Abiah Darby

Abiah Darby (, formerly Sinclair; 1716 – 26 June 1794) was an English Quaker minister active in Coalbrookdale. The wife of the iron industrialist Abraham Darby, Darby kept a journal and she sent letters which recorded the Darby family's achievements. One of Darby letters has been used to identify the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Life Darby was born Abiah Maude on 1716 in Sunderland, County Durham to Samuel Maude (1665–1730), a coal fitter, and Rachel Maude (née Warren; 1667–1734). They married at Preston Patrick on 9 March 1746. Her new husband was revolutionising the iron industry and she became the hostess to businessmen as well as fellow Quakers. Abiah recorded the details of many of their visitors between 1752 and 1769 in her journals.

Despite her severe outlook, Darby did not attract the hostility that faced some of her fellow women preachers. In 1754 she was credited with improving communication between the male and female groups within the Society of Friends.

In August 1774 Darby spoke at a regional meeting of Quakers at Derby Town Hall. The Derby Mercury reported her name as Tobiah and said she was the best of three female speakers. The journalist also noted that she was speaking in Derby and this was the town where the Quakers first got their name. This was the town, but the newspaper gave the wrong reason. It was a Derby magistrate, Gervase Bennet, who had first used the term to deride George Fox in 1650 as he tried him for blasphemy. It is thought that Darby was speaking at the same place at which George Fox had been imprisoned, although she may not have been aware of it, as this was a new town hall.

In 1779 her daughter in law Deborah Darby began to transcribe her journal. Deborah was her son Samuel Darby's wife and she too became a Quaker preacher and began her own journal.

After twenty years of widowhood, Darby was increasingly confined to her home by infirmity. "Mother Darby" died at her home, "Sunniside" in Coalbrookdale, on 26 June 1794. Sunniside was demolished in the nineteenth century, but her first home, Dale House, is preserved as part of a museum.

Works Serious Warning to the Inhabitants of Shrewsbury, 1752 Epistle to the Inhabitants of Hereford, 1754 Useful Instruction for Children by Way of Question and Answer, 1763