parties were Quaker members. In 1856, he persuaded the Yorkshire Meeting to ask the national meeting in London to take steps to end this limitation (a proposal that was not popular in more conservative quarters). It was not until 1859 that the Yearly Meeting was prepared to ask Parliament to broaden the provision and the Marriage (Society of Friends) Act 1860 provided for this change. By this date Joseph Rowntree had died - on 4 November 1859, in York. Sources Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article by Edward H. Milligan, 'Rowntree, Joseph (1801–1859)’, 2004 accessed 2 Jan 2007 Joseph Rowntree (Senior) (1801-1859) Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775–1920; written by Edward H. Milligan; published by William Sessions Ltd English educational theorists English Quakers 1801 births 1859 deaths People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire Joseph Rowntree 19th-century British philanthropists 19th-century English businesspeople