The Life and Letters of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton

by: Richard Shackleton

Richard Shackleton (1726-1792) was the son of the beloved and brilliant elder in the Society of Friends, Abraham Shackleton, who founded a prominent boarding school in Ballitore, Ireland, in 1726. Like his father, Richard was endowed with uncommon intellectual and literary giftings, and there was no art or science at which he did not excel. But finding no true satisfaction in anything outside of the presence and power of his God, he brought both his will and his intellect under the yoke of the cross, and so became a fruitful branch in the church of Christ, and an “elder worthy of double honor.” Neither he nor his wife Elizabeth (1726-1804) were ministers in the Society of Friends, but their deep humility, spiritual wisdom, and unaffected virtue shined conspicuously in all that they did, and made them preachers of righteousness wherever they were. (Original title: Memoirs and Letters of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton late of Ballitore, Ireland Compiled by their Daughter Mary Leadbeater Including a Concise Biographical Sketch, and some Letters of Abraham Shackleton.)