Complex sentence: He and seven other passengers were listed with a "Q" (for Quaker) beside their names, because at that time, the Puritans in England and in the English colonies were persecuting Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends.
Split into simpler sentences: He and seven other passengers were listed with a "Q" (for Quaker) beside their names. At that time, the Puritans in England and in the English colonies were persecuting Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends.