| Description | Coventry Local Meeting is one of the oldest meetings in Warwickshire and there has been a continued Quaker presence in the city since the mid-17th century, although the Quarterly Meeting minutes did not record a meeting there until 1670 (see SF/1/1/1/1). Prior to this date, a number of pioneers of the Quaker movement visited the area. George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Quaker movement, visited the city four times between 1643 and 1655. On the visit he made in 1650, he found that a number of Friends were imprisoned because of their religion. John Whitehead (1636–1723), preacher, author, campaigner for religious freedom and member of the 'Valiant Sixty' (a group of more than sixty itinerant preachers originating from the north of England who spread the ideas of Quakerism throughout Great Britain), was there in 1654 and Richard Hubberthorne, (baptised 1628-1662), preacher and author visited in 1660 as part of a month-long visit spent between Coventry, Kenilworth and Warwick, during which he was said to have gained a large following for the movement, with a number of meetings being established as a result.
In 1668, Friends purchased a barn and land in Hill Street for use as a burial ground. Between 1677 and 1681, the barn was converted into or replaced by a meeting house and in 1698, an additional meeting house was built in Vicar Lane on land purchased from John Murdoch. Membership of the meeting grew steadily in the first half of the 18th century, with Coventry Preparative Meeting becoming the largest meeting in Warwickshire by 1730 with an estimated membership of 250-300. To accommodate such large numbers, the meeting house was enlarged in 1742. Further subsidiary meetings at the house of William Gulson, a grocer in Smithford Street and at Joseph Freeth's malthouse in Smithfield Street, were registered at the Quarter Sessions in 1739 and 1743.
From 1700, Coventry joined Warwickshire Monthly Meeting together with Meriden, Southam, Stratford and Warwick (see SF/1/1/1/1), but Warwickshire Monthly Meeting was split into several Monthly Meetings from 1706 onwards and Coventry became part of Warwickshire Middle Monthly Meeting.
As with other meetings in this period, Coventry Meeting undertook to care for its poor members. This was financed by gifts such as the £30 William Cockbill left to the meeting for charitable purposes in 1709, and the Exhall Trust which was set up in 1727 when property and land was bought with a legacy left by Robert Astbury, the rent from which was used to provide 'relief for the poor of the people called Quakers' (see SF/1/9/4/1 and SF/2/1/1/10/4/6).
The meeting also took an interest in the care and education of the young, and in 1710 a weekly meeting was set up for servants, apprentices and other young people. By 1713 there was a Friends' school in Coventry, with another opened in 1723 by Josiah Forster and a Friends' boarding school established in the 1750s. Additional property was left in trust by Bridget Soothern in 1731 to be used for the education of girls from poor families (see SF/1/9/4/1 and SF/2/1/1/10/4/8).
Towards the end of the 18th century, there was a decline in the wool and cloth-making trade in the city, in which many Coventry Friends were involved. As a result of this, several members moved their businesses to Lancashire, causing membership numbers in Coventry to decrease, although this did not include the Gulson and Cash families who continued in the cloth trade. This fell more rapidly after 1820, and eventually led to the merging of the Middle Monthly Meeting with that of the North Monthly Meeting in 1837. By 1872, there were only 16 members of Coventry Preparative Meeting, and by 1881 this fell to 10 members.
It was decided to open a new meeting house in 1896 in Holyhead Road, on land purchased from Bablake School trustees two years previously, but by 1936 the cost of maintaining it became too high and in 1939 it was sold for £4000.
The current meeting house is located on the original site in Hill Street and was built in 1953.
Among others, members of the Gulson, Freeth, Heath, Scotton and Cash families belonged to this meeting. Friends noted for their ministry include Joseph Freeth, William Hodges, William Baldwin, Mary Gulson, John Harris, Ann White, John Cash and Ann Scotton.
See SF/3 for a description of the functions of the Local/Preparative Meeting.
Please note that records in this sequence start in 1860. It is unknown if earlier records survive |