Miles Bousfield has not had a good press from Quaker historians, who hint that he was one of those over-enthusiastic Seekers whose convincement lacked substance. First Publishers merely says of him that:

Afterwards, George Fox went into Garsdale, and met with some great professors, as Major Bousfield, but little or no reception or acceptance of his testimony … [page 329] ¹

The main evidence against him is from the testimony of William Edmundson, a native of Westmorland who after a parliamentary army career settled in Ireland, and set up as a trader in Antrim, where his brother was with the New Model Army. He had long felt an affinity with the Quakers, and on a visit to his home county in 1653 was convinced by James Naylor. Back home in Antrim and suffering agonies with his conscience, he was visited by

one Miles Bousfield ... at whose House George Fox had been, he had been in some degree Convinced of the Truth, and came away upon it: He was a great Talker of Religion, but an Enemy and a Stranger to the Cross of Christ ... ²

Bousfield is identified in the marginal gloss as 'Major Bousfield from England'. He advised Edmundson 'to be chearful and merry, and not to look at those inward Troubles, that bow'd me down, which was the Enemy's work to lead me into Dispair': a strategy that worked initially, but Edmundson turned violently against him when his religious depression took a grip again. He implies that Bousfield had come to see him because his condition had made him a notoriety in the district, but it may be that they had family and friends in common: Edmundson was born in Little Musgrave near Brough, and there are nests of Bousfields/Bousfells all over the district. Bousfield itself is a farm to the north west of Orton, north of Tebay. A Myles Bousfield is recorded as the father of Jean at a christening on 25 February 1638 in Ravenstonedale.

There needs to be further investigation into his army career. Was he in Ireland professionally?

Return

1.    The First Publishers of Truth: Being Early Records (now first printed) of the introduction of Quakerism into the Counties of England and Wales edited Norman Penney with an Introduction by Thomas Hodgkin (London: Headley Brothers, 1907).       Return

2.    A Journal of the Life ... of ... William Edmundson (Dublin: Samuel Fairbrother, 1715).   See 'Other Sources' on Bousfield Index page.     Return