John Richardson was an English Quaker minister and autobiographer.
Background
John Richardson was born in 1667, probably in the village of North Cave, East Riding of Yorkshire, where his father, William Richardson (1614–1679), a shepherd, had been converted to Quakerism by William Dewsberry or Dewsbury in about 1652. He was twelve when his father died, leaving his mother with a livestock farm to run and five children. John had one older sister (who died about 1682) and three younger brothers, of whom the youngest was born about 1676.
Career
He began preaching regularly, despite a stammer, and made a preaching tour of the Midlands, during which he met William Dewsberry in Warwick. Four more tours of England and Wales followed in 1687-1695. Further tours of Southern England and of Scotland followed.
Leaving his two surviving children with foster parents, Richardson set out for America as an evangelist, arriving in Maryland in 1701 after a 16-week crossing.
He also visited Bermuda and Barbados. She too took part in the Quaker ministry, but she died on 18 December 1711 at the age of 33.
Richardson wrote a poignant memorial to her as an exemplary wife and Quaker. The urge to travel and preach continued with Richardson for the rest of his life.
This he attributed "first by being brought by custom to be in love with strong-drink, and keeping loose company." He paid a second visit to America in 1731.
John Richardson died at Hutton-le-Hole in 1753, at the age of 87, and was buried at the Quaker burial ground of Kirkbymoorside. His Life was published in 1757 and went into several editions over the next century. There are abundant print on demand editions available today, but there has been no modern scholarly edition