F- G

People with names beginning in F or G

Robert Farming, tenant of one of the Lynch cottages mentioned in the 1692 indenture for the land.

John Fell (1786-1865) corn and flour factor, was born at Clink Street, Southwark, London, 29 August 1786, younger surviving son (there were three surviving daughters) of John Fell (1751-1835) and Mary Fell (born Booth, 1752-1829). He became a corn and flour factor in Southwark. He married in 1816 Elizabeth Dymond Hull (1790-1819), daughter of Samuel Hull (1764-1819) of Uxbridge, mealman and Fidelity Hull (born Stark 1769-1792). There was one son and one daughter (both of whom died in infancy). A year or two after his wife's death he retired from business and moved to the Hermitage, Uxbridge, (shown above, grateful thanks to Tony Mitchell for the image) which was to be his home for the rest of his life.

He married, secondly, in 1823, Jane Hull (1798-1842), daughter of John Hull (1755-1816) late of Uxbridge, mealman, and Anne Hull (born Ashby, 1760-1843). He married thirdly, in 1847, Eleanor Ashby (1808-1849) daughter of Robert Ashby (1766-1844) late of Staines, mealman, and his second wife Mary Ashby (born Albright 1774-1835). There were no children of the second or third marriages. Though "unobtrusive in his manners" (Uxbridge journal obituary) he responded readily during his long retirement to calls upon his time and generosity. He was a committed friend and was a very frequent representative of London and Middlesex QM to the yearly meeting of friends in Britain, held in the City. In the autumn of 1865, while on a visit to his brother-in-law Burwood Godlee (1802-1882) at Lewes, he was struck by paralysis and after ten days incapacity, died at Godlee's home 10 November 1865. Obituary in Broadwater's Uxbridge Journal 18 xii 1865 as quoted in the Friend (1865) ns v.272-3.

Anna Hull Fell (1809-1839) daughter of Richard Fell (1782-1845) and Mary Hull (1788-1846) married in 1835 Henry Pease (1807-1881) woollen manufacturer, town developer and railway director from Darlington, youngest son of Edward Pease (1767-1858) and Rachel Whitwell (1771-1833). They had one son, Henry Fell Pease. More about the Pease family here.

John Hull Fell (1816-1854) was the son of Richard Fell (1782-1845) and Mary Hull (1787-1846), and nephew of John Fell above. I know little about him, except that he lived at Belmont, and died in very sad circumstances. He was at Cairnbank, County Forfar, in 1854, and died on January 30, five days after his only son, Richard. His poor wife, Elizabeth formerly Bowes, having seen both her son and her husband die, then died herself on February 3, 1854.

I must admit that I wonder if they were in County Forfar trying to avoid the fevers and epidemics which had already decimated the population of Uxbridge meeting.

Mary Jane Fell, Anna Fell and Charlotte Hull Fell were his surviving daughters, named in the will of their uncle John Fell.

Richard Fell (1782-1845), flour factor, was born near St Saviour's Dock, Bermondsey, 1 January 1782, elder surviving son (there were three surviving daughters) of John Fell (1751-1835) and Mary Booth (1752-1829) his wife. By his twenties he was established in Southwark as a flour factor. He married in 1808 Mary Hull (1788-1846) daughter of John Hull (1755-1816) and Anna Ashby (1759?-1843). There were three sons, one of whom died in infancy, and one daughter. In 1821 the family moved to Uxbridge, where he died in 1845. His only daughter Anna married Henry Pease (1807-1881) of Darlington.

Richard Fenn, Maltman, 17th century member of meeting

Ann Fowler (1760-1808) daughter of Thomas Fowler (1729?-1783), of Melksham, mercier and clothier and Catherine Rutty (1727-1762) married Samuel Hull (1764-1819) mealman. This Ann Fowler, latterly Hull was sister to Robert Fowler (1755-1825) of Melksham wine and spirits merchant, whose son John Fowler (1792-1861) married Rebecca Hull.

George Fox (1624-1691)
Founder of the Quakers, he went about the country ministering to groups of people and sometimes baiting the clergy in their "steeple houses". He thought a paid clergy was wrong and that people could experience Christ at first hand and didn't need clergy to intercede for them.

He was the son of a weaver from Leicestershire, and apprenticed to a cobbler himself. He was the eldest of four children, and his parents were relatively wealthy.

He was a serious child, and although without formal schooling, he learned to read and write. “When I came to eleven years of age,” he said, “I knew pureness and righteousness; for, while I was a child, I was taught how to walk to be kept pure. The Lord taught me to be faithfull in all things and to act faithfuly two ways; viz: inwardly to God and outwardly, to man.”

One of the guiding principles of his life was the pursuit of simplicity, and the time he spent as a shomaker and grazier, or shepherd, helped form his views on this. Abandoning his trade, he toured Britain as a dissenting preacher, for which he was often persecuted by the authorities.

He called churches “steeple-houses”, and disagreed that religious experience was confined to a particular building, worshipping in the open and in people's houses, as God's presence could be felt everywhere. He disliked the idea of people being ministers simply because they were paid, rather than moved by the spirit.

He reasoned that as God was within, faithful believers could follow their inner guide rather than rely on external guidance or on strict reading of the Bible. He believed that Christ was able to speak to people directly, and that they didn't need priests to intercede for them.

In 1647 Fox began to preach publicly in market place, fields, and even sometimes in churches after the priests had finished. The group of people who formed around him at first called themseles the children of Light, then the Friends of the Truth, and later simply, Friends. There seem to have been two types of meeting at this time: a silent waiting meeting similar in form to the unprogrammed meetings we hold today and a declaration of faith.He travelled the country and also the Low countries and North America, being arrested and imprisoned often. In Derby in 1650 a judge mocked Fox when he exhorted him to “tremble at the word of the Lord” and called him and his followers “Quakers”, which is now used by Friends for themselves.

Fox developed his beliefs about not swearing oaths, not acknowledging titles, social equality for everyone, over the course of many imprisonments in 1664, '56, '60, '62, '64-66, '73-75. He sought to set an example when imprisoned and saw it as an opportunity to have contact with people who needed him, both the prisoners and jailers. By 1655 his meetings were attracting crowds of over thousand. In that year he was arrested and brought before Cromwell, but was released again without charge.

In January 1661, Fox issued a document which laid out the peaceful nature of the Quakers, to reassure the King in the aftermath of the Monmouth rebellion that Quakers would not take arms against the King, and this became the basis for Quaker Peace testimony.

Fox married Margaret Fell, widow of Judge Fell, a woman of money and position in 1669 at a meeting in Bristol. They initially pursued mostly separate lives, with Margaret returning to the North of England, while Fox went to London and then on to America and the West Indies.

He spent the final years of his life working to organise the expanding Quaker movement, writing and editing his writings, and travelling occasionally to the continent, although his health had suffered from the years of imprisonment and persecution. He lived to see the introduction of the Act of Tolerance, which made life easier for nonconformists in England, and made it legal for Quakers to meet.

He died two days after preaching as usual at the Gracechurch Street meeting house in London in 1691. He is buried at Bunhill Fields in London. His journal was first published in 1694, afer editing by Thomas Ellwood, who also kept the accounts for the building of the first Meeting House in Uxbridge.

William Franklyn of Harmonsworth co. Midd. yeoman, convicted of attendance at an unlawful conventicle at Uxbridge 35 Charles II.

Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)

By the time that Elizabeth Fry started her work in Newgate prison, Quakers were no longer being imprisoned for their beliefs, but she must have known that Quakers in the previous century often died in prison.

Prisons were dirty, chaotic places, where people had to organise their own work and their own food and bedding in the 17^th century, as Thomas Ellwood, among others, had written to describe.

Quaker and prison reformer Elizabeth Fry lived in Plashet House, East Ham, from 1809 to 1829. She mentioned coming to Uxbridge in her diary for 1823,and her family seem to have been friendly with the Hulls of Uxbridge.

Elizabeth Gurney was born in Norwich to a rich Quaker family in 1780. Her father and mother both came from banking families. She was well educated, and helped her mother to visit the poor and sick, although her mother died when she was only 12 and she then had to help look aftr her younger brothers and sisters.

When she was 18 years old, her diary recorded going to meeting for worship on 4 February, 1798, (wearing purple boots with scarlet laces!). She heard William Savery, an American Quaker, speak in meeting for worship. Later that day she went to dine at her uncle 's house, and was deeply impressed by William Savery, 'a truly good man' she wrote. 'I have felt there is a GOD', and she began to understand true worship. Having enjoyed notoriety with her sistersfor their gay dress in Meeting, she struggled with the idea that she might be meant to be a plain quaker, but eventually adopted plain dress. She married Joseph Fry, another plain Quaker, when she was 20, and she had 11 children.

She first visited Newgate prison in 1813 at the request of Stephen Grellet, another friend, and was horrified by what she saw. There were over 300 women and children crowded in a very small space. Prisoners lay on the stone loor and children had no clothes. She returned three times in three days, with warm clothing and straw for the sick women and children, but because of difficulties in the family didn't return for nearly four years.

Prisoners had to pay for everything in gaol. Thre were no toilets, just a bucket in the corner, and little drinking water. In 1817 Elizabeh Fry organised a group of women to help the female prisoners in Newgate Prison. She provided materials so that the female prisoners could sew and knit things to sell.

She started a prison school for the children. In 1818 she spoke to a house of commons committee about life in prison, becoming the first woman to present evidence to parliament and leading to the passing of the 1823 Gaol act which made some improvements. She visited prisons all oer Britain and argued for improvements. She wrote a book about prison conditions. She helped improve conditions on prison ships traveling to Australia and visited 106 to provide the prisoners with a bag of useful things and materials to make patchworks on the voyage that coud be sold on arrival to provide income.

After her husband went bankrupt in 1828, Fry's brother became her business manager and benefactor, and thanks to him her work went on and expanded. Her husband was excluded from membership because he had put other people's money at risk, and on;y one of her children remained a Quaker. She withstood a lot of criticism from within the Society for neglecting her family in favour of public works whch brought personal fame.

She set up District Visiting Societies to work with the poor, libraries for Coastguards and training courses for nurses. Her work inspired Florence Nightingale, who took a team of Fry's nurses to assist wounded soldiers in the Crimean war.

She died in October 1845, and is buried at the Friends' Burial Ground in Barking. Over a thousand people stood in silence during her burial.

Fourth Month 7^th We went to Uxbridge, though naturally rather a low time, yet it ended with my real comfort. The Morning Meeting was a very solemn one, a deep feeling of good and the anointing of the Spirit appeared freely poured forth. The evening Meeting was satisfactory; and in several religious opportunities in the families my heart was enlarged in much love to the dear Friends there; whom I think I may say, I love in the Lord.

Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry

1801 It has already been shown that in 1801 her attention was called to Joseph Lancaster, who, struggling under difficulties and embarrassments, had assembled around him a large school of very poor children, in an upper chamber in Southwark.

She had also formed some valuable friendships with superior and excellent people. Of this number was her cousin Joseph Gurney Bevan, her father's early friend, whom she especially esteemed; John Hull of Uxbridge, and Rachel Smith, a Friend living in London, all judicious counsellors, and her frequent companions.

1809

Plashet, sixth month 13^th – After having gone through so much since I last wrote, it is difficult for me to express all; but more particularly from rather unusual and repeatedcuases of thankfulness, in having experienced the Divine Arm held out for my ecouragement and help. I had one or two very striking times during the Yearly Meeting, as if meant to confirm my poor feeble faith. Once, when dear Ann Crowley and John Hull dined with us; before a word was spoken, or the cloth was removed from the table, my soul was brought from a dry flat isesible state o be humbly prostrate before Him, whom it hs at times desired to serve. So much so, that I felt this was eough without words from others: but it was not long before dea Ann Crowley, had to express the same, and told me the very thoughts and feelings of my mind and heart. It was indeed a wonderful confirmation; it appeared indeed true ministry, although like seeing face to face in a glass. What a blessing to be under such a living ministry, that speaks to and reveals the innermost soul! Since the Yearly Meeting, I have been gretly helped and supported through th trial of my dear sister Elizabeth Gurney's confinement: which at one time, I felt no strength to encounter; but power and courage were given me sufficient for the day.

Thomas Fuller of Thistleworth co. Midd. yeoman and his wife, convicted of attendance at an unlawful conventicle at Uxbridge 35 Charles II.

George Garwell of Heston co. Midd. yeoman, convicted of attendance at an unlawful conventicle at Uxbridge 35 Charles II.

William Garwell of Heston co. Midd. yeoman, convicted of attendance at an unlawful conventicle at Uxbridge 35 Charles II.

Thomas Gladman, tenant of the Catherine Wheel cottages as mentioned in the 1692 indenture.

William Goldar, tenant of the Catherine Wheel cottages as mentioned in the 1692 indenture.

Jabez Goldar witness, mentioned in the 1692 indenture for the land.

Francis Goodall of Draton (sic) co. Midd. and his wife, convicted of attendance at an unlawful conventicle at Uxbridge 35 Charles II.

Richard Gove died 1710

American Quaker who stayed at Uxbridge on his visit to the UK.

Fom the Journal of Thomas Chalkley: "In this year 1710, my dear friend and fellow traveller, Richard Gove, departed this life at Uxbridge, about fifteen miles from London, at our friend Richard Richardson's house. He died of a consumption. We travlled together in great love and unity, and the London blessed his work in our hands. We were in company in the West India islands, Ireland, and North Britain, till we came to Berwick on Tweed. We met together again at London and he visited some other parts of britain in the time I was in Hollnd and Germany. He was an inoffensive, loving Friend, and had a sound testimony, which was serviceable and convincing, and was well beloved in Philiadelphia, where he lived. He left a good savour and report behind him, I think, wherever he travelled."

Richard Grace, tenant of one of the Lynch cottages mentioned in the 1692 indenture for the land.

Theophilus Green
For having preached at Kingston on Thames, he was put into the stocks and fined £20. For having preached at Wandworth he was fined the same, for each of three occasions. The week following at Uxbridge, visiting the poor children of Friends whose mother and father had died, he took two of them as his own, and looked after the rest.

He went to meeting on first day, and exhorted friends to keep to their meetings in the name of Jesus, at the speaking of which a constable and informer came in and carried him away to the justice Ralph Hawtrey. He fined him £20 and sent him to Newgate in London with a mittimus. They took all his goods, leaving him neither bed nor stool and kept him prisoner for 10 months.