Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Camm, John
CAMM, JOHN (1604?–1656), quaker, was born at Camsgill, near Kendal, Westmoreland, and was a man of good birth, tolerable education, and considerable property. When comparatively young he left the national church and established a small religious society. About 1652, after hearing George Fox preach at Kendal, he embraced quakerism. He speedily became a preacher, although, according to Thomas Camm's ‘Testimony,’ it involved the renunciation of brilliant prospects. In 1654 he and Francis Howgill visited London, where he attempted to found a quaker society. The principal object of their journey, however, was to ‘declare the message of the Lord to Oliver Cromwell, then called Protector,’ in favour of toleration. They were received very courteously, but Cromwell, supposing them to require the assistance of the law, gave them no encouragement. An interesting letter which Camm wrote to undeceive the Protector is still extant. After revisiting the north Camm spent a considerable time in London, and in 1654, in company with John Audland, visited Bristol. It is said that they were favourably received by the inhabitants until the clergy incited a mob to illtreat them and the magistrates to issue a warrant for their apprehension. Nothing further is known of Camm till 1656, when a letter records that he was residing at Preston Patrick, near Kendal. During the same year he again visited Bristol. He was a man of weakly constitution, and he is said to have been usually obliged to take his son Thomas [q. v.] to wait on him. His bodily ailments rapidly increased, and, according to the register preserved at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate, he died of consumption at the end of this year (1656). Thomas Camm, in his ‘Testimony,’ written in 1680, says he died in 1665, and the same date is given in Whiting's ‘Catalogue.’ Camm was an untiring minister, and an amiable, simple-minded man. Although his literary ability was small and his style clumsy and obscure, his works were highly esteemed.
Camm's most important works are: 1. ‘This is the Word of the Lord which John Camm and Francis Howgill was moved to declare and write to Oliver Cromwell, who is named Lord Protector, shewing the cause why they came to speak with him, …’ 1654. 2. ‘A True Discovery of the Ignorance, Blindness, and Darkness of … Magistrates, …’ J. C. attributed to Camm, 1654. 3. ‘Some Particulars concerning the Law sent to Oliver Cromwell, …’ 1654 (reprinted 1655). 4. ‘The Memory of the Righteous revived, being a brief collection of the Books and Written Epistles of John Camm and John Audland, …’ 1689.
[Brief Lives of Camm are to be found in Tuke's Biog. Notices of Friends, and in the Friends' Library, Philadelphia, 1841; the foundation for both is Thomas Camm's Testimony, 1680. A full description of his writings is given in Smith's Catalogue of Friends' Books, i. 376; see also Sewel's History of the Rise, &c., of the Society of Friends.]