Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Michael Questier's avatar

Excellent article!

It always surprised me that in the case of the major fire in which I have a historical interest (at Cowdray Palace in Sussex, in September 1793) the presumably considerable public awareness of the danger of fire counted for nothing, as the carpenters who were working in the North Gallery of the palace left a fire burning there, in the middle of piles of wood shavings and whatnot, and the palace servants were too soused to be able to fetch the water buckets!

Unbelievable.

Expand full comment
Steve Angell's avatar

A large scale Quaker presence in London was a relatively new thing in 1655. Martha Simmons was still a very active minister, and any conflicts that she may have had with Quakers from the North had not yet emerged publicly. I'm presuming that you would hypothesize that these events would push Simmons and London Friends in an apocalyptic direction (along with many others). Is that correct? Is there anything else that might be said about the impact of these events on London Quakers?

Expand full comment
6 more comments...

No posts