William Pollard (1828–1893) was an English

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

writer and

recorded minister A Recorded Minister was originally a male or female Quaker who was acknowledged to have a gift of spoken ministry. The practice of recording in a Monthly Meeting Minute the acknowledgment that a Friend had a gift of spoken ministry began in the 1 ...

. He was a prominent advocate of

quietist Quietism is the name given (especially in Roman Catholic theology) to a set of contemplative practices that rose in popularity in France, Italy, and Spain during the late 1670s and 1680s, particularly associated with the writings of the Spanis ...

Quaker theology, during a period of theological dispute within the Society of Friends.

Early life

Pollard was born at

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

, Sussex, on 10 June 1828, the ninth child of James Pollard (1789–1851) and his wife, Susannah.Pollard, William (1828–1893)
Charlotte Fell-Smith, rev. K. D. Reynolds, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004.Charlotte Fell Smith: "William Pollard", ''Dictionary of National Biography 1885–1900'', Vol. 4
Retrieved 21 July 2019
He became a junior teacher at the Friends' School,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...

, in 1843, and in 1849 entered the Flounders Institute at Ackworth, Yorkshire, a Quaker college for training schoolmasters. He was appointed a master at the Quaker Ackworth School in 1851 and remained there for 16 years. Pollard married Lucy Binns of

Bishopwearmouth Bishopwearmouth is a former village and parish which now constitutes the west side of Sunderland City Centre, merging with the settlement as it expanded outwards in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is home to the Sunderland Minster church, which ...

(now part of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

) on 12 January 1854. They had ten children. Pollard issued several Quaker tracts while he was at Ackworth, including ''Primitive Christianity Revived'' and ''Congregational Worship''. Ill-health obliged him to leave the teaching profession in 1866, but he was first mentioned as a recorded minister in the same year, when the family moved to

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

''A Reasonable Faith''

From 1866 to 1872, Pollard worked for the photographer

Francis Frith Francis Frith (also spelled Frances Frith, 7 October 1822 – 25 February 1898) was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom. Frith was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, attending Quaker schools at Ackwort ...

. A proponent of liberal,

Quaker theology, he was a co-author with Frith and W. E. Turner of the influential book ''A Reasonable Faith'', "by Three Friends" (1884 and 1886). This provoked outcry among the evangelically minded Quakers. In 1871 he published ''Considerations Addressed to the Society of Friends on the Peace Question'', and in 1872 he became secretary and lecturer to the Lancashire and Cheshire International Arbitration Association, a branch of what would become the

Peace Society The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the 1930s. Hi ...

. He held this post for most of the rest of his life.

Retirement

Around 1872, Pollard and his family moved to Sale, Cheshire.William Pollard
He died on 26 September 1893 at his home, Drayton Lodge, Eccles,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, and was buried in the Quaker cemetery at Ashton-on-Mersey. He was survived by his wife, five sons and three daughters.

References

External links

WILLIAM POLLARD Entry on William Pollard, on Ben Beck's website
1828 births 1893 deaths English Quakers {{Quaker-stub