Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/308

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whom she had a daughter, and with whom she lived happily for nearly forty years. After her second marriage she does not appear to have been much molested. She died after a short illness in 1705. It seems to have been owing to her efforts that quakerism obtained the firm hold it once had in Oxfordshire. Her only work, ‘Anne Camm, her Testimony concerning John Audland, her late Husband,’ printed in 1681, was exceedingly popular among the early Friends.

[A Brief Account of her is given in the Friends' Library, vol. i., Philadelphia; see also Besse's Sufferings and Fox's Journal of his Life, Travels, &c.]

A. C. B.


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.]

A. C. B.


CAMM, THOMAS (1641–1707), quaker, was born at Camsgill, Westmoreland, in 1641, and was the son of John Camm [q. v.] As both his parents were quakers, he was educated in their faith, and when very young became one of its ministers. In 1674 he was sued by John Ormrod, vicar of Burton, near Kendal, for small tithes, and in default of payment was imprisoned for three years. In 1678 a magistrate broke up a meeting of quakers held at Ackmonthwaite, committed several Friends to prison, and also seems to have fined them, for Camm, who had been the preacher at the meeting, lost nine head of cattle and fifty-five sheep. Shortly after this another distraint was made upon his property by warrant from the same justice. Somewhat later he was imprisoned for nearly six years in Appleby gaol, probably for some offence against the Conventicle Act. Camm did much to prevent the growth of the schisms to which quakerism at that time was liable. He continued his preaching expeditions till he was advanced in years, died after a short illness in 1707, and was buried in the Friends' burial-ground at Park End, near Camsgill.

Camm wrote considerably, and his works were fairly popular among the early Friends, but they are now utterly forgotten; a full list is given in Joseph Smith's ‘ Catalogue of Friends' Books.’ The most important are: 1. ‘The Line of Truth and True Judgement stretched over the heads of Falsehood and Deceit …’ 1684. 2. ‘The Admirable and Glorious Appearance of the Eternal God,