52Quaker History Historical Notes Margaret Fell versus Thomas Rawlinson Bonnelyn Young Kunze* Margaret Fell Fox (1615-1702) of Swarthmoor Hall is best known as the "Mother of Quakerism" who suffered, wrote and ably ministered for the Truth in her generation. Another document has now been found that sheds some new light on her rôle in the rise of English Quakerism which reveals a different facet of her personality . The Rawlinson manuscript is a two-volume document, rebound from one, entitled, [a book to] "goe abroad onely among all Friends ith [in the] Truth [in answer] to severall papers of Margret Foxe. . .formerly called Margret Fell. . .toucheing the unjust orders, papers and illegale proceedings. . .on her behalfe. . .as toucheing my Stewardship for her. . .at Forse [Forse] Fordge [Forge]. . ." (1680). ' The manuscript was left at the Friends House Library, London , about 1851 , in the custody of the then recording clerk of London Yearly Meeting by J. Crosfield. The document consists of 456 closely written pages in the hand of the Quaker Thomas Rawlinson or his amanuensis. As far as is known this new-found manuscript which originally existed in several copies, is now a unique copy. It has faded in places with some frayed edges so that occasional words are missing. Except for the first two or three pages the manuscript is intact, and although some parts are unreadable the text is sufficiently redundant so that the modern reader can piece together the threads of often repeated statements. The document relates the story of a long-term business quarrel between Margaret Fell and Thomas Rawlinson. Thomas Rawlinson (?—1689) of Graythwaite was the son of Captain William Rawlinson, a gentlemen of Furness and a Parliamentarian during the Civil War. Thomas became a Quaker in 1652 and joined the Cartmel Friends Meeting, at which time he was banished from his father's house. He was Margaret Fell's iron steward at Force * Bonnelyn Young Kunze recently received her Ph.D. in early modern English history. This paper is related to her forthcoming study, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism. 1. 1 am grateful to Craige Horle for informing me of the existence of the Rawlinson manuscript, which he discovered in the Friends House Library, London, among the rare early Quaker documents. It is now catalogued at the FHLL. Historical Notes53 Forge, an iron smelting operation owned by the Fell family in the Lakeland district of Furness, Lancashire. Rawlinson's tenure at the forge lasted from 1658 to 1663. In 1663 a disagreement arose between Fell and Rawlinson concerning his stewardship, with each accusing the other of dishonest business practices.2 The feud lasted from 1663 to 1681 and beyond, during which time the local Swarthmoor Men's Monthly Meeting (SMMM), and the Lancaster Men's Quarterly Meeting (LMQM) became deeply involved in attempting to arbitrate. Although the minutes of the SMMM alluded to the ongoing dispute, these minutes which are virtually intact from the Meeting's inception in 1668 are mysteriously lacking for the years 1674-1691. The fact that the minutes are lacking during part of the period that the dispute occurred , including its climax in 1681 when the Fell's signed over the forge to Rawlinson, suggests that the minutes covering the height of the dispute may have been removed. Along with the SMMM minutes and the LMQM minutes there exist some stray letter evidence and the original account book of Force Forge kept by Thomas Rawlinson from 1658 to 1663. 3 These sources authenticate this dispute and record its outcome in 1681 in favor of Rawlinson. According to his manuscript, Rawlinson felt deeply betrayed both 2.For more information on Thomas Rawlinson see Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell, Mother ofQuakerism, 267-268 passim; Dictionary of Quaker Biography (FHLL); William C. Braithwaite, The Beginnings of Quakerism, 456; Bruce Blackwood, "The Lancashire Gentry," Transactions ofthe Historical Society ofLancashire and Cheshire, 15; J. Richardson, Furness (1880), I, 124; Norman Penney (ed.), The HouseholdAccount Book ofSarah Fell, 538, 558-559. Thomas Rawlinson, who was considerably younger than Margaret Fell, was a close friend of the Fell family in the 1650's. There are several extant letters of his to members of the Fell family...