Martha Simmon(d)s 1624-1665

The name of Martha Simmons would have been well known amongst the members of the London book trade in the 1650s as her husband, Thomas Simmons, and her brother Giles Calvert, were the first two major Quaker publishers. Little is know however of her early life and the sources of information are scant and not always reliable. This book attempts to trace the likely course of her life from her writings, which form her spiritual autobiography. It also draws on the evidence of Quaker correspondence and documentary evidence from other archive sources. The book is based on a thesis by Bernadette Smith submitted in 2001 to the University of Birmingham for her degree of Master of Philosophy.