Joanna Southcott facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joanna Southcott
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| Born | April 1750 Taleford, Devon, England
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| Died | 26 December 1814 (aged 64) London, England
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| Occupation | religious prophet |
Joanna Southcott (born April 1750 – died 26 December 1814) was a British woman from Devon. She believed she had special religious messages from God. After she died, a group of her followers, called "Southcottians," continued her movement. Their eighth leader, Mabel Barltrop, passed away in 1934.
Contents
Joanna's Early Life
Joanna Southcott was born in a small village called Taleford in Devonshire. She was baptized in Ottery St Mary and grew up in Gittisham. Her father, William Southcott, had a small farm.
As a girl, Joanna worked with dairy products. After her mother, Hannah, died, Joanna started working for others. First, she was a shop-girl in Honiton. Then, she worked for a long time as a servant in Exeter. She was eventually let go because a footman, whose romantic advances she refused, claimed she was "going mad."
Her Special Messages
Joanna first belonged to the Church of England. Around 1792, she joined the Wesleyans in Exeter. She became convinced that she had special gifts from God. She started writing and speaking prophecies, often in rhyme.
She then announced that she was the "Woman of the Apocalypse." This is a special figure mentioned in a prophetic part of the Revelation in the Bible.
Later, Joanna moved to London because an engraver named William Sharp asked her to. There, she began selling special paper "seals of the Lord." These seals cost between twelve shillings and a guinea. People believed these seals would guarantee them a spot among the 144,000 people chosen for eternal life.
Claiming a New Messiah and Her Death
When Joanna was 64 years old, she made a surprising claim. She said she was pregnant with a new Messiah. She called this child the Shiloh, a name from the Genesis in the Bible.
The planned birth date was 19 October 1814. However, the child did not appear. Her followers then said she was in a deep trance. Joanna had a health condition that made her appear pregnant. This made her followers, who numbered about 100,000 by 1814, believe her even more. Most of her followers lived in the London area.
Joanna Southcott died not long after this. Her official death date was 27 December 1814. But it's thought she might have died the day before. Her followers kept her body for some time. They believed she would come back to life. They only agreed to bury her after her body began to decay. She was buried in January 1815 at the Chapel of Ease at St John's Wood.
Joanna's Legacy
The "Southcottian" movement did not stop when Joanna died in 1814. However, the number of her followers greatly decreased by the end of that century. In 1844, a woman named Ann Essam left a lot of money. She wanted it used for "printing, publishing and propagation of the sacred writings of Joanna Southcott."
In 1881, some of her followers lived in the Chatham area, east of London. They were known for their long beards and good manners.
The Mystery Box
Joanna Southcott left a special wooden box that was sealed. It is usually called Joanna Southcott's Box. She gave instructions that it should only be opened during a big national crisis. Also, all 24 current bishops of the Church of England had to be there. They were supposed to study her prophecies for a set time before opening it.
People tried to get the bishops to open the box during the Crimean War. They tried again during the First World War. In 1927, a researcher named Harry Price said he had the box. He arranged for it to be opened. One bishop, the suffragan Bishop of Grantham, was there, though he was not keen.
Inside the box, they found only a few small items and unimportant papers. These included a lottery ticket and an old pistol. However, historians and Joanna's followers disagreed with Price's claim. They said he did not have the real box.
Followers who did not believe the 1927 box was real kept pushing for the true box to be opened. In the 1960s and 1970s, a main group of Southcottians, the Panacea Society in Bedford (started in 1920), ran a campaign. They put up billboards and ads in newspapers like the Sunday Express. They tried to convince the 24 bishops to open the box. Their message was: "War, disease, crime and banditry, distress of nations and perplexity will increase until the Bishops open Joanna Southcott's box."
The Society says they have the true box in a secret place for safekeeping. They will only reveal where it is when a meeting of bishops has been arranged. Joanna Southcott had predicted that the Day of Judgement would happen in the year 2004. Her followers said that if the box's contents had not been studied before then, the world would have been unprepared.
Other Mentions
Charles Dickens mentions Joanna Southcott in his book A Tale of Two Cities. He talks about her when describing the year 1775 at the beginning of the story.
Her religious teachings are still followed today by two groups. These are the Christian Israelite Church and the House of David.
Joanna's Writings
Among her 60 published works, some important ones are:
- The Book of Wonders (1813–1814)
- Prophecies announcing the birth of the Prince of Peace, extracted from the works of Joanna Southcott to which are added a few remarks thereon, made by herself, edited by Ann Underwood. London: 1814
- Joanna Southcott: A dispute between the woman and the powers of darkness (1802) New York; Woodstock: Poole 1995. ISBN: 1-85477-194-9.
See also
- John Ward (1781–1837), a prophet who claimed to be Joanna's successor
- Alice Seymour – another follower of Joanna Southcott in the 20th century
Images for kids
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Joanna Southcott's Box in The Panacea Museum in Bedford
