James Parnell plaque

>The James Parnell plaque is a memorial at Colchester Meeting House, commemorating the best known of the early Quaker to die in prison, known as the ‘Boy Martyr’.

Formative years

James Parnell (1636 - 1656) was born in Nottinghamshire, England. During his formative years, the country was in a state of great political and religious turmoil caused by the English Civil War Period. Numerous pamphlets promoting different theological ideas were circulating in the country. Dissenters risked persecution and imprisonment, and Parnell soon became one of them.

As a child, Parnell studied the scriptures and became an ardent seeker after spiritual truth. Finding no satisfaction with the priests in his town, he left home, like many others of his era, to travel among the many religious sects that met secretly to avoid persecution.

At the age of only 15, he set out to find, in the north, a ‘seeking people,’ with whom he had been corresponding, meeting strong opposition from local priests along the way.

Parnell's travels

A year later, in 1653, a 16-year-old Parnell walked the 150 lonely and dangerous miles from Nottinghamshire to Carlisle to meet one such seeker, George Fox, who was at the time incarcerated in Carlisle jail.

Little is known of their encounter, but Parnell came away fully committed to Fox and the emerging Quaker faith.

Parnell began travelling south, spreading the word to all who would listen. His direct challenge to the Established Church led to several clashes with the authorities.

By the summer of 1655, Parnell had reached north-east Essex, where he visited several towns. At Colchester, he spoke in St Nicholas Church, the first to preach the new Quaker faith there, and spent a week in discussion and argument that led many to convert.

Final days

Authorities arrested Parnell on 4 July 1655 as he walked through the streets of Colchester, having disrupted a church service at nearby Great Coggeshall. They charged him with blasphemy and other related offences and took him to the county jail in Colchester Castle.

At his trial the jury acquitted him of the charges, but the magistrate fined him £40, a sum which Parnell refused to pay.

The gaoler (prison guard), known for his cruel ways, then returned him to prison. Conditions in Parnell's cell were terrible — it was a small hole in the castle wall, and authorities barred local Quakers from helping him.

In prison, Parnell wrote, “I am committed to be kept a prisoner, but I am the Lord's free-man.”

Fall and death

It is said that Parnell was made to climb a rope in order to reach his food. After some months his health began to fail, and his condition worsened after a fall from the rope when trying to get his food.

By the spring of 1656 he had become severely weakened, and for 10 days he could not eat. On the morning of 10 April, Parnell died.

The authorities attempted to cover-up the fall from the rope by claiming Parnell had died from a hunger strike, a claim the Quaker historian William Sewel called, “A wicked lie.”

Parnell was buried in an unmarked grave in the grounds of Colchester Castle. Friends have since placed a plaque commemorating his life in the cell where he died.

Legacy

Whether Parnell ‘willingly’ died for his faith will always remain an unanswered question. However, at the time, among the Society of Friends he quickly became known as the ‘Boy Martyr’.

Many in Colchester were converted due to Parnell's preaching and the town later became a stronghold of Quakerism. Today, there is a street named after him in the town.

A room in Colchester Meeting House is named after James Parnell and the circular plaque with his image on it is fixed to the outer wall (main image).