Remembering John Woolman's epic walk of 1772

In 1772, John Woolman, walked from London to York passing through the village of Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire.

In recent weeks in that same village the nation has celebrated another epic walk - that of Captain Tom Moore as he approaches his 100th birthday.

The context of both men’s actions links them more closely than simple geography.

John Woolman - an American from New Jersey - was by trade (perhaps no surprise with such a surname) a tailor. He was a very religious man - a member of the Society of Friends or Quakers who through his religious beliefs became a leading campaigner for the abolishment of slavery, the improved treatment of the poor and the rights of animals.

Woolman’s principles made him a distinctive figure as he undertook his walk. He dressed in a white hat, coarse raw linen clothing, a coat without cuffs, white stockings and uncured leather shoes. He did not wear dyed clothing, in particular Indigo blue - the most fashionable colour of the day - as a protest against the enslavement of West Africans forced to work on the Indigo plantations of the southern states of America. Indigo was at that time one of the most valuable cash crops in the world.

Both men were walking at a time when the country was undergoing a widespread health crisis in response to a global outbreak of a contagious virus. In John Woolman’s day it was smallpox. Greatly informed by his religious beliefs he published his own thoughts on the origin of the virus and how to deal with it. He advised that people should stop non-essential business, unnecessary visits and assembling together - all of which sound very familiar to us today.

“Was no business done, no visits made, nor any assembling of people together but such as were consistent with pure wisdom, nor any inoculation, there would be a great alteration in the operation of this disorder amongst men,” he wrote.

Where time has proved the difference is in the understanding of the causes and the treatment of disease. Woolman saw it as a punishment from God and advised against inoculation. Something which our modern medical research, scientific understanding and the work of the NHS so amazingly supported by the walk of Capt. Tom Moore, would clearly argue to be inaccurate.

Although he realised the risks to his own health, Woolman was determined to reach Yorkshire, which he saw as a spiritual home of Quakerism. He left London in June 1772. He passed through Captain Tom Moore’s home village of Marston Moretain before heading west through the textile manufacturing heartland of the north west and, in September, arriving in York which he felt was home.

William Tuke, a fellow Quaker, humanitarian and innovative chocolatier, accompanied Woolman on the last stages of his journey to York. Woolman was welcomed by the Quaker community of the city and stayed initially with the Tuke family in Castlegate. Unfortunately, he was not well and had caught smallpox on his journey. He quickly became very ill and the bustle of living in the city centre was too much and he was nursed to the end of his life on October 7, 1772, by the Priestman family who lived on Marygate, then a much quieter part of the city.

John Woolman recorded his walk in a journal - the original of which is now missing. During the three months of his walk he commented on the society he found and wrote about the society he hoped would emerge in the future. Something we might all consider.

York Civic Trust installed a plaque on the Priestman’s house in Marygate to commemorate this amazing man. It is one of over a hundred and fifty plaques across the city (yorkcivictrust.co.uk/heritage/civic-trust-plaques/) recognising the important achievements of people who have lived in York.

During the current health crisis, the Civic Trust are recognising people’s amazing achievements at this time across social media. If you would like to nominate someone for a virtual personalised plaque, then please email info@yorkcivictrust.co.uk.