Joanna Southcott (1750-1814), English religious visionary.
Joanna was born in Devon and, uneducated and possibly illiterate, spent the earlier part of her life in domestic service.
About 1792, when she was aged 42,she began to claim the gift of prophecy and her
"revelations" attracted many followers.
She later announced that she was the woman in Revelation 12 and that she would be the mother of the coming Messiah. Soon after the time she had set for the birth of the "second Shiloh", she died of a brain disease aged 64. . Her followers continued to study the 60 or more tracts and books she had written and the sect, while much diminished, never completely died out.
Joanna left a locked box with instructions that it be opened only in the presence of all the bishops at a time of national crisis. When one bishop agreed to be present, a box alleged to be the one she left opened in 1928 but revealed nothing of interest.
Among her writings is the book "The Strange Effects of Faith" in two volumespublished in 1801 and 1802.
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