Quaker Biographies | Australia Yearly Meeting

Quaker Biographies | Australia Yearly Meeting



Audio files

Short biographies of some well-known Quakers were compiled by David Purnell (Canberra Regional Meeting). They were recorded for broadcasting on the Canberra Dove Talk radio program and/or published in the Canberra Quaker Newsletter.

You can listen to the broadcasts by clicking on the names below. Their year of birth is shown and there are links to other information about the person. The text of all these talks is available here.

James Backhouse b. 1794 Narrative of a visit to the Australian Colonies

Elise Boulding b. 1920 Active in peace research and peacebuilding and nominated for a Nobel Peace prize

George Cadbury b. 1839 Bournville Village Trust today

Pierre Ceresole b. 1879 Founded the Service Civil International

Adam Curle b. 1916 A worker, teacher and writer for peace

Margaret Fell b. 1614 The “Mother” of Quakerism

Elfrida Vipont Foulds b. 1902 An educator and scholar, she was a prolific writer

George Fox b. 1624 Journal of George Fox

Elizabeth Fry b. 1780 Elizabeth Fry's first visit to Newgate Prison

Donald Groom b. 1914 Donald Groom Fellowship

Ham Sok Hon b. 1901 A prominent civil rights activist in Korea

David Hodgkin b. 1914 Wrote A Mature Religion for today

Florence James b. 1902 Co-author of Come in Spinner, later turned into an ABC TV series

Rufus Jones b. 1863 Quaker Historian and William Penn Lecturer in 1918

Muriel Langford b. 1913 Conscientious Objector, Political lobbyist & Missionary

Kathleen Lonsdale b. 1903 The Scientist who discovered Lonsdaleite

Francis Mather b. 1844 Friends School 1887 - 1947 and present day

Lucretia Mott b. 1793 Activist, abolitionist, social reformer and Remembered in Cheltenham

Valerie Nichols b. 1920 Her motto "No one is for self alone", she helped to establish WILPF in Tasmania

William Oats b. 1912 Teacher, historian, author

William Penn b. 1644 He became the first Hero of American Liberty

Gerald Priestland b. 1927 An author and broadcaster for the BBC in the UK.

Margaret Roberts b. 1910 Her 1937 - 1944 diary of bush walks is in the State Library of Victoria

Caroline Stephen b. 1834 A Quaker Influence on Modern English Literature

Marjorie Sykes b. 1905 Born in the UK, she went to live in India and was involved in education

Hendrik van der Merwe b. 1929 A South African academic who worked for peace

Elizabeth Gray Vining b. 1902 Born in the USA, she taught Japan's Crown Prince

Elizabeth Watson b. 1914 A strong concern for social justice, including race relations and homosexuality

Margaret Watts b. 1892 Migrant community Advocate, Welfare worker and Peace activist

John Woolman b. 1720 A Quaker preacher and early abolitionist

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