(b. February 27, 1735; d. November 24, 1807) Quaker diarist who described hardships of the Revolutionary War for neutrals.

Elizabeth Drinker's diary chronicles the impact of the Revolutionary war on neutral Quakers in Philadelphia. A native Philadelphian, Drinker was born to prosperous Quakers, William Sandwith and Sarah Jervis, who gave their daughters a better-than-usual education. After her parents' death in 1756, the twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth and her older sister Mary lived with friends until Elizabeth married the widower Henry Drinker on January 13, 1761.

Henry Drinker was a partner in one of the city's leading import-export firms. The couple had nine children between 1761 and 1781, of whom five survived to adulthood. The household also included Elizabeth's sister Mary and several servants. In 1771, the family demonstrated their elite status by moving to a large, three-story brick house on Front Street, overlooking the Delaware River. A large yard in the back housed a garden, stables, well, and...