Selections from the Diary of
Frances Barrett Ryland (1761-1840)
Frances Ryland’s diary, or “spiritual journal,” as it is noted on the inside cover of the bound volume, can be found in the collections of Bristol Baptist College Library, shelfmark Z.h.29; on the first blank page is written, “Jonathan Edwards Ryland his dear Mother’s gift.” For a biographical summary of her life, click here. For a more complete biographical account of her life, along with a fully annotated text of her complete diary, see Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 8, pp. 307-97. Non-annotated selections below are from pp. 313-24, 338-40, 362-70, 389-94.