Mary Dudley

Mary Dudley born Mary Stokes (1750 – September 24, 1823) was a British Quaker minister. Despite having four step children and five of her own children, Dudley, preached throughout Britain and Ireland. She was recognised as a role model because the freedom granted to her, as a woman, allowed her to achieve more.

Life Dudley was born in Bristol in 1750 into a family that may have had thirty members. Her family were so strong members of the Church of England, that when Dudley decided to follow the Quakers there was angry relatives she defended her position and replied to Wesley.

She was already preaching when she became the third wife of Robert Dudley on 9 July 1777 and they lived in Frenchay. Her Irish husband had four children and their son Charles Stokes Dudley was born in 1780. She started preaching more widely in 1786 and by 1788 she was leaving her family to tour on the continent with a group of other Quakers. She continued to tour Britain and her preaching would attract considerable interest. In the early 1790s she was one of several Quaker preachers who evangelised throughout Ireland, but in 1796 ill health drove her to convalesce in Hotwells. She returned to Ireland and to work after a few weeks but by 1798 she was back convalescing in Bristol. Her daughter Elizabeth Dudley became a leading Quaker

In 1880 Matilda Sturge wrote about four leading Quaker women: Elizabeth Gurney Fry, Hannah Chapman Backhouse, Mary Dudley and her daughter Elizabeth Dudley. The book was titled Types of Quaker Womanhood and it was published by the Friends' Tract Association. The short work showed how Mary and the other Quaker women had contributed good works because they enjoyed less restrictions in their lives than many women.