“Take A Break, Have a Kit Kat.”
Not an advertising slogan used in modern times as a TV confectionery commercial, but in its day on the lips of millions of chocolate lovers from Lands’ End to John O’Groats.
‘Take a Break, Have a Kit Kat’ was used for many years, entering the English language to mean it was time to take the weight off your feet for a short while and enjoy a bit of chocolate with your elevenses.
Kit Kats, as most will know, are rectangular choccie biccies still sold in almost every store in the United Kingdom.
They are also a reminder – to those in the know – that Quakers flourished just as well in the 20th century as they did when first formed way back in 1650.
Why is that? It is because Joseph Rowntree, who owned the factory that produced this most tempting of chocolate confectionery, was also a renowned, leading Quaker.
He is one of many famous and infamous people belonging to this controversial religious sect, who spent nearly as much time fighting each another as they did scrapping with the authorities.
American Presidents Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover were Quakers, as was another famous Anglo-American: William Penn.
Suffice to say that in the earliest days of the movement, Lewes was at its very heart.
Persecuted by the establishment for refusing to take an oath of allegiance, Quakers proliferated in Lewes, perhaps because Roman Catholicism had been dominant in the town until Henry VIII split from Rome.
Grey Friars monastery, St Michael’s College and, above all, the Priory owned thousands of acres in and around the town, giving them huge influence on its governance.
Not surprising then that the backlash against Catholicism, the advent of Puritanism and the rise of the Quakers centred in Southern England and in our county town.
William Penn was favoured by Charles II who returned to the throne in 1660. after the English Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell had ended. He was also a leading ‘religious ‘dissident’ linked to the running of the movement in the south.
While staying in Lewes, he lodged with a lady called Mary Wakehurst. Mary had outlived her husband, which was just as well because he was so angry with her for publicly challenging the established church, he beat her black and blue, put a huge wooden chain around her and locked her in the back bedroom of his house.
Despite the fact that Quakers were at the forefront of women’s lib, nobody did anything about it and the poor woman suffered this indignity for much of her married life, still managing somehow to give birth to two children.
After her husband’s death, she became such a dedicated Quaker that Penn lodged with her on all his visits to Lewes in and around 1670.
In fact, the centre of the Quaker movement was in Cliffe and got up the left nostril of the rector of St Thomas’s Church so much he became obsessed with rooting out Quakers and ridding his parish of them until he eventually moved out himself.
The Quakers weren’t given an easy time of it by the good citizens of the town either. There are several instances documented of them being attacked by mobs while the authorities looked the other way, failing to offer protection or even a small measure of justice.
William Penn came from a good family. It was only the intervention of his father, who had been active in restoring Charles II to the throne, which got him released from the Tower of London, where he had been banged up in 1658 because of his religious views. The refusal by Quakers to take the oath of allegiance was legislated against as treasonable because they refused to acknowledge the King as either head of state or head of the church.
Despite his differences with the monarchy, William was given a large chunk of America and set off to found Pennsylvania, where Quakers initially enjoyed a large measure of religious freedom, but soon set to quarrelling amongst themselves and treating each other as badly as English society had treated them at home.
That didn’t stop them from working hard to improve social justice. They attempted to stop slavery and spiritedly promoted the rights of women. Giving women a bigger role in society was also a feature of the early Quakers back in Lewes, but one which caused bitter conflict among their members, some of whom resisted that sort of drastic social change.
Penn was as controversial as his religion. He fell out with the new governors of the state named after him and returned to Britain, where Quakers had received a new lease of life from James II, with an Act of Indulgence.
Penn was a visionary. Much like Tom Paine after him, he envisaged a confederation of American states, a forerunner to the United States, and a similar confederation in Europe, an early form of the EU
The history of early Quakers in Lewes is still displayed throughout the town. Apart from the Quaker House of Prayer which presently sits in Friar’s walk, one of their original homes on Southover High Street, The Croft, is well preserved. Before there was an official headquarters, it is where Quakers held their meetings in the town. A typical 17th century house in Cliffe has been lovingly restored and can be seen in the alley which leads from Cliffe High Street to Harvey’s Yard.
William Penn’s return from America was far from a success. A controversial figure for most of his lifetime, he died penniless in 1718. Having owned one of the biggest chunks of colonial land in America, and having dined at the court of Kings and being hailed as a spiritual leader of one of the strongest dissident movements of his age, this was a tragic end.
In fact, Mary Wakehurst outlived both her husband and our Billy. So she lost both her bread winner and lodger, yet went on to become one of the most famous Quakers Lewes ever produced, that wooden chain and all.
He put a huge wooden chain around her and locked her in the bedroom