Lydia Barrington Darragh: Tony D’Souza on a Quaker spy

‘Lydia was confronted with a spiritual dilemma.’

by Tony D’Souza 17th July 2026

Lydia Barrington was born in Dublin in 1729. She emigrated to the United States in 1753 after marrying her family’s tutor, William Darragh. They settled in Philadelphia, and her family became devout Quakers. But during the American revolutionary war (1775-1783) the family’s allegiance to pacifism was tested to the limit. They were not alone in this. The revolution divided US Quakers into two camps: some wanted nothing to do with it; others felt that God was asking them to take up arms. Lydia’s eldest son, Charles, left home to serve in Washington’s Continental Army.