Author: Southcott, Joanna
Biography:
SOUTHCOTT, Joanna (1750-1814: ODNB)
Joanna Southcott, “the prophetess of Exeter” according to a title-page, was the daughter of Hannah (Godfrey) and William Southcott, tenant farmers in Devon. She was born on 25 Apr. 1750 and baptised at Ottery St. Mary on 6 June, the fourth of their six children. She went into service in various households in and around Exeter, and although she had suitors she dedicated herself to a life of piety. The end of the century was a fruitful period for millenarian prophecies such as those of Richard Brothers, q.v. In 1792 Southcott began hearing a “voice” which sometimes spoke in rhyme, and she gained supporters as some of her predictions came to pass. She first wrote letters to clergymen and other figures in authority, proposed public “trials” of the truth of her visions, and then ventured into print with The Strange Effects of Faith (1801). A group of supporters arranged for her to take her message to London in 1802 and later to tour other parts of the country. One particularly helpful follower, Jane Townley, Southcott’s employer in London in 1804, provided her with an amanuensis, Ann Underwood, to take down her words verbatim, and Townley herself wrote many letters on behalf of the cause. Southcott issued about 65 widely distributed prose pamphlets between 1801 and 1814. Poetry was not her typical medium but her ideas lent themselves to versification, as in the volume of Hymns, or Spiritual Songs (1807) by Philip Pullen, q.v. In 1814 she declared herself pregnant with a new messiah, Shiloh, but the expected delivery date in October passed without a birth. On 12 Nov. 1814, to make her child legitimate, she appears to have married John Smith (1758-1829) of Blockley, on the understanding that the marriage would be annulled if no child was born. Southcott died on 27 Dec. 1814 and an autopsy carried out on 31 Dec. confirmed that she was not pregnant. She was buried on 2 Jan. 1815 in St. Marylebone, London. Her will leaves several small bequests to her family; entrusts her copyrights to the trustees of her estate with a share to Ann Underwood; and specifies the names of friends who should be given items of her clothing as mementoes. (ODNB 3 Jan. 2025; ancestry.com 3 Jan. 2025; findmypast.com 3 Jan. 2025)