Transcript

of

Joanna Southcott

Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries vol. VII, (1912-1913), Exeter: James G. Commin. 1913, pp. 69-73.

by

Charles Lane

Prepared by Michael Steer

Joanna Southcott (or Southcote) (April 1750 – 27 December 1814), was a self-described religious prophetess. She was born in the English hamlet of Taleford, baptised at Ottery St Mary, and raised in the village of Gittisham. The "Southcottian" movement did not end with her death in 1814. Her followers are said to have numbered over 100,000, but had declined greatly by the end of the 19th century. In 1844 a lady named Ann Essam left large sums of money for "printing, publishing and propagation of the sacred writings of Joanna Southcott".  The will was disputed in 1861 by her niece on grounds including that the writings were blasphemous and that the bequest was contrary to the Statutes of Mortmain: the Court of Chancery refused to find the writings blasphemous but held the bequest was contrary to the Statute of Mortmain and therefore void. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Note 42. JOANNA SOUTHCOTT (II., p. 241, par. 196). - The statements made by your contributor, Rev. F. B. Dickinson, in his Note on the above character of her "Passports to Heaven," are certainly not in accordance with facts, if the writings of Joanna herself may be considered as evidence. The circumstances of her Life as related by Mr. Dickinson agree in detail and sequence with those of a more recent work by Rev. S. Baring- Gould (Devonshire Characters, 1909); and there appears little doubt, owing to the similarity of the language, that both parties derived much of their information from the same source, namely Letters from England by Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella — Robert Southey (5th Edition, 1814). As this work was published before the death of Joanna Southcott, Dr. Reece's Correct Statement of .... the last illness and death of Mrs. Southcott (1815), has apparently provided the additional material.

The following remarks in refutation of Mr. Dickinson's note, applying equally to the work of Rev. S. Baring-Gould and that of Southey, may be of interest to your readers: The words in italics are Mr. Dickinson's.

(1). Joanna was a native of Gittisham She was of humble but respectable origin. Joanna's version of her ancestry and place of birth is to be found in her Second Book of Wonders, pp. 91-102. "From what I have heard my father and mother say," she tells us, her great-grandfather owned lands in Hertfordshire, which had been in the family for seven generations. His brother was a man of "great property and no family," settled in Pennsylvania, and was the "richest man in the place." Her grandfather, who was heir to the Hertfordshire estate and had expectation of his uncle's wealth, married a "Miss Mauditt of moderate fortune." He lived at Topsham, Devon, and had two sons, William and John. He was, however, drowned on a visit to his uncle in Pennsylvania. His widow married soon afterwards a Mr. Mills, who squandered her fortune and left the family without means. William, the eldest son, was Joanna's father, and owing to his own neglect or that of his mother, did not inherit the Hertfordshire property, although his attorney told him he would prove his title without difficulty. He preferred to rely on his own industry, and rented a farm near Exmouth. Joanna relates that "he was the first of the family who ever knew what it was to work." He left the neighbourhood of Exmouth after seven years, and took a farm at Tarford, where Joanna was born, shortly afterwards moving to Gittisham, where he lived eighteen years, when his wife died. He sustained many losses and misfortunes, eventually coming to the greatest poverty. Joanna left home for domestic service. She tells us (Little Flock of Sheep, p. 25 J she did her utmost for her father and "supported him with her last penny."

(2). She began . . . to "seal up" her writings, using an oval seal . . . which bore two stars and the initials "I.S." In the Answer of the Lord to the Powers of Darkness, p. 67, Joanna says she was commanded to make the impression of the seal in wax in each copy of this book, and it appears on p. 92 in all first editions. There was a second edition (1813), and the impression is not in all copies of this edition, but the initials are printed. The most casual reader could not fail to notice that the letters are "I.C."

(3). She began "sealing the faithful," issuing "certificates for the millennium" . . . so-called Passports. In her book Caution and Instructions to the Sealed, p. 6, Joanna writes:

"They (the sealed) must strive to make their calling and election sure, as they are not all of Israel that are in Israel; neither are they all sealed in faith that are sealed in names; and those that are sealed in unbelief and have departed from the faith cannot be called of the sealed number, . . . The sealing hath already gone out like the net cast into the sea. gathering good and bad.

In The Long-wished-for Revolution, p. 25, she writes: —

"But as to the sealed number, to say they will all live to enjoy the kingdom of Christ below, it never was so said in my writings."

It is therefore evident that the seals were not intended as "Certificates for the Millennium," or "Passports to Heaven."

(4). She is said to have sold between six and seven thousand of them, some at 12s., but most of them at a guinea. The seals had not been issued many months before Joanna published her Second Book of Visions (August, 1803), containing the following announcement, p. 63: =

"JOANNA’S ANSWER TO THE FALSE REPORTS CONCERNING THE SEALING OF THE PEOPLE,

As some say I have one guinea for a seal and others say that I have five guineas for it, and the same report they have spread about my friends, that they have taken money also; and several have declared that they wished to have signed for the destruction of Satan and for the coming of Christ's glorious and peaceable kingdom to be established, but could not afford so much money, I now answer to all. I never took one penny for sealing people in my life, neither have any of my friends. Such an idea never entered my thoughts, heart or mind, or the thoughts, heart or mind of any who are joined with me. . , . This seal is given without money and without price."

Comparatively few people received seals prior to the publication of this book, which had a large circulation (two editions). It is improbable in the face of such a declaration that the sale could have continued, if ever commenced. Dr. Reece was of opinion that the seal was not sold, and states the imputation was stoutly denied by Joanna's friends. The Dictionary of National Biography (1909) states, "She was falsely accused of selling these seals, of which 10,000 had been applied for by the beginning of 1805."

(5). Until a woman named Mary Bateman, to whom she had sold one, was hanged at York in 1809.

The Rev. T. P. Foley, in his Epistle . ... to the Revds. the Vice-Chancellors of Cambridge & Oxford. (1803), p. 17, informs them that those who signed for the establishment of Christ's Kingdom were entitled to a sealed letter containing these words, "The seal of the Lord, the Elect, Precious Man's Redemption, to inherit the Tree of Life, to be made Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. -  Signed Joanna Southcott." There appears to have been three distinct occasions on which signatures were invited, entitling those who signed to a seal. The first was in 1803, and Joanna, writing in the following year, said, "There are now 8,144 whose names stand for Satan's destruction .... and some lists are not yet gathered in." The second ended on September 2nd, 1808, when the number was 5,971 (P, Pullen's Index, 1815), and, according to this authority, "upwards of 6,400 have given in their names since that date" (p. 170); this being the third  sealing." It does not, therefore, appear that Mary Bateman, who was hanged in 1809, had much effect on the practice. Concerning this woman, Joanna writes: -

"I never wrote any letter to Mary Bateman or received one from her, neither did she ever send to London for books or seals (as was asserted) to my knowledge, nor did I ever know she had a seal until after she was in prison, when I was informed she got a seal under pretence of reforming her life."

(6). She (Joanna) died of Dropsy. The suggestion of dropsy seems to have been first broached by the Editor of the "Council of Ten" (1823), to whom Miss Townley made reply, published in pamphlet form: — " Many invented reports as to the death of Joanna have been circulated in various publications, but the one given by you in p. 368, as being caused by dropsy is new to me." (Letter from Jane Townley to the Editor, etc., third Edition, 1823. p.9). At the autopsy of Joanna Southcott, fifteen medical men testified that there was " no part exhibiting any visible appearance of disease sufficient to have occasioned her death." - Bell's Weekly Messenger, January 1st, 1815.

(7). Her tombstone was shattered by the great gunpowder explosion on the Regent's Park Canal in 1874. This statement is also contained in the Dictionary of National Biography. I visited the grave in the burial ground at St. John's Wood during last summer. The stone, railings, and slab were in good condition, having been renovated, not many years ago, by order of a Mr. Haechler, of Paddington. The Cemetery-keeper assured me that it had not been injured by the explosion.

(8). It is not quite certain that some do not even to this day survive who have faith in her pretensions. Even in Devonshire superstitions die hard! There exist at least three main divisions of believers in the mission of Joanna Southcott, - The Old Southcottians, The Christian Israelites, and the New and Latter House of Israel, the third being the largest in number of Members. It is not possible to arrive at exact figures, but a thousand would be a low estimate.

(9). Joanna was, no doubt, an ignorant unlearned fanatic at best. Joanna possessed a knowledge of the Bible which goes far to clear her of the accusation of ignorance. She was certainly unlettered, and could not write legibly, very few have been able to decipher her writing, but the characters are evident when pointed out by one who is able to read them. Southey remarks that she was too ignorant not to have been original. This may be taken as evidence of genuineness. Her works certainly show a knowledge of character and intelligence in the ordinary affairs of life. The Dictionary of National Biography describes her as a fanatic, but says "Except for a mild universalism, her own theology was orthodox."                     Charles Lane.