Friends in York : The Dynamics of Quaker Revival,1780-1860

This study challenges John Stephenson Rowntree's pronouncement in 1835 that Quaker membership was in decline, and outlines the remarkable revitalization of one Monthly Meeting - in York - between 1780 and 1860.

In 1835 John Stephenson Rowntree wrote a seminal essay investigating the perceived decline in membership within the Society of Friends. This book challenges that assumption by demonstrating why and how at least one Monthly Meeting - York - underwent a unique revitalization between 1780 and 1860. It also represents the first substantial post-17th-century exploration of developments in English Quakerism.
York Monthly Meeting was exceptional in that it had a group of influential members who were at the forefront of developing the new creed of Evangelicalism, and it was the women Minister members in particular who were vital propagators and proselytizers of these new ideas throughout Britain, Europe and America. Sheila Wright''s thorough statistical analysis and use of much previously unpublished material reveals that increased membership figures were due to the Meeting''s exceptional ability to attract new members and retain existing ones rather than to increased fertility or lower mortality. The work also examines the influence of middle-class culture on York Quakers'' relationship with the social, philanthropic and political activities of the city.