James Parnell was born in 1636 in the Midlands area of England. His parents were well off and he went to a fee paying grammar school. At the age of 15 Parnell became concerned about his soul and he found ‘no satisfaction’ from the local priests, so he left home to travel.. In Balby he came across a group that ‘waited together in silence to become the instruments in the hand of the Lord’. This group were forerunners of the Society of Friends or Quakers.

At the age of 17, Parnell walked 240 ks [like walking from Brisbane to Noosa] to Carlisle jail to meet George Fox. It is recorded that James was of a ‘poor appearance and was not strong’ He had to pause his journey to recover due to the effort of walking that far. After discussions with Fox, James left as a committed Quaker..After this he began preaching to all who would listen, but this was seen as a challenge to the established church and he clashed several time with the authorities. In 1655 at the age of 18 he preached in St Nicholas Church in Colchester and then spent a week in discussion and argument and converted many people there. Stephen Crisp [who was aged 27] was converted by Parnell at that time and went on to become an eminent Quaker. Stephen wrote later that ‘Parnell was of a poor appearance, a mere youth, coming against the giants; yet the wisdom of man was made to bow before the Spirit when he spoke.

When Parnell heard at two Quakers had been whipped in Cambridge, he went there and preached.  Far from keeping a low profile, he published two tracts, against the corruption of the magistrates and of the priests.  He was imprisoned until a court hearing, where the jury was unable to prove his authorship of the tracts. So he was given a magistrates’ pass regarding him ‘a rogue’ and escorted out of town by soldiers and a mob armed with staves. He was often set upon by angry crowds and on one occasion, he records ‘the power of Gd was wonderfully seen in delivering me, so that I can’t remember if they hit me’

Parnell was arrested on the 4^th July 1655 as he walked through Colchester after disrupting [heckling] at  a church service and taken to the county jail. During his trial he was acquitted of all charges by the jury, but was fined  £40, a hefty sum equivalent to 570 working days’ wage for a skilled labourer at that time’, which he either refused to pay or could not pay as he had been disinherited by his family. He was able to write letters, some of which have survived. I am committed to be kept a prisoner, but I am the Lord’s free man. he wrote in one.

He was returned to jail where he was kept in terrible conditions and forced to climb a rope in order to reach his food. The jailer’s wife and daughter used to beat him, and the largest part of his food was given to others prisoners. Local Quakers were prevented from helping him.