Entry Type | Person |
Surname | Fox |
Forenames | George |
Epithet | founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers) |
Dates | 1624-1691 |
Gender Identity | Male |
History | He rejected the traditional clerical structures of Christianiaty in 1646 and claimed from 1647 that people could have access to God through Jesus Christ speaking to them and directly from the Bible and that they had no need of human teachers; he preached widely in the Midlands, and a group of followers emerged, originally known as the Children of Light or Friends of Light, eventually becoming the Religious Society of Friends, labelled as "Quakers"by a Derby justice called Gervase Bennett in 1650 on account of their shaking and trembling during meetings; he was himself a pacifist, which later came to characterise the group as a whole. |
Source | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online |
Authorised Form of Name | Fox; George (1624-1691); founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers) |
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