Joan Dant

Upon her husband's premature death, she was forced to become a pedlar, selling goods to fellow Quakers in the environs of London.

Her business increased and since she remained frugal, Dant had enough money to start trading for goods from abroad, becoming a successful merchant.

[2] She gave some of her savings away to the London Yearly Meeting of Quakers and its poorer attendees, saying "I got it by the rich and I mean to leave it to the poor".

[4]: 46  Dant had also left behind £2,581 in cash, £1,000 of shares in a lead mine, investments in five trading ships and £4,375 in various other stocks and annuities, including East India Company bonds.

[1] According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Dant is regarded as "a rare example of a female capitalist from before the Industrial Revolution.