Wales

(including Monmouthshire)

 The history of Welsh Meetings is complicated and does not respect the border. Many of the Welsh Meetings were severly depleted by emigration to North America in the 18th Century. Not all early records survive.

Wales Yearly Meeting was established in 1668, and was for most purposes subordinate to London Yearly Meeting. It comprised three Quarterly Meetings:

• North Wales QM, comprising Merionethshire MM, and Shropshire amd Montgomeryshire (or Dolobran) MM.
• South Wales QM, comprising Pemrokeshire, Carmarthenshire & Glamorganshire (or Swansea) MMs.
• Monmouthshire (later Monmouthshire & Radnorshire QM), comprising Monmouthshire & Radnor MMs. It was joined to South Wales QM in 1791.

Friends in Denbigh and Flint were attatched to Nantwich MM and its successors in Cheshire QM until about 1834 and then to Hardshaw West MM in Lancashire QM. 

In 1797 the QMs were abolished and the Yearly Meeting became Wales Half Years Meeting, with the status of a QM, and subordinate to London Yearly Meeting. As a result of earlier adjustments, its constituent MMs then were:

• Merioneth & Montgomeryshire MM
• Shropshire MM
• Pembrokeshire MM
• South Wales MM
• Monmouthshire MM
• Radnor MM

In 1832, Wales Half Years Meeting was joined to Hereford & Worcester QM to form Hereford, Worcester & Wales General Meeting (so called because it met fewer than four times a year, but it had the status of a QM). It became part of Western General Meeting in 1868.

Meanwhile, Merioneth & Montgomeryshire MM and Radnor MM were united in 1829 as North Wales MM, which was united to Leominster and Ross MM in 1834 as Hereford and Radnor (later Hereford & Mid Wales) MM. South Wales MM absorbed Pembrokeshire MM in 1829 and Monmouthshire MM in 1836.

Glamorgan Record Office [Cardiff]

• Wales Yearly Meeting (1668-1797)
• Wales Half Yearly Meeting (1797-1832)
• All QMs, MMs & PMs in Wales (except those listed in the following record centres!)
• Shropshire and Montgomery MM Minutes (1693-1714)
• Microfilms of these records can be seen at Friends House Library, London & Swarthmore College, PA

Worcester Record Office [Fish Street, Worcester]

• Hereford, Worcester & Wales General Meeting (1832-1868)
• Western General Meeting (from 1868)
• Shropshire & Montgomery MM Minutes (1747-1753)
• Local copy of Digests for Hereford, Worcester & Wales

Hereford Record Office [Hereford]

• Hereford & Radnor MM, later Hereford & Mid Wales MM (from 1834)
• microfilm of local Digest

Powys County Archives Office [Llandrindod Wells]

• Radnorshire MM (1778-1829)
• North Wales MM (1829-1834)
• Llandrindod Wells PM (from 1892)

West Glamorgan Archive Service [Swansea]

• microfilm of local Digest

Cheshire Record Office [Chester]

• Cheshire QM (1668-1784)
• Cheshire & Staffordshire QM (1784-1854)
• Nantwich MM (1668-1794)
• Frandley & Nantwich MM (1794-1831)
• Morley MM (1668-1831)
• Cheshire MM (from 1831)
• Local copy of Cheshire & Staffordshire Digests (for Denbigh & Flint Friends)

Liverpool Record Office and Local History Service [Liverpool]

• Hardshaw West MM (which included Denbigh & Flint Friends from around 1834)