Southcott, Joanna

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Southcott, Joanna (1750–1814). A religious fanatic, of Devon farming stock, Joanna was in domestic service in Exeter. Originally called to methodism (1791), she soon had religious experiences and started ‘sealing’ her writings. She visited Bristol (1798), published The Strange Effects of Faith (1801), and moved to London (1802), where she began the practice of ‘sealing the faithful’ who, according to the Book of Revelation, were to be 144,000. She claimed to be ‘the Lamb's wife’ (Rev. 12) who would give birth to ‘the second Christ’ in 1814; instead she died of brain disease. Her bizarre following, surviving into the 20th cent., believed she would rise again. She left a box, directed to be opened after 100 years with 24 bishops present (cf. Rev. 4: 4). When opened (1927), with one bishop present, it contained merely a night-cap, book, lottery ticket, dicebox, and some coins.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

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