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Pacifism in Birmingham’s history

T

trevor bow

master brummie
This thread has been created from comments posted in the Cadbury Bournville thread. It concerns past pacifists in the context of Birmingham history The thread is not for posting personal views. Thank you.
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Strange how all the original chocolate makers i.e. Cadbury, Rowntree, and Fry, were all pacifist Quakers.
 
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Many Quaker pacifist families in Birmingham including Galton the gunmakers.
And paternalists ?
 
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There was a talk back in 2018 at Birmingham University concerning Pacifists making guns.

“The biggest gun-making firm in 18th century Britain was owned by a Quaker family, the Galtons of Birmingham. They were major suppliers of guns to the slave trade in West Africa, the East India Company, settlers and trading companies in North America, and the British government, which was at war almost constantly from 1688 to 1815. But a core principle of the Quaker faith is belief in the un-Christian nature of war; Quakers do not participate in war or war training. From the seventeenth century, they were a persecuted minority because they refused to swear loyalty to the king or to arm themselves in the defence of his realm. So how do we explain the Galtons? -and other Quakers’ quiet tolerance of their business for nearly a century?”

centralenglandquakers.org.uk

Search Results for “Galton” – Central England Quakers

centralenglandquakers.org.uk centralenglandquakers.org.uk
 
Pedrocut said:
There was a talk back in 2018 at Birmingham University concerning Pacifists making guns.

“The biggest gun-making firm in 18th century Britain was owned by a Quaker family, the Galtons of Birmingham. They were major suppliers of guns to the slave trade in West Africa, the East India Company, settlers and trading companies in North America, and the British government, which was at war almost constantly from 1688 to 1815. But a core principle of the Quaker faith is belief in the un-Christian nature of war; Quakers do not participate in war or war training. From the seventeenth century, they were a persecuted minority because they refused to swear loyalty to the king or to arm themselves in the defence of his realm. So how do we explain the Galtons? -and other Quakers’ quiet tolerance of their business for nearly a century?”

centralenglandquakers.org.uk

Search Results for “Galton” – Central England Quakers

centralenglandquakers.org.uk centralenglandquakers.org.uk
Click to expand...



The 'Nobel Peace Prize' is named after Alfred Noble. He invented and manufactured dynamite !
 
I don't think Galton was exactly welcomed to Quaker meetings. Finally in 1796 he was declared to be "not at unity" with the aims of the society and disowned. His arguments that guns were not just used for war, but for hunting and as currency in Africa had earlier been sort of accepted but were no longer.
 
Yes, but as the lady said in the talk. It was not until 1795, after nearly a hundred years, that they publicly came out against it. Although Galton defended himself he later moved out of the trade.
 
There are threads on the Forum concerning some pacifist Birmingham families

Cadbury Family

The Cadbury Family

Now we come to one of the most important and prolific families in Brum’s history - the CADBURYS. And there are a heck of a lot of them! There is much written about various branches of their commercial empires, and their many collective contributions to our City’s history and development, both...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

The Galtons

The Galtons - What a Family.

There were a heck of a lot of Galtons in the late 18th and early 19th Century around Brum, and this thread may hopefully tease out some of the major family players, and their contributions to the greatness of this fair City of ours. So bear with me for a spot of character setting, and a first...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

Tangye Brothers

Tangye Brothers Engineers

birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

Sturge Family

Sturge family

I always thought the great Joseph Sturge was buried at Key Hill Cemetery but in fact he is not. I think this may be where the confusion came from. I have no idea if these people are part of his family although these are spelt Surges not Sturge.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Can I mention Harry H. Payne who was well known for the large shoe repair business he built up in Birmingham. Harry was called up in 1916 and went before a tribunal arguing that he would not assist the war effort on Christian grounds. He was imprisoned until Jan 1919.

Although Harry was originally a Methodist he later became a Quaker. Looking at his life and what he achieved I almost think he could/should be listed as a famous Birmingham Person. There is also a very good thread on the forum under Paynes Shoe Repairs.
 
superdad3 said:
Can I mention Harry H. Payne who was well known for the large shoe repair business he built up in Birmingham. Harry was called up in 1916 and went before a tribunal arguing that he would not assist the war effort on Christian grounds. He was imprisoned until Jan 1919.

Although Harry was originally a Methodist he later became a Quaker. Looking at his life and what he achieved I almost think he could/should be listed as a famous Birmingham Person. There is also a very good thread on the forum under Paynes Shoe Repairs.
Click to expand...
yes please add him to our list of famous birmingham people superdad and maybe post a link to the paynes shoe repairs thread..most of us on here should remembers the names paynes shoe repairs

lyn
 
Pedrocut said:
There was a talk back in 2018 at Birmingham University concerning Pacifists making guns.

“The biggest gun-making firm in 18th century Britain was owned by a Quaker family, the Galtons of Birmingham. They were major suppliers of guns to the slave trade in West Africa, the East India Company, settlers and trading companies in North America, and the British government, which was at war almost constantly from 1688 to 1815. But a core principle of the Quaker faith is belief in the un-Christian nature of war; Quakers do not participate in war or war training. From the seventeenth century, they were a persecuted minority because they refused to swear loyalty to the king or to arm themselves in the defence of his realm. So how do we explain the Galtons? -and other Quakers’ quiet tolerance of their business for nearly a century?”

centralenglandquakers.org.uk

Search Results for “Galton” – Central England Quakers

centralenglandquakers.org.uk centralenglandquakers.org.uk
Click to expand...
Just curious and where are you obtaining your information?

Charles Galton
 
I agree and to lump the entire family into that category seams odd. I highly doubt that John sr. , jr and Sam were Pacifists seeing that they were the largest supplier guns and locks.

But what do I know.

Charles Galton
 
C Galton said:
Just curious and where are you obtaining your information?

Charles Galton
Click to expand...

Which piece of information do you refer to ? The reference to the Birmingham University talk is as stated in Post 8 being from the book Empire of Guns by Priya Satia.
 
Pedrocut said:
Which piece of information do you refer to ? The reference to the Birmingham University talk is as stated in Post 8 being from the book Empire of Guns by Priya Satia.
Click to expand...
I think the author is from Stanford or Berkeley University in California. I find it humorous for her book to call it violent making of an industrial revolution… but then talks about Pacifists. (Again before I comment I should read it). But there was a prof from California who spoke about the Galtons and I believe this is her.
 
I think you are correct. I went to that talk in Birmingham. There were a number in the audience who did not agree with her. Below are three pages from her book concerning Galton

From empire of Guns.jpg
 
C Galton said:
I’m wondering if there is any information further back past John sr. and Sam sr.

CG
Click to expand...
I just read a couple of articles on West Midlands History. One by Jenny Uglow was insightful.
Separately I thought there were many other historical article including about the Lunar Society. If this has been covered previously, my apologies for being redundant.
 
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