Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Haydock, Roger
HAYDOCK, ROGER (1644–1696), quaker, the second son of respectable parents, inclined to presbyterianism, was born at Coppull, near Wigan, Lancashire, in May 1644. His parents were well off, and after receiving some education, he appears to have been employed as steward to his elder brother, John Haydock. About 1666 John Haydock became a quaker, and his first convert was his brother Roger, who was ‘convinced’ in 1666 (Sewel, Hist. ed. 1834, ii. 164) or in 1667 (Haydock, Christian Writings). A few weeks later he was arrested at a meeting at Bury, Lancashire. On refusing to give bond for good behaviour, he was committed to Lancaster gaol for some days, but released without fine or payment of fees. He was again apprehended in January 1668–9 for being at three meetings at Bury, and was fined 15l. by the Manchester quarter sessions. In 1670 his father died, and about this time he appears to have been recognised as a quaker preacher. He laboured at first in the north of England. Early in 1674 he was fined 20l. for preaching at Freckleton-in-the-Fields, Lancashire. A few weeks later he was prosecuted in the ecclesiastical court at Chester for tithes of about 30s. value, and ‘something for smoke-penny,’ and in May was committed to Lancaster gaol for not appearing before the court. In November he was released, pending an appeal, on the ground that he was only his brother's servant, and therefore not liable. In August he was fined 20l. for ‘being’ (? speaking) at a meeting at Bolton, Lancashire. At the instance of Ralph Brideoake [q. v.], bishop of Chichester and rector of Standish, near Wigan, Lancashire, he was again prosecuted for non-payment of fines, and he was imprisoned at intervals until Brideoake's death, 5 Oct. 1678. He was closely confined for a time, but on the intercession of friends in 1676 was allowed more liberty. In January 1676–7 he was permitted to hold a dispute at Arley Hall, Cheshire, with John Cheyney [q. v.] In 1680 he visited Ireland, and in 1681 passed some months in Holland, where he suffered eleven days' imprisonment on some unascertained charge. In May 1682 he married Eleanor Lowe, a quakeress, and afterwards engaged in agriculture at Warrington. He was imprisoned nine months in Lancaster gaol for attending a meeting in August 1683, and again till March 1686, when he was released ‘by the king's pardon.’ He obtained the protection of the Earl of Derby for the persecuted Friends in the Isle of Man, and afterwards visited Holland and Scotland. In 1687 he removed to Brick Hall, near Penketh, Lancashire, and for several years his life is a record of patiently borne sickness, during which he ‘suffered much for tithes.’ In March 1693 he held a dispute with John Hales, ‘a priest of Cheshire,’ and subsequently visited meetings in England and Holland. He attended the marriage of William Penn to Hannah Callowhill in 1695. On 8 May 1696 he was seized with fever, from which he died three days later. He was buried in the Friends' burial-ground at Grayston, near Penketh. Haydock is described in many ‘testimonies’ as a man of deep piety and an indefatigable worker. It is computed that he travelled more than thirty-two thousand miles and ministered at 2,609 meetings while he was a quaker preacher, and he is stated to have been ‘moderate and civil in disputes.’
His writings are:
- ‘The Skirmisher Confounded; being a Collection of several passages taken forth of some books of John Cheyney's [q. v.], &c.,’ 1676.
- ‘A Hypocrite unveiled, and a Blasphemer made manifest, being an examination of John Cheyney's false relation of his Dispute with the Quakers at Arley Hall in Cheshire, the 23rd of the 11th month, called January 1676, published in his book, entituled “A Warning to Souls,”’ &c., 1677.
The foregoing, with a number of testimonies and epistles, were published as:
- ‘A Collection of the Christian Writings, Labours, Travels, and Sufferings of that Faithful and approved Minister of Jesus Christ, Roger Haydock,’ London, 1700, 8vo, edited by John Field.
[John Haydock's Brief Account of the Life, &c., of Roger Haydock; Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers, i. 319, 320; Sewel's History of the Rise, &c., of the Society of Friends, ed. 1834, ii. 164, 407–8; Rutty's Hist. of the Rise, &c., of the Friends in Ireland; Smith's Cat. of Friends' Books.]