Margaret Fell Fox: The Mother of Quakerism

In the first article of this series I introduced you to George Fox, the itinerant preacher who, under God, turned a scattering of seekers into the Religious Society of Friends. But movements are never built alone. I suspect I am not the only one who grew up in a country Friends church knowing Fox's name well and Margaret Fell's hardly at all. That is a gap worth closing, because historians call her the Mother of Quakerism, second only to Fox among the founders. This article is her story.

The judge's wife of Swarthmoor Hall

Margaret Askew was born in 1614 into a prosperous family in the north of England. She married Thomas Fell, a respected lawyer who went on to become a judge and a Member of Parliament. The couple made their home at Swarthmoor Hall in Lancashire (the area is now part of Cumbria), a substantial manor house. Judge Fell was sympathetic to religious discussion and frequently welcomed ministers of differing viewpoints into his home. Remember that open door.

The day the preacher came

One of the decisive moments in Quaker history occurred in 1652. George Fox came to preach at Swarthmoor Hall while Judge Fell was away on legal business, and Margaret attended the meeting. She later wrote that Fox's preaching opened the Scriptures in a new way, pointed people directly to Christ, emphasized inward transformation, and convicted her deeply. She and many members of her household accepted his message. Margaret described her conversion as an encounter with the living Christ through the power of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

And the judge? Thomas Fell never formally became a Quaker himself, but he tolerated his wife's convictions and protected Friends from many local persecutions during his lifetime. I find that quietly moving.

A manor house becomes a headquarters

After her conversion, Swarthmoor Hall became the unofficial headquarters of the early Society of Friends. From that house missionaries were commissioned, traveling ministers found lodging, meetings were held, correspondence was organized, financial assistance was distributed, and persecuted Friends found refuge. Fox himself frequently returned between missionary journeys, and many of the young movement's important decisions were made under its roof. In those formative years the Hall functioned almost as the administrative center of Quakerism.

The work of her hands

Margaret quickly became one of the movement's principal leaders, and her leadership was practical from top to bottom. She organized communication among scattered meetings throughout Britain. Her home welcomed hundreds of traveling ministers and persecuted believers. She used her considerable resources to assist imprisoned Friends, missionaries, poor families, and the publication of Quaker literature. She maintained extensive correspondence with Friends across Britain and abroad.

She also became the strongest advocate for organized Women's Meetings, believing that women should participate actively in pastoral care, charity, marriage oversight, church discipline, and the encouragement of younger believers. Fox strongly supported that vision.

When I read that list, I think of Paul's words: "distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality" (Romans 12:13). Margaret Fell lived that verse.

Ten years in prison

After Judge Fell's death in 1658, Margaret no longer enjoyed his legal protection. Because she refused to conform to the established church and continued to support Quaker meetings, she faced repeated legal difficulties, and eventually she was imprisoned for approximately ten years, from 1664 to 1674.

Confinement did not silence her. She continued writing, encouraged Friends, defended Quaker beliefs, maintained her correspondence, and remained active in church leadership. Her imprisonment became one of the best-known examples of Quaker endurance under persecution. George Fox repeatedly appealed for her release, and eventually King Charles II authorized the legal action that secured her freedom.

A marriage that was a partnership

George Fox and Margaret Fell had known one another for nearly twenty years, working closely together in ministry. In 1669 they married. Fox records the marriage very simply in his Journal, emphasizing God's guidance, the approval of Friends, and their shared Christian calling.

It was an unusual marriage for the seventeenth century. Instead of settling into conventional domestic life, Fox continued traveling almost constantly, Margaret continued leading Friends, and they often lived apart because of ministry responsibilities, exchanging numerous letters of encouragement. Their marriage functioned primarily as a partnership in advancing the gospel.

Women's Speaking Justified

Margaret was one of the earliest important female Christian authors in England, and her best-known work is Women's Speaking Justified, published in 1666. Notice the date. It falls within her prison years.

In the book she argued from Scripture that women may preach, prophesy, teach, and exercise spiritual gifts. She appealed to the women of the Old Testament, the women who surrounded Jesus, the women who first proclaimed the Resurrection, and passages from Paul's writings understood within their broader biblical context. Historians count it among the earliest sustained Protestant defenses of women in ministry.

Let me be plain about my aim. I am reporting what she wrote and why it mattered in her day, not settling the larger question, which Christians of goodwill have answered differently. My purpose is history, and the history of early Quakerism cannot be told without her book.

Her later years

After her release, Margaret resumed active leadership. She corresponded with Friends around the world, encouraged ministers, advised church leaders, defended religious liberty, and continued supporting missionary work. Even as George Fox's health declined, she remained one of the Society's most respected leaders.

When George Fox died, Margaret survived him by twelve years. She wrote one of the most moving memorials included in the appendix to his Journal, portraying him as humble, faithful, courageous, and completely devoted to Christ. Her account remains among the most important firsthand descriptions of Fox's character.

She continued serving Friends until her own death in 1702, advising meetings, encouraging younger leaders, preserving the history of the movement, promoting unity, and defending Quaker principles. She spent much of her later life at Swarthmoor Hall, where the movement had first taken root nearly fifty years earlier. The story began at her front door, and at the end it was still passing through.

Why she is called the Mother of Quakerism

George Fox is rightly remembered as the founder and principal preacher of the early Society of Friends. But Margaret Fell Fox was its foremost organizer, patron, theologian, and advocate, and without her leadership, hospitality, financial support, and literary work, the movement would likely have developed much more slowly.

Consider what one life held. A conversion that transformed a manor house into the principal center of an emerging movement. Networks of communication, hospitality, and mutual support that let Friends grow across Britain and beyond. A decade in prison that became an example of perseverance. A written defense of women's ministry counted among the earliest of its kind. And a marriage that united two of the movement's most influential leaders in service to Christ rather than personal prominence.

In the first article I commended George Fox to you as a brother worth knowing. Let me now commend Margaret Fell Fox as a sister worth knowing, and her Lord as the One who met her at Swarthmoor Hall and never let her go.