Mary Mollineux (1651–1696)

The parents of Mary Mollineux, née Southworth, were probably English Catholics who converted to Quakerism. She received a classical education in Latin and Greek, and studied various forms of science and arithmetic, unusual for girls at that time. She met her future husband, Henry Mollineux, also Quaker, in 1684 while they were both imprisoned in Lancaster Castle for attending Quaker meetings. They married a year later. Her husband was imprisoned many times for his Quaker beliefs, which he publicized in several pamphlets written in the 1690s. Mary engaged in public debates with Church of England clergymen in Chester. Her book The Fruits of Retirement or, Miscellaneous Poems, Moral and Divine (1702) was a compilation of her poems, together with a brief biography, put together by her cousin Frances Owen and published after her death. It went through six editions in the 18th century.