Ann(e) Blaykling (''fl.'' 1652–1708) was an early British preacher for the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

Ministry

She met

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...

in May 1652 when he preached in

Sedbergh Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Cumbria. It falls within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Since April 2023, it has been administered by Westmorland and Furness local authority. Th ...

and he came to stay at Draw-Well farm where Anne lived with her brother, John, and her father Thomas Blaykling. Ann's brother was a Puritan minister but it was John and Ann who became Quaker evangelists after hearing George Fox preach. Ann travelled in the south east and spread the word as far as Cornwall. She and similar early preachers were called the " First Publishers of Truth". In Cornwall she so alarmed one woman that she declared that she was "no woman, but a man". She was arrested and imprisoned several times including being imprisoned in Bury St Edmunds by order of Sir Thomas Barnardiston. She was charged with abusing the minister at Haverhill. She stood up to the baptist

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; 1628 – 31 August 1688) was an English writer and preacher. He is best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', which also became an influential literary model. In addition to ''The Pilgrim' ...

. She and the Quakers fell out for some years, but she eventually returned and married a fellow Quaker. Her date of death is unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaykling, Ann 1600s births 1700s deaths Quaker ministers People from Sedbergh