George Fox

The English spiritual reformer George Fox (1624-1691) was the chief inspirer of the Society of Friends, or Quakers.

The son of a weaver, George Fox was born in July 1624 at Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire. He became a cobbler with little book learning beyond the Bible. When he was 19, a voice told him to "forsake all"; so he became a dropout, wandering about England in a solitary quest for religious truth. Gradually he clarified his beliefs, convinced that he derived them from direct experiences of God's light within him, "without the help of any man, book, or writing."

Holding that every man and woman could be similarly enlightened by Christ, Fox began "declaring truth" in public and developed into a dynamic, fanatically sincere speaker. He preached in barns, houses, and fields and in churches "after the priest had done"; but because his zeal sometimes led him to interrupt services, he was imprisoned as a disturber of public order. Inspired by the "Inner Voice," he became spiritual leader of some Nottinghamshire former Baptists but then went to the north of England, preaching, praying, and protesting at every opportunity. In 1652 he trudged about Yorkshire, a sturdy figure in leather breeches wearing a broadbrimmed hat over the ringlets of hair which fell to his shoulders.

Though Fox denounced creeds, forms, rites, external sacraments, and a "man-made" ministry, he became something of a negative formalist, refusing to doff his hat to anyone or to call months and days by their pagan names; and he used "thee" and "thou" instead of "you." Such flouting of conventions provoked intense opposition. Fox was repeatedly beaten by rowdies and persecuted by the pious, and the forces of law and order imprisoned him eight times for not conforming to the establishment. But his indomitable courage and his emphasis on the spirit rather than the letter of religion won him converts, even among his persecutors.

Paradoxically, this opponent of institutional religion showed a genius for organizing fellowships of Friends complete with unpaid officers, regular meetings, and funding arrangements. As a result, though his message was universal, individualistic, and spiritual, Fox founded what, by 1700, became the largest Nonconformist sect in England. In 1654 he organized a team of some 60 men and women as a mission to southern England. After converting many there, he extended his own preaching to Scotland (1657-1658), Wales (1657), Ireland (1669), the West Indies and America (1671-1673), the Netherlands (1677 and 1684), and Germany (1677). By 1660 he was issuing epistles to the Pope, the Turkish Sultan, and the Emperor of China. He was a strange mixture of fanaticism and common sense, selflessness and exhibitionism, liberalism and literalism.

In 1669 Fox married the outstanding female leader in the Quaker movement, Margaret, widow of his friend and patron Thomas Fell. But God's service took priority over their partnership, which was interrupted by his missions, his imprisonments in 1673-1675, and his supervision of the movement. He died in London on Jan. 13, 1691.

Fox composed hundreds of tracts for his times, defending principles of the Friends and exposing other men as sinners and ministers of the "Great Whore of Babylon;" but it is by his Journal, a record of his day-to-day activities and thoughts, that he is best remembered.

Further Reading

The first edition of Fox's Journal (1694) was a revision of the original texts. The two-volume edition by Norman Penney, with an introduction by T. Edmund Harvey (1911), is based on the chief source manuscript; and there is a revised text of it, also by Penney (1924). The standard edition of the Journal is the revised edition of John L. Nickalls (1952). All of these editions contain the preface by William Penn. The eight-volume edition of Fox's Works (1831) is not readily accessible.

Among biographical studies, Vernon Noble, The Man in Leather Breeches: The Life and Times of George Fox (1953), is for the general reader. More specialized are Rachel Hadley King, Fox and the Light Within, 1650-1660 (1940), and Henry E. Wildes, Voice of the Lord: A Biography of George Fox (1965). Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell: Mother of Quakerism (1949), is a study of Fox's wife. Hugh Barbour, The Quakers in Puritan England (1964), relates Fox to the historical background, including the findings of more recent research. There is more background detail in William C. Braithwaite, The Beginnings of Quakerism (1912; 2d ed. rev. 1955) and The Second Period of Quakerism (1919; 2d ed. 1961). □

George Fox 1624–91, English religious leader, founder of the Society of Friends , b. Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire. As a boy he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and wool dealer. By nature serious and contemplative, Fox at the age of 19 entered upon a wandering quest for spiritual enlightenment. In 1646 he underwent a mystical experience that convinced him that Christianity was not an outward profession but an inner light by which Christ directly illumines the believing soul. Revelation was for Fox not confined to the Scriptures. In 1647 he began to preach. Although often the victim of mob brutality and eight times imprisoned between 1649 and 1675, Fox won many followers, especially among groups of separatists . In 1668 he prepared the first pattern of organization, which was for some years to serve as the discipline of the Society of Friends. The London Yearly Meeting was started in 1671. To confirm his followers in their beliefs and to spread the truths, Fox went in 1671 to the West Indies and to America, where he made arduous journeys to various colonies scattered between New England and North Carolina. Later he twice visited Holland. His sincerity, serenity, fearlessness, and powerful preaching are attested to by a number of his contemporaries. His journal (1694, with a preface by William Penn) has appeared in various editions.

Bibliography: See George Fox: An Autobiography (ed. by R. M. Jones, 2 vol., 1903–4); his narrative papers (ed. by H. J. Cadbury, 1972); biography by H. E. Wildes (1965); study J. H. Yolen (1972).

Fox, George (1624–91). Founder of the Society of Friends (quakers). A Leicestershire man of puritan upbringing, Fox was an apprentice shoemaker who, after religious experiences, found no church spiritually satisfying. He began (1647) widespread itinerant preaching, rallying the many small groups of ‘Seekers’ of similar views. Rejecting organized ecclesiasticism, hierarchical authority, and contemporary social convention, even courtesy, and relying not on sacraments or Scriptures, but on mystical ‘Inner Light’, his followers were called ‘Children of Light’ then ‘Friends of Truth’ and popularly quakers (1654). They only became pacifist and non-political after 1660. Until 1689 they were much persecuted, Fox being imprisoned eight times. By 1660 there were about 30,000–40,000 quakers drawn mainly from rural and urban craftsmen. With the help of Margaret Fell, whom he married in 1669, he gave the movement cohesion. Fox himself travelled all over the British Isles, to the West Indies, and North America. A prolific pamphleteer, his Journal was published posthumously (1694).

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

Fox, George (1624–91), son of a Leicestershire weaver and founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, in 1648–50. Fox abandoned church attendance and became an itinerant apostle preaching the Inner Light of Christ, interrupting church services, and causing riots and disturbances. The home of Margaret Fell (1614–1702) at Swarthmoor, Ulverston, became his headquarters from 1652 and he married her in 1669. He travelled widely in the British Isles, the New World, and Holland and suffered imprisonments. He was a compulsive controversialist, attacking the Ranters, the state Church, the law, and prejudice against women preachers in innumerable epistles and pamphlets. His Journal (1694), revised by a committee under the superintendence of Penn, describes in idiomatic and abrasive prose his spiritual journey and the trials of the movement.

Fox, George (1624–91), founder of the Society of Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, in 1643 he felt a call to abandon all ties of family and friendship and spent the next years travelling. In 1646 he gave up attendance at church, relying on the Inner (or Inward) Light of Christ. He began to preach in 1647, teaching that truth is primarily to be found in the inner voice of God speaking to the soul. He was often imprisoned but attracted followers whom he began to form into a stable organization. He undertook missionary journeys to the West Indies and North America as well as Germany and the Netherlands. His Journal was published in 1694.

Fox, George (1624–91). Founder of the Society of Friends (quakers). A Leicestershire man of puritan upbringing, Fox was an apprentice shoemaker who, after religious experiences, found no church satisfying. He began (1647) itinerant preaching, rallying the many small groups of ‘Seekers’. Rejecting organized authority and contemporary social convention, even courtesy, and relying not on sacraments or Scriptures, but on mystical ‘Inner Light’, his followers were called ‘Children of Light’ and popularly quakers (1654). They became pacifist and non‐political only after 1660.

Fox, George (1624–91). Founder of the Society of Friends (also known as Quakers). Despite poor health he travelled widely throughout England, Ireland, the West Indies, N. America (where Penn found him ‘civil beyond all forms of breeding’), and Holland. His famous Journal was published three years after his death (ed. J. L. Nickalls, 1952; R. M. Jones, 1976).

Fox, George (1624–91) English preacher and founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers). He began preaching in 1647, teaching that truth is the inner voice of God speaking to the soul, and rejecting priesthood and ritual. Despite repeated imprisonment, he established a society called the ‘Friends of the Truth’ (c.1650), which later became the Society of Friends.

Fox, George (1624–91) English religious leader, founder of the Quakers. He embarked upon his evangelical calling in 1646 in response to an ‘inner light’. Imprisoned eight times between 1649 and 1673, his missionary work included visits to Quaker colonies in Caribbean and America (1671–72). His Journal (1694) is a record of the early Quaker movement.

Fox, George (1624–91), founder of the Society of Friends. Fox visited Ireland in 1669, where he organized Quaker congregations and engaged in public dispute with Catholics.

Fox, George, see Quakers.