1671-3

We had a quick and easy passage to Jamaica, where we met again with our Friends James Lancaster, John Cartwright, and George Pattison, who had been labouring there in the service of Truth; into which we forthwith entered with them, travelling up and down through the island, which is large; and a brave country it is, though the people are, many of them, debauched and wicked.

  We had much service. There was a great convincement, and many received the Truth, some of whom were people of account in the world. We had many meetings there, which were large, and very quiet. The people were civil to us, so that not a mouth was opened against us. I was twice with the Governor, and some other magistrates, who all carried themselves kindly towards me.

  About a week after we landed in Jamaica, Elizabeth Hooton, a woman of great age, who had travelled much in Truth’s service, and suffered much for it, departed this life. She was well the day before she died, and departed in peace, like a lamb, bearing testimony to Truth at her departure.

  When we had been about seven weeks in Jamaica, had brought Friends into pretty good order, and settled several meetings amongst them, we left Solomon Eccles there; the rest of us embarked for Maryland, leaving Friends and Truth prosperous in Jamaica, the Lord’s power being over all, and His blessed Seed reigning. 

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 Wiiliam Edmundson, one of Fox's companions also wrote of their stay in Jamaica:

When we were clear in our service, we took shipping for Jamaica, namely, George Fox, Robert Widders, Solomon Eccles, Elizabeth Hooton and I, being about ten days at sea, we landed at Port-Royal in Jamaica.

We traveled much in that island, and had good service in gathering people to the Lord Jesus Christ, and settling meetings among them. James Lancaster and I travelled over that called Mount-Diabolo, to the north

side of the island, where the people received us gladly, and came to meetings, several were convinced and received the truth; we settled a meeting there for the worship of God.

After some time of labor in the Gospel of Christ, having finished our service in that island, we committed them to the Lord's keeping, and took shipping for Maryland; but Elizabeth Hooton died in Jamaica, being an ancient woman. We left Solomon Eccles there in truth's service, the rest of us shipped with George Fox, for Maryland.

from: A JOURNAL OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM EDMUNDSON: The Irish Hammer

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29

 . . . and afterwards   'By these Friends we understood that William Edmundson, having been at Rhode Island and New England, was gone thence for Ireland; that Solomon Eccles, coming from Jamaica and landing at Boston in New England, was taken at a meeting there, and banished to Barbadoes; that John Stubbs and another Friend were gone into New Jersey, and several other Friends to Barbadoes, Jamaica, and the Leeward Islands. It was matter of joy to us to understand that the work of the Lord went on and prospered, and that Friends were unwearied and diligent in the service. ' [from Fox's Autobiography.]

 Quakers from England were among the earliest settlers in Jamaica in the years immediately after the English conquest of the island in 1655, but by the mid-18th century there were no Quaker meetings in the island and only a few scattered individuals professing Quaker principles.

Colonel Edward D'Oyley, who was in charge in Jamaica for most of the period from the conquest under Oliver Cromwell in 1655 to the restoration of Charles II in 1660, ('commander in chief both by sea and land') had the unenviable task of organising the new colony and trying to establish a settler population. Among the early settlers were people known as Quakers, and D'Oyley knew nothing about them, so wrote to Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe, expressing his concerns and his desire to do what his superiors wanted:

Feb 28 1657:

There are some people lately come hither called Quakers, who have brought letters of credit, and do disperse books amongst us. Now by education and judgment prompting me to an owning of all, that pretend any way to Godliness and righteousness (whereof these people have a very great appearance) and the prints telling me, that the heads of their people are contriving against the Government and accounted conspirators against his Highness (so the book calls them), and humbly to seek your honour’s directions that my carriage in being tender to them, who are people of an unblameable life, and to whose acting  I am a stranger, may not procure blame from him in whose service I am; being desirous to steer my course to the interest I serve, and to appear very heartily and clearly his Highness’s faithful subject.

Clearly D'Oyley accepted that the Quakers were godly folk, but was not sure whether or not they were also dangerous subversives!

D'Oyley's map of Jamaica, 1661

 Some Friends from Barbados fled to Jamaica in 1658 having refused to pay rates and serve in the militia there.

1662:  two Quaker ministers, Ann Robinson and Oswell Heritage, preached the Quaker message in the island.

In 1662, Lord Windsor, the Governor, and the Council  promised the right to gather in meetings for 'Freedom in matters of Conscience' to all who paid their taxes and contributed financially to the defence of the island even if they would not bear arms themselves.

In 1664, however, a very eccentric Quaker, John Perrott, caused an uproar over his theological ideas: I am getting a book on this strange man, so may be I can give more information on this episode - Perrot appears to have died in Jamaica. One of his earlier projects had been to go to Rome in an attempt to convert the Pope to his theological views.

The Quakers continued to have problems because of their refusal to serve in the militia and as sworn jurors

 Quakers continued to settle in Jamaica, though the items below show that at least some of them were transported to the island to serve seven year sentences presumably for refusal to comply with religious and military regulations in England:

8 March 1665
Whereas his Majestie hath appointed severall Masters of Ships to carry some of the Quakers now remayning in Newgate [a prison in London], adjudged to be transported to his Majesties Plantations according to the Liste hereunto annexed, It was this day Ordered by his Majestie in Councill, That the Lord Cheif Justice of the Kings Bench do forthwith give directions to the Sheriffs of London to cause the respective Numbers of the said Quakers adjudged to be transported, to be forthwith delivered on board the said severall ships taking a Recognizance under the hands of the repective Masters for the safe custody of the said Quakers, and delivery of them to the Governors of the severall Plantations whether they are bound.

A Liste of the names of the Masters of Ships bound to the Plantations, to transport Convicted Quakers

Jamaica Merchant, William Gainsford Master, bound for Jamaica, is to carry Three Quakers
John and Thomas, John Ceely Master, bound for the  Barbados, is to transport Six Quakers
Amity of London, Francis Appleby Master, bound for Mevis [sic], is to transport Seven Quakers

[The Officers and Farmers of the Customs are directed to allow these vessels to proceed as soon as they are satisfied that each has embarked its due contingent of Quakers.
Instructions are given to the Governors of Nevis, Jamaica and Barbados to receive the transported Quakers, and to employ such as servants in the plantation of them as did not defray the cost of their own transportation. All are to be detained for a space of seven years.]
[On the 15th sixty Quakers now in Newgate adjudged to be transported are ordered to be handed over by the Sheriff of London to William Fudge, master of the Black Eagle of London, a ship of about one hundred tons burden, manned by a master, eight mariners and a boy, to be conveyed to Jamaica, on the same conditions as in the previous order. The usual orders are issued for freeing the vessel from restrictions and for the redemption of the Quakers by the governor of Jamaica.]

from:  Acts of the Privy Council of England: Colonial Series, Vol. 1, AD 1613-1680

First Published London: HMSO, 1908.

 In 1675 Lord Vaughan proclaimed the Act of Indulgence in Jamaica, which provided some relief to Dissenters in relation to freedom of worship.

 This letter from Francis Crow, a Church of England clergyman who had been ejected from his parish in England because he did not accept the teachings of the church after Charles II's restoration, shows the strength of the Quakers in Port Royal before the earthquake

Letter dated 7th March 1687 from Rev. Francis Crow at Port Royal Jamaica

to Rev. Giles Firmin at Ridgewell, Essex, England.

 

… whereas there is nothing known here but a form of preaching on the Lord’s Day, and many that go on in the common road of public formality may be said to be as dead and senseless here as almost anywhere else; and the people dissatisfied with this have turned Anabaptists and Quakers.

….

Our liberties are like to be as long lived as in any of the King’s plantations; for indeed they can hardly be taken away without apparent danger if not ruin to the island, considering the multitude of Jews upon the Point [Pt Royal] and the many Quakers there are, both here and in the country plantations.

 EARTHQUAKE 1692

  "Ah brother!," a Jamaican QUAKER wrote home two weeks after the earthquake,
"If thou didst see those great persons that are now dead upon the water thou
couldst never forget it. Great men who were so swallowed up with pride,
that a man could not be admitted to speak with them, and women whose
top-knots seemed to reach the clouds, now lie stinking upon the water, and
are made meat for fish and fowls of the air"
[John PIKE to his "Loving Brother," June 19, 1692, in The Widow Witherow's Humble Thanksgiving...with a Letter from Jamaica concerning the Earthquake that
happen'd there (London, 1694), quoted by Henry J. CADBURY in his
unpublished essay, 'QUAKERS and the Earthquake at Port Royal, 1692'.]

 The Quakers, who are usually accurate in their claims, listed 38 dead out of their community of about 60 in Port Royal;  others died later from epidemics that spread after the disaster.

 'The Lord hath a very great controversy with this island' Joseph Norris to his brother Isaac in 1692.

A Quaker family which suffered severely from the earthquake was that of Thomas Norris (or Norrice) who had been a member of the Society of Friends from its early days. Thomas was a London merchant who emigrated to Jamaica c 1678. His son Isaac, aged about 21,  was in Philadelphia in 1692 on business connected with the growing trade between Jamaica and Pennsylvania  when the earthquake struck. Thomas Norris died in the earthquake, and when Isaac returned to Port Royal he buried his brother and sister who died in the aftermath of the disaster. In 1693 Isaac decided to take the £100 which was all that was left from his father's business and return to Philadelphia, where he became one of the city's wealthiest merchants and a prominent public figure.

It is important to note that at this time Quakers were still slave-owners and slave-traders like the members of other Christian denominations. There are a number of references to issues in Barbados over the Quakers bringing their slaves into their worship, but so far no references to this practice in Jamaica have come to hand. Quakers were certainly involved in trading slaves between the Caribbean and North America and both Jonathan Dickenson [of whom more anon] and Isaac Norris are noted as trading in slaves. Norris is reported to have written 'I don't like that kind of business', but like many of his fellow Quakers he did not pursue the logic of his religious beliefs. However, in 1711 the Mennonite Quakers and the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting persuaded the legislature in Pennsylvania to ban the slave trade, but the British government of Queen Anne vetoed the law. It was only in the 1760s that the ongoing protests and opposition to slavery and the slave trade by individual Quakers and Quaker Meetings led to Meetings in Britain and America coming out firmly against these evils and obliging members of the Society of Friends to make a choice between their religious faith and their commercial activities.

                                                                 St Elizabeth in the mid-18th century

 A Quaker family of note in Jamaica in the 17th century was the Dickinson (or Dickenson) family in St Elizabeth. The family name is still remembered today because of its involvement in the Munro and Dickenson Trust which still administers the two schools, Munro College and Hampton School, in St Elizabeth.

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INTO THE 18th CENTURY

By the beginning of the eighteenth century it is said that in Jamaica alone there were nearly ten thousand followers of the Quaker faith.

1707

Thomas Chalkley wrote of his visit to Jamaica in the latter part of 1707

. . . and the next Day we got to Jamaica, and had divers Meetings, viz. at  Port-Royal, Kingston, and  Spanish-Town, &c. At a Meeting at Spanish-Town, there were divers Jews, to whom my Heart was very open, and I felt great Love to them, for the Sake of their Fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they were so affected with the Meeting, that they sent us some unleavened Cakes, made with fine Flour and sweet Oil, it being a Festival Time with them. We had a Meeting at Port-Royal, in a Place where the Earthquake had destroyed a large Building, in which Meeting I had Occasion to remind them of the righteous Judgments of God,  which had been justly inflicted on them for their Sins and Wickedness. Some wept, and some were rude. The People here, as I was informed, were generally very wicked. After having had divers Meetings, the Packet in which we had taken our Passage, being oblig'd to stay but ten Days, we went off sooner than we otherwise should have done, and solemnly taking Leave of those Friends that were there, we went on board our Vessel, in order for England, by God's Permission.

A JOURNAL OF THE Life, Labours, Travels, &c. OF THOMAS CHALKLEY

Pages 57-8

1738

In his history of the Diocese of Jamaica, Ellis quotes from a letter written in 1738, chiefly about the problems of the church, which mentions in passing the Quaker meeting in Kingston.

And though Religions of all Christian Sects are tolerated, the Church of England is the Chief established, and the Clergy are better provided for there than at home, except in Dignities or Power of Ecclesiastical Courts ; . . . . At Kingston is a large Congregation, where may be seen from fourteen to twenty Coaches and Chariots every Sunday ; the Quakers have also a meeting there.

p43

THE DIOCESE OF JAMAICA: A SHORT ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORY, GROWTH AND

ORGANISATION. BY THE REV. J. B. ELLIS M.A.

 FURTHER INFORMATION:

 The Society of Friends in the Caribbean in the 17th century:

No Peace Beyond the Line, Carl and Roberta Bridenbaugh, 1972 - has useful information

For the later history of the Society of Friends in Jamaica:

The Fairest Isle by Mary Jones Langford

For general information on the Society of Friends or Quakers:

Origins  of the Society of Friends

the worthy frog