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William Penn (1644-1718)
William Penn was born in London as his father, Admiral Sir William Penn, was departing down the Thames on his departure for the Irish Seas. As the news reached his father, he hastily left his ship and returned home to see his new son.
While his father was at sea, the family resided in their Wanstead home, Elm Hall, which stood more or less where the present day Wanstead London Underground station is situated. During these times, William acquired his strong religious faith from his mother.
He attended schools in Chigwell and London and went on to Christ Church College at Oxford University, where he earned himself a reputation as a keen student and adventurous sportsman. His exceptional memory assisted his acquisition of knowledge and he studied extensively in the fields of history and theology. He could also speak several languages, amongst them italian, french, dutch and german.
He was expelled from Oxford for refusing to conform to the restored Anglican church, which infuriated his father, who sent William to France in a bid to curtail his rebellious ways. He was later sent to Ireland to manage his family estates there, which he did very well. Whilst there, he became interested in the army and served in maintaining rule and order in Ireland.
However, he soon rekindled his religious fervour after listening to a sermon by an old Oxford friend in Ireland, and unable to withstand its influence, he accepted the tenets of Quakerism. He soon identified himself completely with the Quaker movement, but it was not until 1668 that he felt himself called to the ministry.
This caused his father to turn him out of the house, at which point he was cared for by friends and his mother. When he was eventually allowed to return, his father would not see him. Meanwhile, he continued to preach and write in favour of his beliefs. Some of his works earned him imprisonment in the Tower of London for nearly eight months, and was freed only as his work increased public interest in him. On his release, after a visit to Ireland to use his influence there to free some imprisoned Quakers, he repaired his relationship with his father and thereafter lived on good terms with him.
After another spell of imprisonment, Penn returned to the bedside of his father, who died a few days later, bequeathing to his son a property of £1,500 a year. Penn was again imprisoned and afterwards spent some time in Holland and Germany, where he was active in making converts to the Quaker cause, but he soon returned to England and in 1672 he married Guliehna Maria, a daughter of Sir William Springett. During the ensuing few years he devoted much time to itinerant preaching, and published about twenty-six controversial works and two political volumes.
In 1674, Penn became involved in the colonisation of the New World when he acquired a large amount of territory in what is now the United States. He wanted to call his territory New Wales, but after objections suggested Sylvania. In 1681, King Charles II signed a charter that constituted Penn absolute owner of the territory, on the condition that two beaver skins be gifted each year to the King. The King also prefixed the Penn family name to the territory in honour of William's father, the great Admiral, to create Pennsylvania.
In 1682 he sent out Captain William Markham to take possession of the province in his name, and to plan and erect a mansion for the governor and to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians. In the same year, he himself set out from London on the ship "Welcome" and took formal possession of the territory on the day after his arrival. He then selected a site for his capital at the junction of Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, which he named Philadelphia.
Penn's landing was made at Dock Creek, and this place grew rapidly, and within a year more than a hundred houses had been built. On the banks of the Delware at Shackamaxon (now known as Kensington) there stood a great elm tree, where in earlier years the Indian tribes had asembled for important occasions, the name of the place meaning the "Locality of Kings" in the local Indian language. It was here in October of 1682 that Penn's famous treaty was made with the Indians, when members of the Delawares, Mingoes and other Susquehanna tribes made a treaty of peace and friendship with the Quakers which according to Voltaire, was "never sworn to and never broken". The influence of Penn was so great among the Indians that to be a follower of his was at all times a passport to their protection and hospitality. George Bancroft says that "while every other colony in the New World was visited in turn by the horrors of Indian warfare, no drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by a red man in Pennsylvania."
Penn then devoted himself to his duties as governor, and made treaties with other Indian tribes, and as long as any of the aborigines remained in Pennsylvania or its neighborhood their traditions bore testimony to the justice and benevolence of "Mignon," as the Delawares called him, or of "Onus," as he was styled by the Iroquois, he then visited New York and New Jersey, and after the meeting of the general assembly of the province' at Newcastle in May, 1684, he entrusted the government to a council, and in August sailed for England, leaving a prosperous colony of 7,000 persons. In his farewell he writes: "And thou. Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named before thou wast born, what love, what care, what service, and what travail hath there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee! My soul prays to God for thee, that thou mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blessed of the Lord, and thy people saved by his power".
He returned to England in 1684, leaving the prosperous colony of some 7,000 people in the hands of a council. His patron the Duke of York became King James II and was a regular member at the King's court, and his success at influencing the King earnt him enemies. He continued to preach his views of universal toleration and his chief aim to was to persuade the King to introduce into parliament a general act that should permit freedom of opinion in every part of his dominions, and in 1687, the King issued a proclamation declaring liberty of conscience to all, removing tests and penalties. This was largely the result of Penn's influence.
His health declining, he found that the country air Of Berkshire agreed best with him, and so he settled in Ruscombe. In 1712 he was stricken with paralysis, and made unable to care for himself. He lingered in this condition for some six years, aided by his wife. When he died, he was buried in Buckinghamshire, by the side of his first wife and Springett, his first-born and favorite son. An attempt was made to have his remains taken to Philadelphia, but although his graveyard was discovered, "no monumental marble, or even simple headstone, marks the spot where the founder of Pennsylvania found at last that rest and freedom from the persecution he had experienced in his lifetime."
See also these other related articles:
| Penn, Admiral Sir William (1621-1670) | |
| The George and Dragon, and Elm Hall | |