In researching this post I am indebted to the
PhD thesis The
Relinquishment of Plain dress: British Quaker women's abandonment of
Plain Quaker attire, 1860–1914 by Hannah Rumball of
the University of Brighton (2016).
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| A painting apparently of Gracechurch Street Meeting in London (no longer extant), circa 1770. Artist anonymous. |
The traditional
Quaker dress in England was very practical. Indeed, the goals of
Friends' choice of clothing were to be practical and little else. It
was to be humble, not concerned with fashion, and eschewing
fripperies and ostentation. This was a matter of virtue in itself,
and of demonstrating virtue in the world, as Fox is said to have set
out on many occasions, including this epistle (numbered 250 in at
least some collections):
