Born at Warmsworth
Believed to have been born at Warmsworth, near Doncaster, where he lived all his life; the memoir in the Friends' Library notes that the year of his birth was not ascertained.
1616–1660 · Warmsworth, near Doncaster, Yorkshire, England
Thomas Aldam
The First Friend Imprisoned in York Castle
“So shall thy government be torn from thee and thy house.” — Thomas Aldam
Life & Ministry
Convinced by George Fox
Among the earliest converts of George Fox in the county of York; his mother, wife and two sisters were all convinced about the same time.
Committed to York Castle
Committed by four justices after a concern at Warmsworth steeple-house, probably the first Friend imprisoned there for his religion; he was held about two and a half years and fined forty pounds by Judge Parker for not removing his hat.
Before the Protector
With Anthony Pearson he went through the jails of England collecting copies of Friends' commitments to lay before Cromwell; when relief was refused he rent his cap before the Protector as a sign that his government would be rent from him.
Death at Warmsworth
Lived to see the prophecy fulfilled at the Restoration; in his last illness he declared 'I am clear of the blood of all men', took leave of his children, and died in 1660.
Connections & Relationships
George Fox
Convinced ByFox's Journal records the Warmsworth priest's warrant against them both in 1652 and Aldam's arrest by a constable who 'was loath to trouble men that were strangers; but Thomas Aldam was his neighbour'.
Richard Farnworth
Convinced Together at BalbyWilliam Dewsbury's testimony records that when Fox came out of Derby dungeon in 1651 and reached Balby, Thomas Kilham, John Kilham, Richard Farnsworth and Thomas Aldam came to him and were convinced.
AoB
Advices of Balby
Manuscript in His HandThe earliest text of the epistle from 'the Elders and Brethren' to Friends in the North was printed in Letters of Early Friends from a manuscript in Thomas Aldam's handwriting found in the Warmsworth Collection.
William Dewsbury
Fellow Yorkshire MinisterNamed beside Aldam among the eminent ministers who came forth as meetings were settled across Yorkshire in the early 1650s.
Francis Howgill
CorrespondentLetters of Early Friends preserves a letter from Francis Howgill and Edward Burrough to Thomas Aldam, and reports his being with them in London in 1654.
Edward Burrough
CorrespondentCo-author with Howgill of the letter to Aldam printed in Letters of Early Friends; the two were in London when Aldam and Pearson arrived to press Cromwell over Friends' imprisonments.
Available Works
Memoir of Thomas Aldam
ProposedThe short memoir from the Friends' Library, volume 11 (1847), with his son's testimony of a father who 'would call his wife and children, and in great tenderness and humility bow his knees before the Lord' before every journey.