Records of Thirsk Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends

Minutes of Monthly Meeting, 1670-1827 (8 vols.) [F 3.1-3.8]; Minutes of Women's Monthly Meeting, 1687-1827 (4 vols.) [F 4.1-4.4]; Minutes of Meetings of Ministers and Elders, 1755-1826 (2 vols.) [A 7; B 22]; Records of sufferings, 1660-1826 (3 vols.) [A 10.1-10.3]; List of members, 1813-1818 (1 vol.) [K 3]; Charity money and School Fund accounts, 1781-1839 (2 vols.) [B 23-24]; Record of title deeds, 1729-1822 (1 vol.) [A 13]; Advices and epistles from London Yearly Meeting and Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting, 1707-1772 (2 vols.) [A 4-5]; Papers re maintenance of the family of John Hutchinson 1810-1811, and re removals, 1810-1827 (1 vol.) [M 5]

Thirsk Monthly Meeting was formed in 1669 and centred on Thirsk because it was the only urban centre and had the only Meeting House in the area, purchased by Thomas Pratt in 1647. At this point its constituent Meetings were Craike (later Huby) (c.1654-1827), Wilden (later Thirsk) (c.1662-1827), Borrowby (c.1652-1827) and Bilsdale (c.1663-1827). Helmsley Meeting formed at some point after 1669. A letter addressed by Quarterly Meeting in 1672 "to the apostates belonging to Thirsk Monthly Meeting" makes this the first case of Separatism amongst Yorkshire Quakers. The Monthly Meeting was historically weak and the Quarterly Meeting of Ministers and Elders reported "a want of love and unity" amongst its members in 1789. Quarterly Meeting reviewed its boundaries in 1825 and proposed its dissolution. This was carried out in 1827, with the constituent Meetings allocated as follows: Borrowby joined Darlington Monthly Meeting within Durham Quarterly Meeting; Bilsdale and Helmsley joined Guisborough Monthly Meeting; and Huby and Thirsk joined York Monthly Meeting. Northallerton Meeting had already closed in 1793.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Clifford Street 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 in Clifford Street, York

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 75, Inventory of the records of Yorkshire General Meeting and York and Thirsk Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends' Meeting House, Clifford Street, York (1986).

There are additional microfilm copies of A 4-5, A 7, A 10.1-10.3, A 13, F 3.1-3.6, and F 4.1-F 4.2

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 Helmsley, Huby, Northallerton, Rounton and Thirsk Preparative Meetings, and Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting. Related material in other repositories: Records of Bilsdale Preparative Meeting, North Yorkshire County Record Office. Records of Osmotherley Preparative Meeting, Durham Record Office.

See I. Hall, "An extinct Monthly Meeting", in Friends Quarterly Examiner, vol.XXXVII, 1903, pp.353-361

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