| Description | Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury wrote this address for the Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) conference in Edinburgh in October 1913. A pencil annotation on the typescript reveals that the Bishop of Edinburgh chaired the conference. Her address considers the position of women in religious life with particular reference to Quaker women. She explores the importance of religion and its influences on collective and individual life within society. Taylor Cadbury suggests that religion 'is a greater, older, more divine fact than any of the Churches', promoting an interpretation of religious faith which exceeded denominational boundaries. She emphasises the importance of 'free, spontaneous Christianity' based on 'a direct revelation from God to the soul', suggesting that the development of the ecclesiastical system had imposed doctrine over this 'immediate response.' Her address criticises the exclusion of women from religious life in the ecclesiastical structure, drawing on the devotion and steadfastness evident in the records of early female Christians and martyrs.
Taylor Cadbury refers to the spiritual equality of men and women within the Religious Society of Friends, expressing her 'Quaker interpretation of the Divine message' by referring to the importance of 'a simple interpretation of God's will' detached from 'ritual and priestly authority'. Her address provides historical examples of women playing an important role in the development of Quakerism, featuring short biographies of Anne Audland (1627-1705), Mary Dyer (d. 1660) and Margaret Fell (1614-1702) to demonstrate that 'from the very first, women took their share in the proclamation of the message.' Taylor Cadbury also emphasises the importance of religious faith in motivating women's participation in public service. She criticises women who undertook religious social service with obtrusive demands for themselves and comments on the need for a religious foundation within the 'women's movement'. She concludes her address by stating that a 'fundamental principle of equality' must be conceded and a return to a 'simpler and more elastic form of worship' for women to hold their rightful position in religious life. |
| AdminHistory | Sara Delamont refers to Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's lifelong interest in the Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) which began in the late nineteenth century and continued until her death in 1951. The Y.W.C.A. was formed in 1855 and had fifteen branches in Birmingham by the late 1880s. Shortly after her marriage to George Cadbury in 1888, Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury was invited to become the District Referee for all branches of the Association in Birmingham and the wider County of Warwickshire. As the organisation developed, Taylor Cadbury was appointed the first President of the Warwickshire District Council of the Y.W.C.A. in 1913. Following a reorganisation of the national Y.W.C.A., Taylor Cadbury was appointed President of the new Midland Division, a post which she occupied until 1936 when she became President of the new Birmingham Division. In 1946 the Birmingham Division became the City Association in a newly formed West Midland Division. Taylor Cadbury served as President of both until her death in December 1951. |