Records of Rawdon Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends

Minutes of Preparative Meeting, 1700-1966 (8 vols.) [B 1-8]; rough minutes, 1823-1842, 1862-1878 (2 vols.) [B 11-12]; Minutes of Women's Preparative Meeting, 1811-1837 (2 vols.) [B 21-22]; Minutes of Overseers' Meetings, 1899-1908 (1 vol.) [B 31]; Minutes of Bi-centenary [of Meeting House] Committee, 1897-1904, and its refreshment, hospitality, objects, building, programme and publishing committees, 1897-1899 (6 vols.) [B 81, 83]; with related papers, 1897-1901 [B 80]; List of members, 1854-1947 [B 41]; Notices of removal, 1904-1942 [B 65]; Register of births, 1838-1917 [B 45]; Birth notes, 1838-1917 [B 61]; Register of deaths, 1838-1919 [B 46]; Burial notes, 1839-1960 [B 62]; Orders for burials, 1920-1949 [B 63]; Papers re. burials, 1837-1953 [B 60]; Account books, 1874-1963 (3 vols.) [B 51-53]; Accounts, pass book and receipts, Bi-centenary [of Meeting House] Fund, 1897-1904 (3 bundles and 1 vol.) [B 82, 84-86]; Papers re. repairs to Meeting House, 1990-1992 (1 bundle) [B 71]

Guiseley Meeting was recorded in 1665 as part of Skipton Monthly Meeting, and again in 1669 as part of Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. A group of Friends from Rawdon, Henry Whitacre, Samuel Marshall, Abraham and Edward Grimshaw, and Matthew and John Hargraves, were imprisoned in 1682 for refusal to swear the oath of allegiance. Distraints of goods for non-payment of tithes from Friends in the area, including several members of the Grimshaw family, are also recorded by Besse for the period up to 1690. A Meeting House was built in Rawdon in 1697 on a piece of enclosed common land, with an adjoining burial ground; local Friends also used a burial ground in Dibhouses from 1671 until 1699. Around this time the name of the Meeting changed to Rawdon. The conduct of worship at Rawdon was investigated by Quarterly Meeting in 1717 after reports that Friends were not removing their hats during prayer. The accounts of travelling Friends who visited Rawdon during the 18th century testify to a well-attended Meeting which became the largest within Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. The Meeting House was enlarged and altered at several points during 1700s and 1800s, and is still in use for worship today. In 1853, the Meeting was transferred to Brighouse Monthly Meeting, and again in 1924 to Leeds Monthly Meeting.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Carlton Hill Meeting House

The conditions of deposit include a clause requiring written prior permission from a Friend Custodian for access to consult current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old

The collection of archives of the Society of Friends formerly held at the Friends Meeting House at Carlton Hill, Leeds

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 99, Inventory of the records of Brighouse, Knaresborough, Leeds, and Settle Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends Meeting House, Carlton Hill, Leeds, 2nd edition, 1997. Documents B 1-3, 7, 21-22, and 31 have been indexed in the Library's Quaker Archives database http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/quaker/quakint1.htm

As with access, the photocopying of current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old requires the permission of a Friend Custodian

Related material in Leeds University Library: Records of Knaresborough, Brighouse and Leeds Monthly Meetings, Rawdon Adult School and Rawdon School

See J. Guise, Quakers in Rawdon 1697-1997 (1997)

The records are deposited and remain the property of the Society of Friends