"Quaker Origins: A Chronological Bibliography"

George Fox (1624-1691) was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. George Fox was born in Dreyton-in-the-Clay, now called Fenny Drayton, in Leicestershire, England, in 1624. He was the son of Christopher Fox, a weaver, and Mary Lago Fox. Fox left Drayton-in-the-clay in 1643, to travel around the country as his religious beliefs began to take shape. In 1647, Fox began to preach publicly. Fox married Margaret Fell in 1669. His ministry expanded and he undertook tours of North America and the Low Countries. Between these tours, he was imprisoned for more than a year. He spent the final decade of his life working in London to organize the expanding Quaker movement. George Fox died in 1691.

James Nayler (1618-1660) was an early Quaker, joining the movement in 1652 after meeting founder George Fox. Nayler was born in Ardsley, Yorkshire, England, and was a member of the "Valient Sixty," a group of early English Friends. In 1656, he was convicted of blasphemy by English Parliament for re-enacting Jesus's arrival in Jersusalem on Palm Sunday. He and Fox had a variety of conflicts throughout their lives, but upon Nayler's release from prison in 1659, they mended their relationship. Nayler died the subsequent year.