Isaac Crewdson

Isaac Crewdson
Born	6 June 1780 Kendal
Died	8 May 1844 Bowness
Resting place	Rusholme Road Cemetery, Manchester
Nationality	English
Occupation	Mill Owner, Minister of the Religious Society of Friends
Known for	Founder of the Beaconites
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Jowitt (married 27 July 1803)

Isaac Crewdson (6 June 1780 - 8 May 1844) was a minister of the Quaker meeting at Hardshaw East, Manchester. He wrote A Beacon to the Society of Friends which was published in 1835, a work that had a disruptive and schismatic effect on English Quakerism.

Isaac Crewdson was born into a Quaker family in Kendal in the English Lake District. He entered the cotton trade and became a successful mill owner in Manchester. He was appointed as a Quaker minister in 1816.

In 1831, controversy arose amongst Manchester Quakers over the spiritual emphasis of Quakerism and these differences culminated in 1835 when Crewdson’s A Beacon to the Society of Friends was published. His book highlighted the distinction many Manchester Quakers drew between the guidance of Scripture and the central feature of Quakerism, the Inner Light, the direct and personal experience of God. Crewdson and his followers believed that too much emphasis was placed by Quakers on the Inner Light at the expense of Biblical authority.

In his book Crewdson wrote unfavourably of the American Quaker, Elias Hicks (1748 - 1830), who had considered “obedience to the light within” to be the most important principle of worship and who regarded the Bible as a ‘dead letter’ unless read 'under the regulating influence of the spirit of God'. Hicks was responsible for the first schism in Quakerism in 1827.

Initially, Hardshaw East Monthly Meeting was thrown into disorder by the controversy. The matter was discussed at the 1835 London Yearly Meeting and a Visiting Committee was appointed to investigate and seek the reconciliation of members there. The Committee, which included Crewdson’s close friend, Joseph John Gurney, the leading English Quaker evangelical of his time, was inclined to be sympathetic to Crewdson. Even so, the correspondence that took place between Crewdson and the Committee in 1835 was published by them without his knowledge and consent in A Few Particulars of the Correspondence Between the Committee Appointed by the Friends' Yearly Meeting, and Isaac Crewdson. Eventually, the Committee brought matters to a head by asking Crewdson to withdraw his book from circulation but he refused to do so. He was then suspended from his ministry to prevent further internal strife.

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