Alice Hayes, born 1657, died 1720, was an English Quaker preacher and autobiographer whose life and ministry exemplified the resilience and fervor of early Quakerism in the face of persecution. Born Alice Smith in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, to a Church of England family, she initially conformed to Anglican practices until her mid-30s, when exposure to Quaker meetings—particularly George Fox’s preaching—sparked her conversion around 1692. Married to Daniel Hayes, a maltster, by 1678, she bore seven children, four of whom survived infancy, and faced significant hardship when Daniel’s opposition to her faith led to her imprisonment in 1697 for refusing to pay church tithes. This experience, detailed in her autobiography A Legacy, or Widow’s Mite (published posthumously in 1723), solidified her commitment to preaching Quaker principles like equality, simplicity, and direct communion with God. Released from prison around 1700 after Daniel’s death, Alice Hayes emerged as a prominent itinerant preacher, traveling across Hertfordshire and neighboring counties to speak at Quaker meetings despite ongoing societal resistance to women in ministry. Her sermons, often unrecorded but impactful, emphasized personal conviction and endurance, drawing from her own trials—poverty, widowhood, and the loss of her home to creditors. She lived her final years in Tottenham, supported by the Quaker community, and died on July 8, 1720, buried five days later in Chequer’s Alley, London. As of March 21, 2025, her legacy endures through her writings, offering a rare firsthand account of a woman’s spiritual journey in 17th-century England, celebrated for its authenticity and courage.