Background
Howgill was born around 1618, probably of yeoman parents, in Todthorne, near Grayrigg, Westmorland in northern England.
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Francis Howgill
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Education
He studied theology and in 1652 became a minister of the established church in Colton.
Career
He preached and wrote on the teachings of the Friends and is considered one of the Valiant Sixty—men and women who were early proponents of Friends beliefs and who suffered for those beliefs. He probably made his living as a farmer and a tailor. Soon after Howgill was imprisoned in Appleby-in-Westmorland for refusing to remove his hat when appearing in court in defence of James Nayler.
Afterwards he met Edward Burrough.
The two spread the Quaker message together and became close friends. Among those they converted around 1654 was Hester Biddle.
Howgill published A Woe Against the Magistrates, Priests, and People of Kendall, (1654) endorsing the Quaker practice of "going naked as a sign". In 1657 he was in Scotland, and in 1661 he was in prison in London.
Howgill was married first to a woman named Dorothy.
After the Restoration he claimed, in his tract One Warning More (1660), that the nation had "chosen madness". In 1663 he refused to swear the oath of allegiance to the crown and was sentenced to life imprisonment at Appleby. During that time people came to support him and to seek advice. but his General Epistle (1665) showed pessimism as to any Quaker triumph over adversity.
He became sick in prison and died on 11 February 1669.
In 1676 a collection of his writings, The Dawnings of the Gospel-Day, and its Light and Glory Discovered, was published.
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Born
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Died
November 20, 1668 (aged 50) -
Nationality
United Kingdom -
Political Party
The Independents