Description

Admin History:

Quakerism in Yorkshire took hold at the beginning of the Quaker movement, partly because George Fox travelled and preached through the North and East Ridings between 1651 and 1652 before being welcomed at Swarthmoor Hall, the house of Judge Fell in Cumbria. From the late 1660s onwards, Quakers organised into local groups of worshippers called Particular or Preparative Meetings, with area or Monthly Meetings as the main regional administrative unit which was responsible for matters of membership, property and finance. County-wide Meetings called Quarterly Meetings were also held, with a Yearly Meeting in London bringing all together. The structure of the Society of Friends in Yorkshire was first formalised in 1669. In the East Riding this comprised the Monthly Meetings of Kelk (or North Wolds) (covering Bridlington, Cottam, Kelk, Kirby Underdale and Ulrome); Elloughton (covering Beverley, Elloughton, Howden, Market Weighton, Pocklington and Warter); and Owstwick (or Holderness) (covering Hornsea, Hull, Owstwick, East End, Paull and Sutton). Pickering and Hull Monthly Meeting as it exists today overlaps with North Yorkshire. It was established in 1859 out of a merger of Pickering Monthly Meeting (1788-1858) and Hull Monthly Meeting (1784-1858) and at that point comprised Preparative Meetings in Cave, Filey, Hull, Kirkbymoorside, Malton, Pickering, Scarborough and Whitby. Pickering Monthly Meeting had itself been formed out of a merger between Malton Monthly Meeting (1669-1788) and Scarborough Montly Meeting (1669-1788). Hull Monthly Meeting (known as Owstwick and Cave until 1803) was created in 1784 out of Owstwick Monthly Meeting and Cave (previously Elloughton) Monthly Meeting. Bridlington (previously Kelk) Monthly Meeting had already closed in 1773.

Description:

The first deposit of Quaker records received was catalogued largely by place rather than by Meeting, and therefore this arrangement was also followed for the second and third deposits. This means that where a Preparative and a Monthly Meeting have the same name, their records are usually catalogued together in the same series, for example, U DQR/6 comprises records of Malton Preparative and Malton Monthly Meetings.

U DQR includes Preparative Meeting minute books for Bridlington (1774-1838), Hornsea (1790-1816), Kirkbymoorside (1702-1781), Malton (1818-1911), Pickering (1718-1843), Scarborough (1718-1942), and Whitby (1726-1853, 1900-1938). Monthly Meeting minute books are held for Malton (1669-1789), Pickering (1795-1859), Pickering and Hull (1859-1938), and Scarborough (1669-1788). Women's Preparative Meeting minute books are held for Hornsea (1790-1816), Malton (1823-1886), Scarborough (1810-1874) and Whitby (1719-1800), and Women's Monthly Meeting minute books for Malton (1725-1767), Pickering (1781-1859), Pickering and Hull (1859-1917) and Scarborough (1757-1788). Records of births and deaths are included in the Monthly Meeting minute books for the Pickering and Pickering and Hull Monthly Meetings and there are also separately catalogued records of births (1828-1908), marriages (1838-1940) and burials (1822-1961). Other material found in the minute books includes: accounts of collections, poor accounts, legacies, removals in and out of Meetings, lists of members, epistles received, tabular statements, correspondence and memoranda. Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting statements of charitable funds are held for 1855, 1865, 1905 and 1932. U DQR also contains a large number of title deeds for Quaker burial grounds and meeting houses in the East and North Ridings. Records of sufferings are available for Malton Monthly Meeting (1737-1787), Pickering Monthly Meeting (1793-1859), Pickering and Hull Monthly Meeting (1860-1872), and Scarborough Preparative Meeting (1669-1754), and there is also a manuscript covering sufferings across the whole Yorkshire region (1652-1660). Lists and registers of members are held for Pickering Monthly Meeting (1813-1859), Pickering and Hull Monthly Meeting (1850-1931), Scarborough Preparative Meeting (c.1820 & c.1824) and Whitby (1845-1850). There are certificates of removals between Meetings for Pickering Monthly Meeting (1788-1835), Pickering and Hull Monthly Meeting (1925-1950), and Scarborough Preparative Meeting (1703-1788). Miscellaneous material includes papers on Worfolk Cottage, Staintondale, papers relating to the Friends summer school in Scarborough in 1897, records of Scarborough Friends Adult School (1859-1941), records of Scarborough Friends Discussion and Essay Society (1872-1885), papers relating to new meeting houses in Scarborough and Whitby, advices, epistles and minutes received from Quarterly and Yearly Meetings and from the Meeting for Sufferings, and maps of Quaker Meetings in the North (1773, by James Backhouse) and throughout England, Wales and Ireland (1894).

U DQR2 covers mainly the 19th and 20th centuries. For Beverley Preparative Meeting there are minutes for 1955-1987, 20th century financial and premises records, and some 19th century papers relating to the meeting house and burial ground. There are Preparative Meeting minute books and accounts for Bridlington (1929-1964), with some early 19th century correspondence about the state of the Meeting at that time. For Hull Preparative Meeting there are minute books (1930-1966; with interleaved correspondence, reports and accounts) and records of meetings of elders and overseers (1898-1989). Hull Monthly Meeting records include 19th century records about property, membership and sufferings, including certificates of removal and statements of accounts for Hornsea meeting house and burial ground. Preparative Meeting minute books and accounts are held for Kirkbymoorside (1843-1855, 1932-1982), and Malton (1911-1983), and there is a Women's Preparative Meeting minute book for Kirkbymoorside (1833-1843) and 20th century minutes of meetings of elders and overseers, and certificates of removal, for Malton. There is a volume of epistles and minutes for Owstwick Monthly Meeting (1705-1790), with some late 18th - early 19th century papers on disownment and removals both for Owstwick and its successor Owstwick and Cave Monthly Meeting. Minutes of Pickering Preparative Meeting cover 1907-1983 and there is also a minute book for the Meeting House Hostel Committee (1947-1959).

There are extensive 20th century records for Pickering and Hull Monthly Meeting, including minute books (1938-1990; with related correspondence, reports and accounts), files on finance and property, including Helmsley, Scarborough and Malton meeting houses, membership records, statements of accounts of charitable trusts, inventories of property and certificates of removal. There is a minute book documenting the period when Kirkbymoorside and Pickering Friends operated as a single Preparative Meeting (1858-1869). Records for Scarborough include Preparative Meeting minute books (1942-1978), with records of meetings of elders and overseers, ladies' sewing meetings, the library committee and Scarborough Young Friends. There are also financial records and visitors books, including a volume listing those who attended the Friends summer school in Scarborough in 1897. For Whitby there is a Preparative Meeting minute book with accounts and correspondence (1939-1983).

The remainder of the papers in U DQR2 relate to other areas of Quaker activity and the collection has been catalogued as follows: Missionary Helpers' Union, Scarborough (1891-1918) being a single minute book; Yorkshire Young Friends' Committee (1935-1946) being a single minute book (1935-1946); Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting (1768-1968) being a variety of papers including several related to schools and education; Meeting for Sufferings (1849-1859) including papers about slavery and the Negro and Aborigines' Fund; London Yearly Meeting (1693-20th century) being largely printed epistles and minutes. In addition there are 19th and 20th century birth, marriage and burial records; reports, accounts and related papers for the following Quaker schools: Ackworth School, Pontefract; Bootham School, York; Brookfield Agricultural School, Ulster; Friends' School, Croydon; Friends' School, Great Ayton; Leighton Park School, Reading; The Mount School, York; Rawden School, Leeds; Wigton School, Carlisle; and papers relating to the Irish Distress Fund (1846-1847).

The third deposit, U DQR3, is dominated by the records of Hull Preparative Meeting, previously held at Hull Central Library. These comprise: minute books (1779-1894, 1911-1930); rough minute books (1762-1771, 1848-1864); Women's Preparative Meeting minute books (1816-1881); minute books of meetings of ministers and elders (1845-58) and of overseers (1978-1994); Finance Committee minute books (1957-1968, 1971-1994); account books, schedules of financial contributions by members and other financial papers (1737-1964); correspondence, including about burial grounds in Welwick, Hull, Beverley and North Cave, the refurbishment of the meeting house in Hull (with plans) and the deposit of Quaker books and archives by Hull Meeting.

There are also Preparative Meeting minute books for Beverley (1774-1831) and Scarborough (1978-1993); a Women's Preparative Meeting minute book for Beverley (1803-1831); and minutes of meetings of elders and overseers for Beverley ([1966]-1993) and Scarborough (1916-1987). There are rough minute books for Cave Monthly Meeting (1773-1784), with a bundle of loose minutes of Cave Women's Monthly Meeting (1780-1784). Hull (formerly Owstwick and Cave) Monthly Meeting minute books span 1787-1859, with rough minute books for 1795-1859 and Women's Monthly Meeting minute books for 1823-1859. Other minute books include those of Mason Street Friends Adult School in Hull (1876-1906) and Hull Auxiliary Tract Association (1840-1857).

Lists and registers of members are held for Hull Monthly Meeting (1812-1898), and there are also certificates of removal and disownment for Owstwick Monthly Meeting (1761-1784), Owstwick and Cave Monthly Meeting (1784-1800) and Scarborough Preparative Meeting (1951-1992). Documents relating to non-payment of church rates within Hull Monthly Meeting are available for the late 18th to mid 19th century and there is an account of sufferings for Owstwick and Cave (later Hull) Monthly Meeting for 1793-1856. For Malton there are files and plans about the Meeting House and its proposed refurbishment in the 1980s-1990s. Records of births (1774-1951), marriages (1724-1986) and burials (1776-1969) are catalogued separately, and there is also a series of title deeds, mainly for Hodgson Street burial ground in Hull.