Born in Leicestershire in 1624, Fox forsook church attendance and rejected established religious bodies at an early age. He preached that truth is to be found in God’s voice speaking to the soul. His movement was called ‘Friends of Truth’, later abbreviated to ‘Friends’ (now the Society of Friends). Fox felt impelled to interrupt church services with impassioned appeals from the Scriptures to the Holy Spirit as authority and guide, and this resulted in his languishing some six years in various prisons.
His later years were spent in the London area, where he campaigned against social evils and for religious toleration. He worked until his death in 1691 helping others, promoting schools, and so on. He is buried under a simple marker in what used to be the Friends Burial Ground (now a garden of rest) on Bunhill Row near Bunhill Fields.