Quaking in Her Boots…

Local Lancastrian Jenny Palmer dwells into the turbulent times of the Pendle Witch trials and the impact on the family members of the accused in her book ‘Witches, Quakers and Nonconformists.’ Jenny discovers the forthright Lancastrian women who were determined to follow their beliefs, despite persecution and in the midst of paranoia and distrust. One of these women was Elizabeth Bulcock who dissented from the Protestants and joined the Quakers.

Traditionally women were supposed to be happy to do ‘housewifery, arts and crafts, spin and sew, garden, preserve and help others and meditate on the divine,’ while music, dance and classical languages were the preserve of men (Trevett, 1991, p.129). The Quaker movement was radical in its conception of women’s role. Many women went through a dramatic ‘convincement’ (spiritual conversion) under George Fox’s watch. Quaker women couldn’t fail to be conscious of the hostility their beliefs aroused. Whether they were travelling around preaching or keeping house and worshipping at home, they lived a life of insecurity. In the 1660s, there was constant fear of a husband being caught and being carted off to prison for a substantial length of time or of having to pay an exorbitant fine.

Quaker women couldn’t fail to be conscious of the hostility their beliefs aroused. Whether they were travelling around preaching or keeping house and worshipping at home, they lived a life of insecurity.

Elizabeth Bulcock appears in the Quaker Records, both in the minutes of the Women’s meetings and in the Book of Sufferings. She was born Elizabeth Hargreaves at Middop near Martin Top in 1635 and married William Bulcock from Foothouse Gate in 1657. William’s mother was Elizabeth Duxbury, whose family had an estate in Twiston. In 1670, a presentiment was served against Elizabeth and her husband William ‘for going to a conventicle in James Whipp’s house and for not going to church and for being Quakers.’ In 1672, their son John died and was buried in the Twiston Quaker burial ground.

In 1675, her husband William died and was also buried in the burial ground. In the same year James Whipp and his servant Elizabeth Crosdale died, thereby decimating the Twiston group.

Elizabeth was a widow of forty-two by this time. Her youngest daughter Anne was only five. Two of her daughters, Jane and Sarah, were not included in William’s will of 1675, as they had already married. Elizabeth was well provided for. Since the Magna Carta in 1215, widows had been given protection under the law and Elizabeth was no exception. She was to have ‘her position and inheritance at once and without trouble,’ and could not be compelled to re-marry. She inherited ‘the normal share for a widow’ and could stay in her house, along with her son Henry, then aged thirteen. Henry, their only surviving son, was to inherit the ‘messuages and land at Twiston.’

Since the Magna Carta in 1215, widows had been given protection under the law and Elizabeth was no exception.

All the children were to have an education until they were twenty-one. It was to be paid for by selling land if necessary, and each of the daughters was to get £40 (Will of William Bulcock, 1675). In 1677, two years after her father, their daughter Mary died, and was buried in the Twiston Quaker burial ground.

In 1670 Elizabeth had been charged for going to a Quaker meeting in the house of James Whipp. In that same year, the Second Conventicle Act increased the fines for preaching and holding conventicles to £20, which was an exorbitant sum of money. As was the custom, one third of the fine went to the King, one third to the poor and one third to any informer. After the death of James Whipp and her husband William in 1675, Elizabeth did not waiver.

In 1671 Women’s Meetings had been set up and in 1678 Elizabeth took over the running of the Twiston group and held Quaker conventicles in her house. The number of Quakers in Twiston had been severely depleted, but people came to the meetings from surrounding hamlets and villages, such as Grindleton, Middop, Martin Top, Newby and Sawley. Like other Quakers, Elizabeth flouted the law in another way. She did not pay her tithes. Nonpayment of tithes in Lancashire was, according to Morgan (1993), seen as a badge of membership. It was part of the ‘missionary impulse to overcome the world through strict maintenance of all parts of their discipline.’ Tithe testimonies were a clear demonstration of this. Elizabeth’s tithe testimony was recorded in the Sawley Women’s minutes, as part of the Marsden minutes,1678, where she wrote:

‘Friends, I pay no tithe, nor nothing of yt nature, but they come and take ye corne off ye fields, without any consent of mine. And here I give Testimony yt I am clear concerning those things. And I hope I shal stand a living witness for the Lord whilst I have a day to live.’

On January 28th in 1682/3, Elizabeth was arrested for a holding a ‘conventicle’ (iIlegal religious meeting) in her house, along with thirteen others from across the region. They were ‘Henry Bailey of Grindleton, husbandman, John Scott, son of John Scott of Longamrow, husbandman, Elizabeth Scott, his sister, spinster, Margaret Ingham of Whalley, within Sawley, spinster, Thomas Scott of Easington, husbandman, Thomas Robinson of Gisburn, shopkeeper, John Baldwin of Howgill, carpenter, Bridgit his wife, James Hoult of the same, husbandman, William Watson of Middop, husbandman, Margaret Watson his mother, of the same, Thomas Driver of Gaisgill, hatter, and William Oddie of Martin Top, tanner.’

It was common practice for Quakers to be turned over to the law by their neighbours

The case came before Thomas Parker, Christopher Wilkinson, and Henry Marsden at the Quarter Sessions Court in 1683. Substantial fines were recovered: £20 from Elizabeth for holding the meeting, 5/10 shillings from the rest. It was a very severe penalty for Elizabeth. A cow was worth between £3 and £4. £20 was worth about £2,600 today.

 

Twiston was, and still is, a close-knit, rural community. It was common practice for Quakers to be turned over to the law by their neighbours, especially because informers stood to gain one third of the fines. Sometimes goods were distrained without recourse to the law as going to the court was a lengthy process. Elizabeth had her goods taken by her neighbours Henry Speake, constable of Twiston, James Starkie and Thomas Slater of Twiston. But that didn’t deter her, and two weeks later she went to a Quaker meeting in Clitheroe at the house of Roger Lee, together with thirteen other Quakers.

This time, being a participant rather than the host, Elizabeth was fined just five shillings. No doubt she was annoyed when her son Henry stepped in and ‘looseth the goods and paid 2/3 of the fine,’ the other third being given to the poor, as was the custom. The constable on this occasion was Henry Speake, and the informers were Anthony Croftly, Thomas Wilkinson and Thomas Driver. They were named in the Marsden Quaker Book of Sufferings.

There are no more reports of incidents concerning Elizabeth in the Quaker Records after 1682/3. She lived to see the passing of the Act of Toleration in 1689. Under this act, the statutes of Charles II against holding conventicles were repealed and concessions were made regarding oaths of allegiance, whereby people could swear an affirmation instead of an oath. Elizabeth died in 1701, at the age of sixty-six. As far as we know, she was the last of the original Twiston Quaker group.

Jenny Palmer will be signing copies of her book at 12pm in Pendle Heritage Centre on Friday 15th July 2022.

NorthernLife July/August 2022