Thomas Wight, 1640–1724, was a native of Bandon,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and author of the first ''History of the Quakers in Ireland.'' His father was Rice Wight,

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

minister of Bandon and a son of Thomas Wight, A.M. (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1619-49) also a minister and a native of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. While a clothier's apprentice, Wight attended Quaker meeting out of curiosity. He was impressed by a speech by

Francis Howgill Francis Howgill (1618 – 11 February 1669) was a prominent early member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England. He preached and wrote on the teachings of the Friends and is considered one of the Valiant Sixty, men and women wh ...

- "Before the eye can see, it must be opened; before the ear can hear, it must unstopped; and before the heart can understand, it must be illuminated."

Edward Burrough Edward Burrough (1634–1663) was an early English Quaker leader and controversialist. He is regarded as one of the Valiant Sixty, who were early Quaker preachers and missionaries. Convincement Burrough was born in Underbarrow, Westmorland, and ...

was a further influence in causing Wight to move away from the Church of Ireland to becoming a Quaker himself. He married in 1670 and had a large family. According to the ''History of Bandon''.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wight, Thomas 1640 births 1724 deaths Converts to Quakerism Irish Anglicans Irish male writers Irish Quakers People from Bandon, County Cork Historians of Quakerism 17th-century Irish writers 17th-century Irish male writers 18th-century Irish people Writers from County Cork