Quaker Official Correspondence: Home and Abroad, 1681-1881

From the Library of the Religious Society of Friends of Great Britain, London, England

7 reels 35mm silver microfilm, ISBN 1897955 09 X

List price: POA

Official correspondence sent and received by London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

Yearly Meeting is the autonomous decision making body of the Quakers. London Yearly Meeting, which has responsibility for England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and has been held regularly from 1672 until the present day. Quakers in other countries have their own autonomous Yearly Meetings: for example Ireland Yearly Meeting (which includes the entire island), Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and adjacent areas), New York Yearly Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting and so on. Although overseas yearly meetings were not subordinate to London Yearly Meeting, they generally recognised it as the place from which Quakerism had begun, the one with the largest membership, and (for American and West Indian yearly meetings until the late 18th century in particular) the one most best placed to represent Quaker interests to the British imperial government.

Contents: With the exception of the first, printed, item all the records below are contemporary transcripts, maintained as part of official records of London Yearly Meeting.

1. General Epistles from London Yearly Meeting 1681-1857

These were letters of general advice to Friends' meetings in London YM and beyond. They were circulated in printed form. The two volumes, published in 1858 and filmed here, form the most complete and convenient edition of these epistles, containing an historical introduction and an index.

2. 'Epistles Sent' 1683 -1872

"Foreign epistles" were sent to and received from other yearly meetings and groups of Friends in America, the West Indies and Europe, as well as from bodies in the British Isles like Aberdeen Yearly Meeting and Edinburgh Yearly Meeting and the Half-Years Meeting for Wales, which were at this time subordinate to London Yearly Meeting. Ireland Yearly Meeting had a close relationship, and increasingly a completely independent one. Unlike the general epistle which was sent out uniformly each of the 'epistles sent' contained specific advice to a particular yearly meeting or group, on questions it had raised. Early volumes include a few epistles to and from meetings of Friends in England.

3. 'Epistles Received' 1683-1879

These 'foreign epistles' form the other half of the correspondence between London Yearly Meeting and other Quaker yearly meetings and groups.

4. 'Letters to and from Philadelphia' 1757-1857

(Vol.1, 1757-1815; Vol.2, 1816-1857). London Yearly Meeting and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting each had a standing executive committee, responsible for business in the period between the annual yearly meetings. The committees were both known as Meetings for Sufferings. These two volumes consist of copies of the official correspondence between the two committees. The letters touch on slavery, the effects of colonial wars and of the Revolutionary War on Friends, and efforts by London Quakers to ensure that British Colonial legislation was not unfavourable to Friends in North America, as well as dealing with internal Quaker matters.

5. 'Casual Correspondence' 1785-1881

This volume contains copies of letters and epistles (other than those in 'Epistles Sent' and 'Epistles Received') mainly to or from overseas meetings and Quaker groups, in Europe (Denmark, Norway, France, Germany, Russia), America (Baltimore, Indiana, New England, New York, North Carolina, Ohio), India (Calcutta), and Australia. Issues covered include slavery and African emigration, conscientious objection to military service, the emancipation of serfs in Russia.

Contents of Reels: