John Hancock Jun. was a noted Quaker philanthropist and social reformer.
The elder son of prosperous Quaker linen-merchant John Hancock and his wife Elizabeth Hunter, John was born 12th October 1762. His father died when he was only two years old, and he was raised by his mother until the age of eight, when he was sent to an English Quaker school, probably in Bristol. At the age of 16, he was apprenticed to his uncle Jacob Hancock in Lisburn. He eventually owned a large bleaching concern at Lambeg, which was later owned by Messrs. Richardson, Sons & Owden. He also had a bakery in Market Square.
John married Sarah Greer on 16th June 1784 and they had four sons and two daughters. Sarah died in 1794 and John never remarried. For a time, he continued to be a leading member of the Society of Friends, but increasingly found himself at odds with conservative elements in the Society. He was finally expelled from the Society in 1801, for allowing Elizabeth Doyle and John Rogers to engage in an unsanctioned marriage ceremony in a room at the Friends' School in Lisburn. After this he published pamphlets condemning various aspects of Quakerism.
A champion of liberal causes, he contributed to the “Belfast Magazine” from 1808 – 1814, advocating religious toleration. He was also a notable philanthropist. In 1800, a famine year, he imported 200 tons of maize and 500 barrels of flour from America, and sold these at cost to the needy people of the Lisburn area. In 1811, he refused to prosecute thieves who had stolen linen from his bleach green, knowing the penalty would be death. In 1817, in another period of famine, along with John Rogers, he purchased wheels for spinning flax with both hands and opened an unsuccessful school for training needy girls and women, guaranteeing the purchase of their work.
John, who seems to have inherited his father's ill health, died at the age of 61 on 25th September 1823. A great number of the poor people he had befriended followed his funeral procession to the Friends’ Burying Ground in Lisburn. "May God in his bounty," said Dr. Tanner at his graveside, "grant many such men to rise like him".
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Categories: Ireland, Hancock Name Study | Irish Quakers | Lisburn Monthly Meeting, County Antrim