When the two prisoners walked into the courtroom on September 3, 1670, the bailiff snatched the hats from their heads. The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Samuel Starling, who presided over the trial, ordered the court’s officer to replace the hats, then fined the two gentlemen for failing to uncover their heads in his court.

William Penn and William Mead stood charged with violation of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited all worship gatherings except those of the Church of England. They were in fact guilty. The pair had intentionally held a Quaker worship outside the locked doors of the Gracechurch Street Meeting House in London. The Quakers intended to prove that their meetings were politically harmless and thus gain immunity from the law. When the constables came to arrest Penn and Mead, the two went peacefully. However, as they were being led away, an altercation broke out among the onlookers, and the charge was elevated to conspiracy to incite a riot. This was a serious offense that demanded trial by jury.

As the trial progressed, Sir Samuel allowed only prosecution witnesses to testify and refused the prisoners any opportunity to cross-examine them. Penn argued logically and passionately against the legality of the Conventicle Act, and this, combined with the blatant prejudice of the judge, prompted the jury to return a verdict of not guilty for Mead. They found Penn guilty only of preaching in the street. Sir Samuel rejected their verdict and told the jury to go back and deliberate again. They did and returned with the same decision. Again the judge told them to reconsider. The jury returned and announced that they had indeed changed their verdict — this time they declared both men innocent of all charges. The enraged judge berated the jury and shouted, ‘Gentlemen, you shall not be dismissed till we have a verdict the court will accept and you shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire and tobacco….’

‘You are Englishmen; mind your privilege, give not away your right,’ exhorted Penn.

‘Nor will we ever do it,’ returned the jury foreman Edward Bushell. The jury stuck to their decision despite being confined overnight without food, drink or heat. The irate Sir Samuel fined each juror for contempt of court. The jury refused to pay their fines, and Sir Samuel ordered them all into Newgate prison.

Penn and Mead also refused to pay their fines, and they, too, went to jail. However, Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, lay dying and posted the money for both men. The admiral died less than a week later.

This was not Penn’s first imprisonment for his Quaker beliefs, which were still in their infancy in 1670. The Society of Friends began little more than two decades earlier with George Fox, who had had no intentions of founding a new sect. As a youth, Fox saw clergy and many of his contemporaries give way to alcohol and tobacco, showing little sign of self-control or integrity. For his part, Fox merely wished to experience God in a true, untainted way, so he sought the advice of learned clergy. But he came away unsatisfied. After much soul-searching, Fox experienced an epiphany, which he described in his journal:

But as I had forsaken the priests, so I left the separate preachers also, and those esteemed the most experienced people; for I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, oh, then, I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition’; and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give Him all the glory; for all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the preeminence who enlightens, and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall [hinder] it? And this I knew experimentally.

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What developed from this was a belief that God inhabited all people and communicated with the individual who acknowledged his presence and submitted to his will. Given that, everyone was equal in God’s eyes, so members of the Society of Friends (as Fox’s followers came to be called because they greeted everyone as ‘friend’) refused to recognize social superiors. They did not bow or curtsey; they did not remove their hats before their betters — even the king; nor did they use formal language. Instead they took to exclusively using the informal ‘thee’ and ‘thou.’

George Fox began preaching his gentle philosophy in 1648. Two years later, Fox and his followers acquired a new name after he was arrested for blasphemy and stood before a judge, whom Fox exhorted to ‘tremble at the word of the Lord.’ The judge derisively dubbed the group ‘Quakers,’ and the name stuck. Nevertheless, Fox continued preaching and his simple eloquence won many converts. He spoke of living without extravagance and of nonviolence, and he encouraged his followers not to bear arms. Fox also spoke against the incongruity of taking an oath, which acknowledged the presumption that honesty necessitated a prescribed guarantee. Quakers advocated absolute truth in everyday life.

All of this was considered radical thought, especially the manner of Quaker services, or ‘meetings.’ These were silent affairs during which any individual, even a woman, who was moved by the Spirit could speak. Moreover, the sect saw no need for ordained clergy, church ceremonies, sacraments or a formal church building. Yet perhaps their most damning aspect in the eyes of other Christians was the Society of Friends’ refusal to pay the mandatory tithe to support the clergy of the Anglican Church. Persecution and imprisonment followed.

Parliament wanted to be rid of Catholics and all nonconformist groups that had sprung up in the religious turmoil of 17th-century Europe. The new sects challenged authority and were filling the courts and prisons, making nuisances of themselves. Therefore, Parliament passed legislation, collectively known as the Clarendon Code, which included the Conventicle Act and the Five Mile Act, which prohibited any nonconformist preacher from coming within five miles of any town. Quakers constantly ran afoul of those strictures.

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