Annual Monitor

The Annual monitor is a list of British Quakers who died each year, between 1812 and 1919, including well over 20,000 persons. Most entries are basic data: age at death, date of death, names of parents or "widow of ...". Some entries have a "memorial" (sometimes of several pages) giving biographical detail and a strong religious message.

The first issue was published in York by William Alexander (1768-1841), who was editor between 1813 and 1819. The project was initiated by William's wife, Ann Alexander (born Tuke, 1767-1849).^[1]

Editors

Succeeding editors were:

William Alexander (1768-1841)
Sarah Backhouse (1803-1877)
Samuel Tuke (1784-1857)
Benjamin Seebohm (1798-1871)
Esther Seebohm (1798?-1864)
Joseph Stickney Sewell (1819-1900)
John Newby (1806-1877)
William Robinson (1832-1908)
Francis Arnold Knight (1852-1915)

Numbering

No. 1-30 (1813-1842);
New Series No. 1-78 (1843-1919/20)
New Series. Nos. 67-70 (1909-1912) also issued as Nos. 96-99
New Series Nos. 71-78 (1913-1920) also issued as Nos. 101-108
Supplement to No. 22 (1834)

Indexes

Several cumulative indexes were produced, the most comprehensive being Quaker Records: Being an Index to "The Annual Monitor," 1813-1892, edited by Joseph J. Green (available online - see below) and Index 1893-1901 edited by W. Pumphrey

Title variation

Over the years, the title has varied thus:

The Annual monitor ; or, Newletter-case and memorandum book
The Annual monitor and memorandum book
The Annual monitor...being an obituary of members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland

Annual Monitor Online

The Quaker records Index 1813-1892 by Joseph Green and the following years are available online (at 17 September 2012). Note the year given is the year of publication. The deaths recorded occurred in the previous year:

1882 - not yet traced
1883 No.41
1884 No.42
1885 No.43
1886 - not yet traced
1887 No. 45
1888 no.46
1889 No.47
1890 No.48
1891 No.49
1892 - not yet traced
1893 No.51
1894 No.52
1895 No.53
1896 No.54
1897 No.55
1898 No.56
1899 No.57
1900 - not yet traced
1901 No.59

American Annual Monitor

An American Annual Monitor was published 1858 to 1863.^[3]

Notes and references

Sources

Notes

^ Quaker Records, Introduction. A biography of Ann and William Alexander by Edward H Milligan was published in 2017 by Quacks Books of York and favorably reviewed in the Journal of the Friends Historical Society Vol.66
^ The 1851 volume is available on Wikisource as a transcript: s:Obituary of the members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland, for the year 1851 and as a Gutenberg text.
^ American Annual Monitor for 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861 1862, and 1863 available online. Note the year given is the year of publication. The deaths recorded occurred in the previous year.
^ The initiating editor of this article would like to thank the Internet Archive for making the texts of Annual monitors available

[1] Quaker Records, Introduction. A biography of Ann and William Alexander by Edward H Milligan was published in 2017 by Quacks Books of York and favorably reviewed in the Journal of the Friends Historical Society Vol.66

[2] The 1851 volume is available on Wikisource as a transcript: s:Obituary of the members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland, for the year 1851 and as a Gutenberg text.

[3] American Annual Monitor for 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861 1862, and 1863 available online. Note the year given is the year of publication. The deaths recorded occurred in the previous year.

[4] The initiating editor of this article would like to thank the Internet Archive for making the texts of Annual monitors available

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