1. Robert Barclay was a Scottish Quaker, one of the most eminent writers belonging to the Religious Society of Friends and a member of the Clan Barclay.
14 Facts About Robert Barclay
1. 2.
Robert Barclay's mother was Katherine Gordon, daughter of Sir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet of Gordonstoun.
3.
Robert Barclay was sent to finish his education at the Scots College, Paris, of which his uncle was Rector, and made such progress in study as to gain the admiration of his teachers, specially of his uncle, who offered to make him his heir if he would remain in France, and join the Roman Catholic Church.
4.
The essential view which Robert Barclay maintained was that all people can be illuminated by the Inward Light of Christ "which is the author of the Scriptures and will lead them into all truth".
5.
Robert Barclay was an ardent theological student, a man of warm feelings and considerable mental powers, and he soon came prominently forward as the leading apologist of the new doctrine, winning his spurs in a controversy with one William Mitchell.
6.
Robert Barclay was noted as a strong supporter of George Fox in the controversies that beset Quakers in the 1670s.
7.
Robert Barclay's greatest work, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, was published in Latin at Amsterdam in 1676, and was an elaborate statement of the grounds for holding certain fundamental positions laid down in the Theses.
8.
One of the eleven Quaker proprietors was William Penn, and after expanding to include a larger number of proprietors, the group elected Robert Barclay to be the governor.
9.
Robert Barclay is said to have visited James with a view to making terms of accommodation with William of Orange, whose arrival was then imminent.
10.
Robert Barclay was an absentee governor, never having set foot in the colony.
11.
Robert Barclay governed through a series of deputy governors, who oversaw day-to-day operations of Barclay's government.
12.
Robert Barclay had a son, known as David Barclay of Cheapside, who became a wealthy merchant in the City of London.
13.
Robert Barclay's legacy was as one of the founders of the present-day Barclays Bank, a century ahead of its formation under that name, and in the brewing industry; he manumitted an estate of slaves in Jamaica.
14.
Robert Barclay was an English Quaker, educational and feminist economics writer, and philanthropist.