How did the Society of Friends (Quakers) start?
The Quaker movement began in the religious turmoil of the seventeenth century. Religious and political issues were the conversation of the day. Passions were very strong and difference often led to violent conflict. There were, however, Christians who felt that the forms of Christianity around them betrayed the real teaching of Jesus. George Fox founded the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the 1650s. George Fox grew up in a puritan village in the time of the Commonwealth. As a young man he was an apprentice shoemaker. In 1643 at a local fair his cousin and a friend asked him to drink beer with them. After a few drinks George’s cousin and their friend lost self control. George was shocked. George left home and sought spiritual guidance as he travelled extensively for four years. In 1647 he felt very low and lost all hope in mankind. He spent time in the east midlands where he reached out to people and they sought religious truth together. George Fox, Elizabeth Hooton, James Nay
