Confrontation over Tithes
The vicar of Bromsgrove, Thomas Willmate, demanded tithes and offerings from Boweter, who refused on the ground that Christ had ended the Levitical priesthood.
JB
fl. 1679–1681 · Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England
John Boweter
Imprisoned for Bearing Witness against Tithes
“A prison like a palace is to those where peace of conscience from the Lord one knows.” — John Boweter
Life & Ministry
Imprisoned at Worcester
Boweter was confined in Worcester County Gaol for about a year and a half for non-payment of a few shillings in tithes.
Moved to the Fleet Prison
Removed to the Fleet Prison in London, far from his family, at the instigation of Thomas Willmate.
Sufferings Published
Boweter's tract 'Something concerning the Proceedings of Thomas Willmate ... against me John Boweter, who am a Prisoner for the Testimony of Christ Jesus' was printed, including a salutation of love to his neighbours.
Connections & Relationships
George Fox
ContemporaryBoweter's sufferings against enforced tithes exemplify the kind of ordinary Quaker resistance that swelled the sufferings literature collected in George Fox's lifetime.
Joseph Besse
Recorded in Sufferings LiteratureCases like Boweter's imprisonment for tithes were among the sufferings later gathered by Joseph Besse in his great Collection of the Sufferings of the People Called Quakers.
Available Works
Something concerning the Proceedings of Thomas Willmate against John Boweter
ProposedA 1681 prison tract giving Boweter's account of his prosecution for refusing tithes, his sufferings in Worcester County Gaol and the Fleet Prison, and his tender salutation to his neighbours.