Oxfam

In May 1942, Quaker Edith Pye established a national Famine Relief Committee in protest to a naval blocade to Belgium and Greece; both occupied by Germany. She encouraged the setting up of a network of local famine relief committees, among the most energetic of which was the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief.

Initially, the committees lobbied the government for a relaxation of the blockade to allow vital relief for civilians to get through.  By 1943, the Red Cross had established a route into Greece.

At the end of the war, famine became an issue in Germany itself. The ‘Save Europe Now’ campaign was launched to allow food relief to be sent into Germany – once again against the prevailing policies of the British government. Money was channelled through a number of organisations, in particular the Friends Relief Service.

In November 1947, the first Oxfam shop opened in Broad Street, Oxford. In 1948, Quaker Harold Sumption was employed to organise the first advertising campaign, raising £25k from an outlay of £5k. For the first time, the abbreviated term ‘Oxfam’ was used in the banner headline.

In 1951, another Quaker, Leslie Kirkley, became General Secretary, beginning a 24-year term with the organisation that would transform it from a local charity to an aid agency with a global reach.  Its work would be underpinned by the principle first established for Quaker relief work during the Franco-Prussian War – that relief should be given on the basis of need, without regard for religion, nationality or ‘side’ in a conflict.

Quakers have continued to be involved at all levels in Oxfam.

Quakers Affirm Same Sex Marriage

Quakers were one of the first churches to talk openly about sexuality. We feel that the quality and depth of feeling between two people is the most important part of a loving relationship, not their gender or sexual orientation.

Collectively Quakers expressed their support for same-sex marriage in 2009 having raised the issue 22 years earlier. In 1963, a controversial book of it’s day ‘Towards a Quaker View of Sex’ was published affirming that gender or sexual orientation are unimportant in a judgement of an intimate relationship and that the true criterion is the presence of “selfless love”. Quakers supported and campaigned for marriage equality which was achieved with the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and legalised same-sex marriages in the UK.