Quakers

'If I killed a hundred Quakers, I do not fear to be hanged'. So boasted a guard in Portsmouth during the 1660s. A contemporary record similarly shows in 1660 that William Rutter 'was taken at a Meeting in Portsmouth, was committed by the Mayor to a close stinking prison, in which through the coldness of the place, and want of air, he fell sick and died within a month'.

The Quakers settled in Portsmouth in the 1650s but as the above shows, they experienced very harsh treatment. The present meeting house is in Northwood Road, Hilsea.