3 - The Sources Problem

Summary

The censorship of the sole contemporary primary source and the absence of outsider accounts mean that our modern understanding of the founding events of the PMC rests upon retrospective insider materials. As seen in the instances in the previous chapter, these offer a generally reliable chronology of events, but a sometimes dubious account of the intentions and circumstances of the actors. This chapter sets out to reconstruct the story.

The group of revivalists that emerged around Tunstall would prove to be the most successful internal challenger to WM. At first sight this is surprising. Better-led and apparently better-funded opponents had emerged elsewhere, and most were seen off by the new regime with relatively little trouble. The other two connexional competitors that did survive, MNC and BC, had a strong leadership figure, while IM had a clear and coherent platform in its commitment to free gospel; the PMC had neither. Yet Tunstall offered a crucial advantage. This was effectively a new town, with no squirearchy and no Anglican presence: that would arrive only in 1832. It was, in WM terms, an outpost, in a circuit that had its hands full elsewhere, thanks to the rampant growth of the Potteries. It was surrounded by small industrial villages receiving planned preaching only every two or three weeks, and the combination of the lack of focused elite opposition, absence of religious alternatives and weak WM oversight allowed disparate revivalists to cooperate and flourish unhindered. From around 1803 revivalist initiatives gained ground. These were individually minor but cumulatively troublesome: unaccredited preachers exploiting uncovered slots in WM plans; intensely emotional week-night prayer-meetings in private homes; a Sabbatarian campaign against alcohol which upset the licensed trade; and most notably occasional camp-meetings.

These last were in truth rather less organised versions of the field-preaching practised by Wesley and others for over seventy years, but now with the dangerous frisson of a label borrowed from Republican America. The local leadership progressively lost patience with the revivalists, with-drawing support for the Sabbatarian initiative and then shedding the camp-meeting ring-leaders – Hugh Bourne, his brother James, and Thomas Cotton – in 1808. The brothers, who were businessman-farmers, continued to proselytise; and the orthodox view is that they formed a short-lived sect named the Camp-Meeting Methodists. Yet they were initially a small group of activists only, attending IM or WM worship and directing converts to the churches of their choice.