Joanna Southcott papers

Joanna Southcott (1750-1814) was an English prophet and writer. She was the daughter of a farmer and lived close to Exeter, England. From early youth she developed a habit of reading scripture and interpreting events within a spiritual framework, promising her dying mother that she would commit to a life of piety. Southcott worked as a farm laborer, maidservant and upholsterer, but in 1792, at age 42, she began to have visions in which she was spoken to by a voice predicting what would happen on earth. Over the next few years she attempted to have her visions accredited by the clergy and failing that, in 1801, began publishing her writings. She developed a following, moved to London, suffered numerous court trials, and in 1803-1804 went on a missionary tour of England.

Southcott's converts were part of The Southcottian movement, and prominent among them was Jane Townley who, in 1804, invited Southcott to live with her in London. From that time on Townley promoted Southcott's writings and cause and provided Southcott with her maidservant, Ann Underwood. Underwood became Southcott's amanuensis, as her handwriting was illegible. Southcott published 65 pamphlets between 1801-1814 and became one of the most popular writers of her time. In 1814, at age 64, she announced that she was pregnant and about to become the mother of "Shiloh," the expected divine incarnation of her past prophecies. While awaiting the supposed birth, she was examined by many medical specialists, but nevertheless she died on December 27, 1814. The movement continued after her death and it is estimated that by 1815 she had about 20,000 followers. In the following years much speculation grew over a "great box of prophecies" to be opened at some unspecified time in the future by church bishops in England. Source: Sylvia Bowerbank "Joanna Southcott" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.