The Diary of Alexander Jaffray

by: John Barclay

Before becoming a member of the Society of Friends, Alexander Jaffray (1614-1673) was the director of the chancellery of Scotland, a commissioner to King Charles II, the provost of Aberdeen, and a highly respected member of Oliver Cromwell’s parliament. His diary (discovered in a stack of papers in Ury, Scotland nearly 200 years after its composition) candidly recounts his own inward and outward trials and experiences during a time of almost unprecedented political, military, and religious upheaval in the British Isles, and shows him to be a man of uncommon humility, sincerity, and piety from his earliest days. This publication is composed of two parts: the first being the diary of his life up to the time of his joining in fellowship with the despised people called Quakers in 1662. This is followed by the “Memoirs of the Rise, Progress, and Persecutions, of the People Called Quakers in the North of Scotland,” which also carries forward the narration of Jaffray’s life and sufferings for the gospel until his death in 1673. (Original title: The Diary of Alexander Jaffray Provost of Aberdeen, One of the Scottish Commissioners To King Charles II, And A Member of Cromwell’s Parliament. To Which Are Added, Particulars of His Subsequent Life, Given In Connexion with Memoirs of the Rise, Progress, And Persecutions, of the People Called Quakers In the North of Scotland; Among Whom He Became One of the Earliest Members.)