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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2009
I take the liberty of addressing you on a subject which appears to myself and friends of very great importance. I shall impartially state the case, and leave you to judge of the propriety of laying it before your brethren in town or calling together the Committee of Priviledges.
On Monday the 11th instant a meeting of reformers was held at Newcastle for the purpose of expressing their opinion on the Manchester Murders as they call them. 50 or 60,000 people attended, amongst whom were a great number of our people, several of our Leaders and some of our Local Preachers. One of the latter William H. Stephenson, a young man who teaches a school at Burton Colliery in this Circuit went upon the hustings and made a speech, condemning in strong terms the conduct of the Manchester magistrates: this has given very great offence to most of the Travelling Preachers and respectable friends in this neighbourhood and to none more than myself, and I have been advised at all events to put him off the plan. I have had repeated interviews with him and advised him as a friend on public grounds to give up his plan. He replied that he would never give up his plan until he was compelld, that he would be tried by his peers and did not fear the result, that if they expell him he will publish the cause to the world, that I had better let it quietly pass as three quarters of our people are radical reformers, that if he be tried so must hundreds more, that he only went to plead the cause of suffering humanity, that he believed it his duty to go, that he never joined himself to the reformers, nor attended any of their private meetings. I fixed on Friday the 22nd as the day of his trial.
page 21 note 1 Robert Filter (1784–1847), superintendent, North Shields circuit, 1817–1820.
page 21 note 2 Jonathan Crowther (d. 1824, aet. 64), President of Conference, 1819–1820.
page 22 note 1 Originally sympathetic to the American cause, Wesley in 1775 published a short and popular version of Samuel Johnson's pamphlet Taxation no Tyranny, under the title of A calm address to our American colonies, strongly supporting the British government. This pamphlet brought on him great obloquy, but he reaffirmed its main position in A calm address to the inhabitants of England (1777).
page 23 note 1 Edmund Grindrod (1786–1842), superintendent, Newcastle circuit, 1817–1820. Grindrod's old saw had embodied real substance in the 1790's, but was now part of a political operation.
page 24 note 1 James Briggs Holroyd (1777–1862), superintendent, Haslingden circuit, 1818–1820.
page 25 note 1 The Committee of Privileges, a Conference standing committee created in 1803 to guard its religious privileges, published an Address (drawn up by the connexional solicitor Thomas Allan [M.C.A. Thos. Allan's MSS. T. Allan to Joseph Allan, November 27, 1819]) which, while acknowledging the right of members of religious societies to diversity of political judgment, strongly condemned tumultuous gatherings, and recommended preachers to expel members who, after admonition, persisted in identifying themselves with the factious and disloyal, Methodist Magazine, n.s. xvi (1819), pp. 942–7.Google Scholar
page 27 note 1 Union (or undenominational) Sunday Schools were begun by the radicals in Manchester, Oldham and other places.
page 28 note 1 Jonathan Edmondson (d. 1842, aet. 75), superintendent, Birmingham circuit, 1819–1821.
page 28 note 2 The holograph is at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
page 27 note 3 The Orphan House, built at Newcastle by Wesley in 1743, was the third Methodist chapel property, and the second specially built. The lower part of the house formed a chapel with pulpit, on the first floor were classrooms, and, on the second floor, apartments. These seem to have been intended for the education and accommodation of orphans, but the orphanage never began operation, and the upper rooms were occupied by the preachers and their families, the House becoming the headquarters of Methodism in the north. The trust deed under which the property was vested occasioned persistent litigation after Wesley's death, as did a new deed executed in 1813. Disputes between Church Methodists and others at the Orphan House were healed, however, and the reconciliation created a need for more substantial premises. The present Brunswick chapel, the planning of which is here described, was opened in 1821.
page 29 note 1 Thomas Blanshard (d. 1824, aet. 49), connexional Book Steward, 1808–1823.
page 29 note 2 George Marsden (1773–1858) succeeded Bunting as President, 1821–1822.
page 29 note 3 John Mercer (1770–1839), superintendent, Peel circuit, and chairman of the Isle of Man District, 1819–1820.
page 30 note 1 In 1819 Conference established the ‘Children's Fund’, under which the cost of maintaining preachers' children was divided among Districts in proportion to the number of their members.
page 31 note 1 Joseph Burgess, Jnr. (1785–1859), preacher, Ramsey circuit, 1816–1818.
page 33 note 1 John Crook (d. 1805, aet. 62), superintendent, Isle of Man circuit, 1778–1781, 1786–1788; Peel circuit 1798–1799. The Manx Conference published a hymn-book in the native tongue in 1799.
page 33 note 2 Mathew Lumb (d. 1847, aet. 84), superintendent, Douglas circuit, 1805–1807.
page 34 note 1 John Rawson (d. 1850, aet. 73), superintendent, Douglas circuit, 1812–1814.
page 36 nope 1 John W. Cloake (d. 1846, aet. 67, preacher, Wednesbury circuit, 1818–1820.
page 37 note 1 I.e., Ranters.
page 38 note 1 The Conference of 1818 requested ‘the Committee of Privileges…to consider whether, in addition to the present General Methodist Register of Births and Baptisms now kept in London under their superintendence and sanction, it may not be practicable and expedient to adopt some method by which the local registers kept at our country chapels may be regularly copied into the books of our London office so as to be duly preserved and easily referred to’. Minutes of Methodist Conferences, iv, p. 456Google Scholar. The General Register, though promised for some years (Life of Bunting, ii, p. 78Google Scholar), seems not to have been begun till 1818; it was kept at 66 Paternoster Row, and was transferred to Somerset House after compulsory registration of births was established by statute in 1836.
page 39 note 1 Preachers appointed to North Shields circuit, 1820–1822, were Thomas Hill and Thomas Moss. ‘The late Spence of Liverpool’ was Thomas Spencer (1791–1811) who, appointed minister of the Newington Chapel in 1811, built up so vast a congregation that the Great George Street Congregational Chapel was built for him. He died in a bathing accident before it was finished.
page 39 note 2 John Riles (d. 1826), preacher, London (Great Queen Street) circuit, 1818–1820.
page 42 note 1 William Scholefield (d. 1838, aet. 63), superintendent, Wolsingham circuit, 1819–1821.
page 43 note 1 Wolsingham was separated from the Barnard Castle and Weardale circuit in 1819.
page 44 note 1 James Nichols (1785–1861), who had begun business as a printer and bookseller in Leeds, had recently been brought to London to launch the Christian Reporter, and printed the Life of Bunting's friend Edward Hare, the Methodist preacher and theologian. The Christian Reporter, with the assistance of Richard Watson and Jabez Bunting, was to support the policies of the Address of the Committee of Privileges (see n. 1, p. 25). When the ministry dropped the bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline late in 1820, Nichols felt some sympathy for her, but Bunting and Watson refused to write on the subject and the paper collapsed. Nichols subsequently printed much valuable work in the fields of theology, church history and literature, including his own translation of the works of Arminius.
page 46 note 1 Joseph Benson (1749–1821), Connexional Editor, 1804–1821. His huge Bible commentary (1818) was largely based on the work of Wesley and Thomas Coke.
page 46 note 2 William Myles (d. 1828, aet. 70), superintendent, Halifax circuit 1819–1821.
page 46 note 3 Sigston, James, A memoir of the life and ministry of Mr. W. Bramwell (London, 1820)Google Scholar, printed by James Nichols. Sigston was a Leeds schoolmaster who had led a secession of revivalists there in 1803, known as the Kirkgate Screamers. At the time Bramwell, who had aspirations to be a revivalist, had intended to link the Screamers with other revivalist separations in Manchester and Macclesfield, and resigned his ministry. Bramwell, however, was put under great pressure to withdraw, much to Bunting's disgust (M.C.A. MSS. J. Birchenall to L. Tyerman, December 22, 1870. Enclosed in Tyerman MSS, iii, fo. 1: Jabez Bunting to Richard Reece, July 15, 1803) and the Screamers were received back into Society in 1807. Sigston, however, was a prominent leader of the Leeds Protestant Methodist secession in 1827.
page 47 note 1 The Children's Fund (see n. 1, p. 30).
pagr 47 note 2 Samuel Webb (1783–1847), newly arrived superintendent of Stafford circuit, 1820–1821.
page 47 note 3 I.e. transferred from Newcastle-under-Lyme circuit to Stafford circuit.
page 47 note 4 Moses Dunn (d. 1849, aet. 69), superintendent, Stafford circuit, 1819–1820. Charles Radcliffe (d. 1852, aet. 65), preacher, Stafford circuit, 1819–1821.
page 48 note 1 John Walton was preacher at Middleham, 1819–1820. Before the end of 1820 Walton was married and again seeking a circuit; Bunting advised that he should attend the next Conference to account for his contumacy (M.C.A. MSS. John Walton to Jabez Bunting [post-marked December 13,1820]). He received appointments down to 1826, but desisted travellingin 1827, was subsequently expelled and began legal proceedings against the preachers' Annuitant Society in the hope of recovering what he believed due to him towards superannuation (M.C.A. MSS. Thomas Galland to Jabez Bunting, March 21, 1828: February 4, 1829: John Walton to Jabez Bunting, May 7, 1830). The letter shows how resentment against continuous service in poor circuits might occasion the exercise of discipline. The following letters show why Hexham was regarded as one of the hardest circuits in the connexion.
page 50 note 1 According to the official records Hexham and Alston were separated in 1809, though at this time preachers moved in successive years from one to the other. Walton is recorded as having been appointed to Alston, 1821–1823.
page 50 note 2 Thomas Kelk (d. 1836, aet. 68), superintendent, Rochester circuit, 1819–1821.
page 50 note 3 Charles L. Adshead, superintendent Hexham circuit, 1820–1821. Supernumerary 1834, disappeared from ministry probably by death, between 1841 and 1847.
page 50 note 4 The List of Reserve was filled by prospective preachers approved by Conference for whom no appointments had been found, and who might be stationed at the President's discretion to fill vacancies created by death or by preachers' desisting from travelling. The growth of the list owing to the restriction of ministerial recruiting under pressure of financial stringency in 1819, increased the practical ability of the President to deal with the candidates upon it, though he could not enlarge the number of appointments (cf. no. 18 infra).
page 51 note 1 William Kelk (1795–1866), Secretary of Chapel Committee, 1855–1860.
page 52 note 1 The lead-miners of Alston, like the miners in many of the coal-field circuits, had a reputation for turbulence in church life.
page 52 note 2 James Odgers (d. 1855, aet. 81), superintendent, Barnstaple circuit, 1820–1821.
page 53 note 1 George Douglas (1764–1853), superintendent, Stamford circuit, 1820–1822.
page 54 note 1 Joseph Sutcliffe (d. 1856, aet. 94), preacher, Bristol circuit, 1820–1822. Author of A commentary on the Old and New Testament (London, 1834–1835).Google Scholar
page 54 note 2 The lack of mobility in Bristol Methodism as compared with the North, was a matter of comment. ‘The people here seem rather of a dull heavy cast; and in the country in particular are ignorant, and stupid in a high degree, and seem to have very little religion, but if there are not as many flowing into the societies as in the North, there are not as many leaving.’ (M.C.A. MSS. John Barber to George Marsden, October 22, 1814).
page 54 note 3 George Pocock, a Bristol schoolmaster and local preacher, with the assistance of other local preachers, had begun missions over a wide area between South Wales and Berkshire in 1814, with an ‘Itinerant Tabernacle’ or tent. For a time he financed the whole venture, raised ten new societies and eight new chapels, but was expelled in 1820 for refusing to settle them on the Conference plan. Bunting's view of the Tent Methodists is given in no. 21. Pocock's view was that the preachers' ‘only cry is Rule, Rule Methodist Rule, “Conformity or expulsion”’. See Pocock, George, A Statement of facts connected with the ejectment of certain ministers from the Society of Wesley an Methodists in the city of Bristol (Bristol, 1820)Google Scholar; George Pocock, John, Pyer, Samuel Smith, Facts Without a Veil (Bristol 1820).Google Scholar
page 54 note 4 Henry Moore (1751–1844), superintendent, Bristol circuit, 1820–1823. The assistant, travelling companion, amanuensis, literary executor and biographer of John Wesley, he was highly regarded in his earlier years as a theologian.
page 54 note 5 William Griffith (1777–1860), superintendent, Hungerford circuit, 1820–1823.
page 55 note 1 Joseph Griffith, superintendent, Bury St. Edmunds circuit, 1820–1822. Retired from ministry 1838.
page 56 note 1 William Bird (1781–1869), superintendent, Burnley circuit, 1820–1822.
page 56 note 2 William Welborne (d. 1850), superintendent, Burnley circuit, 1818–1820.
page 57 note 1 Bunting's pietistic view of the Oddfellows was not peculiar to him. Cf. M.C. A. MSS, J. Braithwaite to Barnard Slater, September 10, 1816.
page 58 note 1 Jacob Stanley (1776–1850), superintendent, Stourport circuit, 1820–1822. President, 1845. A prominent Protestant politician.
page 58 note 2 John Kershaw (1766–1855), superintendent, Derby circuit, 1819–1822; he obtained a London station as Book Steward, 1823–1827.
page 60 note 1 For James Wood, see Introduction, p. 13, n. 2.
page 60 note 2 The holograph is in the U[nited] M[ethodist] C[hurch] A[rchives, Lake Junalaska, North Carolina].
page 60 note 3 On December 9, 1820 the radical Manchester Observer reported that a Town's meeting held in Manchester to vote an address to the king had concluded by addressing the queen.
page 60 note 4 Richard Watson (1781–1833), preacher, London (Great Queen Street) circuit, 1818–1821, with special responsibility for overseas missions. He was the principal Methodist theologian of his day, his Theological Institutes being published in six parts 1823–1829. Preacher in Methodist New Connexion, 1803–1807.
page 61 note 1 John Stephens (1772–1841), superintendent, and Thomas Jackson, preacher, Manchester circuit, 1819–1821. No article of this description has been traced. homas Jackson (1785–1873) was Connexional Editor, 1824–1843; Theological tutor, Richmond College 1842–1861; President, 1838, 1849.
page 61 note 2 This letter relates to the outcome of Stephens's proceedings during the Peterloo crisis, when he had strenuously contended for order and loyalty in a sermon to the Stranger's Friend Society, and had used the machinery of Methodist discipline to expel large numbers of radicals from society membership, and to prevent political demonstrations by Methodist teachers in the undenominational Sunday schools. There were Methodists who thought him so ‘intemperate with his loyalty’ that he should be moved, but he became the first superintendent ever to be appointed to the Manchester circuit for a third year. M.C.A. MSS. John Hebblewhite to James Everett, March 15, 1820.
page 62 note 1 The Grosvenor Street Wesleyan Chapel, opened in 1820, soon attracted the wealthiest congregation in the connexion.
page 63 note 1 The Manchester Observer, a radical paper much given to violent attacks on Methodist preachers and discipline, had commenced publication on January 3, 1818.
page 63 note 2 Thomas Preston (1775–1834), superintendent, Sowerby Bridge circuit, 1820–1823.
page 66 note 1 John Williams II (d. 1834, aet. 45), superintendant, Cardigan circuit, 1818–1821.
page 67 note 2 The accusation of the chairman of the District had been that Williams himself kept the shop, and was using every device to postpone meeting the remonstrances of his colleagues. Bunting had no option but to insist that shopkeeping was in compatible with a preacher's separation to the itinerant ministry. Bunting had reported in 1802 that ‘the Welsh mission prospers amazingly’ (M.C.A. MSS. Jabez Bunting to George Marsden, December 30, 1802), but it did not sustain its first promise, and in this letter Wesleyan Methodism can be seen taking its place as the smallest of the Welsh denominations.
page 67 note 1 George Cubitt (1791–1850), superintendent, Boston circuit, 1820–1822. Assistant Connexional Editor, 1836–1842: Editor, 1842–1850.
page 68 note 1 This judgment should be compared with that in the Liverpool case, infra. no. 71.
page 69 note 1 Frederick Calder (d. 1851, aet. 65), superintendent, Brighton circuit, 1818–1821.
page 69 note 2 Henry Brougham's proposals, which had to be dropped, provided for the building of parish schools at state expense, for the teachers to be members of the Church of England, and for the clergy to control the education, which should be based on the Bible, but should not include the catechism.
page 70 note 1 Joseph Womersley (d. 1851, aet. 81), superintendent, Carlisle, circuit, 1819–1821.
page 70 note 2 Thomas Bersey (d. 1857, aet. 78), superintendent, and John Wevill (d. 1874, aet. 74) and Walter Oke Croggon (d. 1854, aet. 62), preachers, Liskeard circuit, 1820–1822.
page 71 note 1 In a similar reply to an enquiry from the superintendent of the Diss circuit, Bunting added, ‘On the Catholic Bill, we may act individually as we think fit. But we should not meddle with that difficult State-measure, in our public or collective character.’ (M.C.A. MSS. Wm. Hinson to Jabez Bunting, March 26, 1821: appended draft of Bunting's reply, March 28, 1821.)
page 71 note 2 Robert Melson, superintendent, Pickering circuit, 1818–1821. Disappeared from ministry between 1847 and 1853.
page 72 note 1 John Sedgwick (d. 1852, aet. 73), superintendent of Easingwold circuit, 1818–1821. His letter concludes with a reference to the Toleration Act of 1689, mistakenly attributed to the reign of Elizabeth.
page 72 note 2 John Furness (1760–1830), superintendent, Sleaford circuit, 1819–1822.
page 72 note 3 Followers of William Huntington (1745–1813), coal-heaver and high Calvinist itinerant preacher, who subscribed himself S.S. (i.e. Sinner Saved).
page 73 note 1 Bunting himself became increasingly loath to permit the engagement of ‘hired local preachers’, a practice compromising to the status of the ministry in the eyes of the flock. Cf. M.C.A. MSS. Endorsement to W. dough to Jabez Bunting, October 21, 1844.
page 73 note 2 William Beal (1785–1872), superintendent, Exeter circuit, 1819–1821.
page 74 note 1 William Beal and his assistant preacher, Joseph Sanders, were both removed from the Exeter circuit by the Conference of 1821, Sanders after only one year's service there.
page 75 note 1 Thomas Heywood, second preacher, Ely circuit, 1820–1821; superintendent, 1821–1822. Excluded from ministry 1826.
page 75 note 2 Joseph Butterworth (1770–1826), founder of the famous law publishing firm, pressed Conference to found the Committee of Privileges in 1803, and was one of its first members (Life of Bunting, i, 230Google Scholar). A stout defender of the Protestant constitution, he was independent M.P. for Coventry, 1812–1818, and for Dover, 1820–1826. Thomas Allan, the connexional solicitor, canvassed actively for him at Dover (M.C.A. Thos. Allan's MSS. Thos. Allan to Joseph W. Allan, February 20, 1820). Butterworth's political and legal advice was much in demand by the Committee of Privileges, and he was closely connected with influential evangelical philanthropic circles.
page 76 note 1 John Davis [or Davies] senior (1780–1852), preacher, Macclesfield circuit, 1819–1820, superintendent, 1820–1821.
page 76 note 2 The Macclesfield Sunday School was founded on an undenominational basis in 1796, under the leadership of a Methodist, John Whitaker. When funds were raised to build the ‘large school’ which was opened in 1813, there were disputes over the continuance of Sabbath writing lessons, as a result of which Anglicans and Wesleyans withdrew their support, and opened rival schools. Whitaker left the Methodists, continued the writing lessons, and made the school one of the great English Sunday schools, even obtaining royal patronage.
page 77 note 1 Probably the successors of the revivalists who separated from the Wesleyan society early in the century, and published their rules as Christian Revivalists in 1803.
page 77 note 2 Philip C. Turner, became preacher 1821. Governor of the Theological Institution, 1841–1846. Ceased to be recognized, 1846, after proceedings upon an immorality charge.
page 78 note 1 Leominster did not become head of a Wesleyan circuit till 1873.
page 78 note 2 Francis Isabella (d. 1838, aet. 60), 2nd da. of Lord Robert Seymour; widow of George Ferdinand, 2nd Baron Southampton.
page 79 note 1 John Hustus Adams (1788–1846), sole preacher in Hereford circuit, 1818–1821.
page 79 note 2 Henry Gipps, Vicar of SS. Peter and Owen, Hereford, from 1824 till his death in 1832.
page 80 note 1 Edward B. Lloyd (d. 1823, aet. 32), sole preacher, Cambridge circuit, 1819–1821.
page 81 note 1 Conference found to succeed Lloyd not a single paragon, but (for the first time) two preachers.
page 81 note 2 Thomas Roberts (d. 1832, aet. 66), former preacher, for many years supernumerary at Bath.
page 81 note 3 Lincolnshire became one of the strongest Methodist areas, despite persistent friction between Methodists and Ranters who reaped a second, and smaller, harvest from the Wesleyan mission field.
page 81 note 4 John Wesley, b. Epworth Rectory, 1703.
page 81 note 5 Robert Carr Brackenbury (1752–1818), one of Wesley's assistant preachers 1784, and occasionally his travelling companion. A county magistrate and a large Lincolnshire landlord. Raithby Hall, Spilsby, was his residence.
page 82 note 1 James Gill (d. 1844, aet. 74), sole preacher, Maidstone circuit, 1820–1823.
page 82 note 2 At this Conference Bunting became Connexional Editor, a place he held till 1824. In the recent years of business difficulty, the Book Room (the connexional publishing house) had very often failed to produce the profits for general connexional use on which Conference had built great expectations.
page 82 note 3 James Gill, ‘On the utility of disseminating religious tracts…’ Methodist Magazine, n.s. xviii (1821), pp. 364–368.
page 85 note 1 Rev. Mr. Siatene, an Independent Minister at Chatham. He had been one of the individuals unsuccessfully assisted by the Protestant Society in resistance to the assessment of meeting-houses to the poor-rate. Evangelical Magazine, xxvii (1819), p. 749.Google Scholar
page 86 note 1 Aquila Barber (1797–1870), preacher appointed to Lynn from President's List of Reserve, December 1821.
page 86 note 2 William Dalby (1783–1860), preacher, Newark circuit, 1820–1822.
page 87 note 1 The Conference of 1818 required a formal case for a third year appointment to be stated in Conference before such an appointment could be confirmed. The convention was that preachers would not be stationed in a circuit for a third year, unless, at the end of the second, the circuit was in the middle of a revival or a building scheme which made their reappointment desirable. In practice third year appointments, though not frequent, were somewhat commoner than this. John Wesley's Deed of Declaration forbade the appointment of a preacher to the same station for more than three years, and a Conference minute of 1807 required ‘that no Preacher shall return to a Circuit where he had been stationed till he has been absent from it eight years’. A system of rapid circulation made both preachers and circuits more tolerant of disappointed expectations.
page 87 note 2 John Wilks, junr., founder of the Protestant Society, which defended the liberties of evangelical dissent, but sought to avoid Catholic Emancipation.
page 88 note 1 Zachariah Taft (d. 1848, aet. 75), superintendent, Pickering circuit, 1821–1823. Husband of Mary Taft, noted woman preacher.
page 88 note 2 Not till 1866 did Conference require that ‘suitable provision shall be made in every circuit for the safe custody of trust deeds’ (Minutes of Methodist Conferences, xvi, p. 568).Google Scholar
page 88 note 3 George Sargent, superintendent, Scarborough circuit, 1821–1823. Died 1823 in a coach crash on the way to Conference.
page 89 note 1 Adam Clarke (1762–1832), President of Irish Methodist Conference, 1823. (The President of the Irish Conference was always deputed from England by the English Conference.) The foremost Methodist scholar of his, or perhaps any, generation. Widely versed in oriental and classical languages, he was also employed by the Record Commission in editing Rymer's Foedera. He produced a valuable 8-volume scripture commentary, but his orthodoxy was always suspect to Bunting and his friends, on account of his denial of the eternal sonship of Christ, and his affection for John Taylor's Key (1745) to the apostolic writings in which an anti-Calvinist view of original sin and atonement was developed. President of the English Conference, 1801, 1814 and 1822.
page 91 note 1 As Connexional Editor, 1821–1824, Bunting was responsible for producing the Magazine and other regular commercial publications; and as the preachers were supposed to publish exclusively through the Book Room, he had editorial over sight of the literary output of the whole ministry.
page 91 note 2 Joseph Taylor, jun. (1779–1845), missionary, 1803–1811; secretary for foreign missions, 1818–1824; assisted by Bunting and Richard Watson, 1821–1824. President, 1834.
page 92 note 1 Edmund Grindrod, superintendent, Glasgow circuit, 1823–1825.
page 92 note 2 In 1824 Bunting retired from the office of Connexional Editor (for other comments on this see no. 57 infra, and M.C.A. MSS. D. Watson to Jabez Bunting, October 14, 1824) to become Secretary to Conference, an office he held until he became President for the second time in 1828. He was succeeded as editor by Thomas Jackson, one of the most scholarly and also most politically conservative of the younger preachers. Daniel Isaac (1778–1834) had achieved early distinction by attacking in pulpit and press Wm. Vidler's doctrines of Universal Restoration (The doctrine of universal restoration examined and refuted (London, 1819)Google Scholar), but in 1815 the Book Committee refused to publish his Ecclesiastical Claims, and was supported by a Conference minute which led to an acrimonious exchange between Isaac and Bunting, the former sending a circular to superintendents of circuits ascribing his difficulties to the Book Committee's suspicion ‘that it might give offence to Government’. For many years Isaac was regarded by the dominant leadership in the connexion as a prospective leader of political and theological opposition (cf. no. 100). In 1830 and 1831 he gave it out that he would not accept the Presidency if elected (M.C.A. MSS. R. Wood to Jabez Bunting, January 21, 1831). On Isaac generally, see Everett, J., The polemic divine (2nd ed.Manchester, 1851)Google Scholar. Richard Waddy became preacher 1793: d. 1853.
page 93 note 1 Robert Newton (1780–1854), superintendent, Manchester (Irwell Street) circuit, 1823–1826. President, 1824, 1832, 1840, 1848.
page 93 note 2 The annual address of the Conference to the Methodist people.
page 94 note 1 James Townley (d. 1833), educated by Rev. David Simpson, the evangelical incumbent of Macclesfield. One of secretaries to Missionary Society, 1827–1832. President, 1829.
page 94 note 2 Founded in 1784, the ‘Sunday school for the children of all denominations’ in Manchester had originally been supported by all the churches, including dissenting and Roman Catholic. In the political upheavals of the later 1790's, however, dissenting schools began to be opened outside the town's system, and in 1800, when parliamentary legislation restricting Sunday schools was expected, the Anglican clergy separated from the town's committee, and taking part of the joint property, established on organization under their own control. Much the strongest party amongst the remnant, the Wesleyans gradually assumed authority over the rest of the town's system, but did not move for formal control till 1826 (cf. no. 85, infra.) and even then retained the name ‘A school for children of all denominations’.
page 95 note 1 The holograph is in the U.M.C.A.
page 95 note 2 A Salford circuit, carved from the Manchester circuit in 1813, was transformed in 1826 into the Manchester (Irwell Street) circuit. In 1824 the Grosvenor Street chapel became the head of another circuit carved from the original Manchester (Oldham Street) circuit, and despite his disclaimers in this letter, Bunting became its first superintendent, 1824–1827. A further division led to the creation of the Great Bridgwater Street circuit in 1827. Circuit division in Manchester, though accompanied by a great increase in membership occasioned and continued to occasion much complaint (M.C.A. MSS. MS. Resolutions of Manchester preachers and Quarterly Meeting representatives, January 26, 1827: J. Entwisle to Wm. Lord, November 16, 1829: R. Wood to Jabez Bunting, June 28, 1830: Life of Bunting, ii, p. 84 n.)Google Scholar
page 96 note 1 George Marsden, superintendent, Manchester (Oldham Street) circuit, 1824–1827. John Marsden was a lay member of his family.
page 97 note 1 George Cubitt, superintendent, Oxford circuit, 1822–1825.
page 97 note 2 This article on the ‘Public Reading of the Scriptures’ (Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 3rd ser., iii (1824), pp. 191–2Google Scholar) held that while the reading of scripture had always formed part of public worship at town chapels ‘it ought equally to form a part of the constant plan and system of our Sabbath-worship in our numerous village-congregations’. It could no longer be presumed that ‘the great mass of those who attend the Sunday-evening services of the Methodists were in the habit of attending also the Church-service or some other place where the Scriptures were largely read in the earlier parts of the day’.
page 98 note 1 The use of the liturgy in Methodism, even where ministerial services were available, seems to have been gradually reduced to very small proportions by public distaste. M.C.A. MSS. Thomas Butler to Jabez Bunting, July 4, 1843.
page 98 note 2 Robert Johnson (d. 1829, aet. 66), John Doncaster (d. 1828), David McNicoll (d. 1836, aet. 54), John Lancaster (d. 1829, aet. 47), William Entwisle (d. 1831) the superintendent and staff respectively of the Hull circuit, 1823–1824.
page 98 note 3 cf. Robinson, Mark, Observations on the system of Weslyan Methodism: in a letter addressed to the Rev. R. Johnson, superintendent of the Hull circuit (London, 1824).Google Scholar
page 99 note 1 The Irish Primitive Methodist Connexion, formed by a secession from the main body 1818, insisting that the sacrament be received from the Anglican ministry, not from Methodist preachers.
page 100 note 1 Thomas Thompson (1754–1828) of Cottingham, M.P. for Midhurst 1807–1818, a member of Wilberforce's parliamentary group. Local preacher and the first lay treasurer of Methodist missions.
page 100 note 2 Humphrey Sandwith, surgeon at Bridlington, and from 1842 one of the leading physicians at Hull. Brought up with Mark Robinson at Beverley, where his brother T. Sandwith was also a doctor. Published a major unsigned essay on ‘Methodism in its relations to the Church and the nation’ in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for 1829 (M.C.A. MSS. H. Sandwith to Thomas Jackson, October 1832). Editor of the Watchman (the Buntingite newspaper) from its beginning in 1835 to 1842.
page 101 note 1 Francis Wrangham (1769–1842), rector of Hunmanby, 1795–1842, archdeacon of Cleveland 1820–1828, and of the East Riding, 1828–1840.
page 102 note 1 Conference had set its face against one kind of itinerant begging, for the relief of distressed chapel trusts, in establishing the connexional Chapel Fund in 1818.
page 104 note 1 Sandwith, H., An apology for the system of Weslyan Methodism, being a reply to Mr. Mark Robinson's Observations on the same subject (London, 1825).Google Scholar
page 104 note 2 William Shelmerdine (1759–1849), superintendent, Bridlington circuit, 1823–1825.
page 109 note 1 To this letter Sandwith replied that his pamphlet had already gone to press, but he felt confirmed in his views by Bunting's statement. ‘Your long silence, however unavoidable, induced a feeling of despair in my mind that you would not write,’ he added; for Richard Watson had not replied to a request that he should revise the pamphlet, and Adam Clarke had replied to an inquiry too late to be of assistance. M.C.A. MSS. H. Sandwith to Jabez Bunting, February 12, 1825.
page 109 note 2 Dr. T. Sandwith.
page 109 note 3 Joseph Coliman (c. 1775–1837), Rector of Hanmeringham with Scrafield, Lines. 1801–1837; Rector of Beverley, 1803–1813.
page 110 note 1 Daniel M'Affee (d. 1873), the Irish Primitive Methodist brought by Mark Robinson to minister in his chapel at Beverley. He was received into the old Irish connexion in 1827.
page 110 note 2 William Robinson Gilby (c. 1777–1848), vicar of St. Mary's, Beverley, 1823–1833.
page 110 note 3 Reflections on the present system of Methodism (Hull, 1824)Google Scholar. This appears to be the only reference to the authorship of this pamphlet.
page 111 note 1 ‘A review of Rev. H. Moore's Life of Rev. J. Wesley [Vol. ii (London, 1825)], 3rd ser., Wesleyan Methodist Magazine’, (1825), pp. 179–186. On pp. 183–184 there is a discussion of ordination in Methodism in Wesley's time and since, in terms very similar to those of no. 64, supra.
page 111 note 2 The concluding part of a review of the first volume of Moore's Life of Wesley appeared in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 3rd ser., iv (1825), pp. 106–112. The author of the Life of John Goodwin (London, 1822)Google Scholar was Thomas Jackson.
page 111 note 3 Cf. n. 1, p. 109.
page 111 note 4 Welch, Charles, An investigation of Mr. Mark Robinson's ‘Observations on the system of Wesleyan Methodism’ (London, 1825).Google Scholar
page 112 note 1 Thomas Galland M.A. (d. 1843, aet. 48), first superintendent of the Beverley circuit, 1824–1827. A man of local property, he was reputed the most wealthy and most Whiggish of the Wesleyan preachers of his generation.
page 112 note 2 Joseph Rayner Stephens (1805–1879), preacher, Beverley circuit, 1825–1826. The son of John Stephens (q.v.), he became a schoolmaster at Cottingham near Hull in 1823 and now received his first circuit appointment. After leaving the Wesleyan ministry in 1834, he achieved national fame as a violent popular agitator in the Ten Hours, anti-Poor Law, and Chartist agitations.
page 113 note 1 William Maclardie Bunting, (1805–1866), eldest s. of Jabez Bunting by his first wife, Sarah Maclardie. Became preacher in 1824, receiving an appointment to Salford, 1824–1827. A prominent Protestant politician, he was very active in the Evangelical Alliance from its inception, and succeeded his father as honorary secretary 1858. Memorials of the late William M. Bunting, ed. Rowe, G. Stringer (London, 1870), pp. 25, 160.Google Scholar
page 113 note 2 An unsigned ‘Review of pamphlets on Methodism’ dealing with the publications evoked by Mark Robinson's case appeared in two parts in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 3rd ser., iv (1825), pp. 459–468, 530–538Google Scholar. It was in fact written by Richard Watson.
page 113 note 3 Robert Hall (1764–1831), celebrated Baptist divine, at this time minister of Harvey Lane, Leicester.
page 114 note 1 James Bate (1784–1855), superintendent, Wisbeach circuit, 1822–1825.
page 114 note 2 This letter gives the first hint of the further repercussions of Mark Robinson's agitation, which are more fully dealt with in nos. 77 and 78 infra. The pamphlet literature referred to in the letter has not been traced. Samuel Stocks, a prosperous Manchester merchant and former Methodist circuit steward was the principal supporter of the Ancoats Tent Mission, and the communication opened with him by the Wisbeach men exemplifies the common tendency of opponents of the connexional management to combine. On Edmund Waller, see nos. 77 and 78.
page 115 note 1 John Roadhouse (1783–1872), superintendent, Ely circuit, 1823–1825.
page 116 note 1 A Conference committee on Sunday schools in which Bunting was the moving spirit was appointed in 1826, and produced ‘General principles and rules to be observed in the management of Methodist Sunday Schools’, approved by Conference in 1827 (Minutes of the Methodist Conferences, vi, pp. 284–291Google Scholar). For one of the by-products of this committee's work, see infra no. 85.
page 117 note 1 Wesley, John, Explanatory notes upon the Old Testament (London, 1765–1767)Google Scholar and Explanatory notes upon the New Testament (London, 1755).Google Scholar
page 117 note 2 Probably the Self-interpreting Bible by John Brown of Haddington, first published London, 1778, which went through numerous editions.
page 118 note 1 In 1825 Conference condemned certain Methodist missionaries in Jamaica who had compromised on the principle of slavery, and reflected on the character of the anti-slavery agitators in England. In November 1825, the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 3rd ser., iv, pp. 766–770 carried extensive extracts from the report of the Anti-Slavery Society. In 1829 Conference exhorted Methodist Societies to join with other Christians in petitioning Parliament for the abolition of slavery, and in 1830 condemned the principle of colonial slavery at length.
page 118 note 2 This letter from William Myles, supernumerary preacher in Liverpool (1824–1828), sketches the local unrest created by the division of the Circuit in 1826, which inflamed the delicate situation in Leeds, and united with Dr. Warren in open revolt in 1835. The hostility between the decaying town-centre societies, and the pretensions of prosperous suburban chapels recognized in the new circuit division was here as sharp as in Manchester and Leeds.
page 118 note 3 Thomas Wood M.A. (d. 1826, aet. 60), superintendent, Liverpool circuit, 1823–1825.
page 119 note 1 John Russell, basket maker, later lost his sight, seceded to the Wesleyan Methodist Association 1835. David Rowland became leader of the Liverpool Methodist reformers; unstable in personality and insecure in career, he was successively ship-broker, tea-dealer, secretary to the Liverpool Pilots' Association, and book-keeper; seceded to the Wesleyan Methodist Association 1835, but subsequently left it. The ‘Welch Leaders’ were the Leaders of the Liverpool (Welsh) circuit, which had had a semi-independent existence since 1803.
page 119 note 2 Cleland Kirkpatrick (1765–1834), William Atherton (d. 1850, aet. 74), President 1846, Alexander Bell (1788–1851), preachers, Liverpool circuit, the first two, 1823–5, the third, 1824–6.
page 119 note 3 George Highfleld (1761–1852), preacher, Liverpool circuit, 1823–1825. David Jones (2) (d. 1830, aet. 39), sole preacher, Liverpool (Welsh) circuit, 1824–1826.
page 120 note 1 Robert Newton, President of Conference, 1824–1825.
page 121 note 1 Joseph Entwisle (1767–1841), President of Conference, 1812, 1825. Superintendent, Birmingham circuit, 1823–1826. Governor of Theological Institution, 1834–1838.
page 121 note 2 John Gaulter (d. 1839, aet. 74), superintendent, London (East) circuit, 1824–1827.
page 121 note 3 Adam Clarke, now resident at Millbrook, near Liverpool.
page 123 note 1 A division under the titles of Liverpool North and Liverpool South was in fact adopted.
page 123 note 2 John Riles, superintendent, Liverpool circuit, 1825–1826.
page 124 note 1 Cf. final resolution no. 1, in no. 72, supra.
page 126 note 1 Wesley Chapel, Stanhope Street, opened in Liverpool South Circuit, 1827, possessed of ‘a powerful organ giving solemnity to its services’, and ‘a semi-religious light falling through an oval window of stained glass’ which ‘imparts a sacred shade to the communion table’. Betjeman, J., First and last loves (London, 1952), p. 102.Google Scholar
page 128 note 1 Hugh Carter (1784–1855), superintendent, Coventry circuit, 1825–1826. For the sequel to this letter see no. 77 infra.
page 128 note 2 James Brooke (1790–1881), superintendent, Coventry circuit, 1823–1825.
page 129 note 1 Thomas Walker (3) (d. 1829), preacher, Coventry circuit, 1825–1826.
page 130 note 1 Simon Day (1745–1832), superintendent, Coventry circuit, 1811–1813.
page 130 note 2 John Mason (d. 1864, aet. 82), jun., sole preacher, Coventry circuit, 1820–1823. Secretary for foreign missions 1824–1827. Book Steward 1827–1864.
page 131 note 1 Trustees, in whom the chapel properties and debts were vested, commonly held that itinerant preachers attracted better congregations than local preachers, and thus increased the revenue from pew rents and collections.
page 131 note 2 William Harrison, senior (d. 1835, aet. 63), sole preacher, Bacup circuit, 1825–1826.
page 132 note 1 This letter is the sole trace of one of the obscurer episodes in the struggle of the preachers to control independent Sunday schools linked with Methodism. Cf. no. 85 infra.
page 133 note 1 John C. Leppington (d. 1833), superintendent, Wisbeach circuit, 1825–1827.
page 137 note 1 The Plan of Pacification (1795) enabled a majority of trustees, of stewards and Leaders in a Society, believing their preacher ‘immoral, erroneous in doctrines, deficient in abilities, or that he has broken any of the rules’ relating mainly to the administration of the sacrament, to put him on trial before the preachers of the District. ‘The chairman of the District shall be president of the assembly; and every preacher, trustee, steward and leader shall have a single vote, the chairman possessing also the casting voice.’ If the verdict went against the preacher, he was to be considered removed from the circuit, and the District Meeting was to consider how to dispose of him till Conference. What Entwisle seems not to have said is that the context of this provision in the Plan shows that it was originally conceived as a brake upon unilateral action by trustees.
page 138 note 1 On this question see Introduction, p. 7.
page 138 note 2 John Walton, preacher, Skipton circuit, 1824–1825, superintendent, 1825–1826.
page 138 note 3 Richard Reece (d. 1850, aet. 84), superintendent, London (Southwark) circuit, 1824–1827. President 1816, 1835.
page 138 note 4 George Marsden, superintendent, Manchester (Oldham Street) circuit, 1824–1827.
page 139 note 1 There was a steady trickle of applications from New Connexion preachers to be received into the Old, especially in the indifferent years for the New Connexion, which were also generally indifferent years for the Old (and included the mid-'twenties). The Wesleyan connexion was generally sympathetic to individual secession (M.C.A. MSS. J. Stamp to Jabez Bunting, March 24, 1812) though chary of proposals to strike a bargain on behalf of a group of preachers (the welcome given to such a proposal in M.C.A. MSS. J. Taylor to Jabez Bunting, December 2, 1804 seems to have aroused no official response). John Strawe, became preacher with the Methodist New Connexion 1823, and with the Wesleyan connexion 1826; d. 1841. See also no. 80, infra.
page 141 note 1 Richard Watson succeeded Entwisle as President of Conference in 1826.
page 141 note 2 Robert Newton was largely engaged with fund-raising for the Missionary Society at public meetings. He was said to have raised more money for religious objects than any other man of his day.
page 143 note 1 Thomas Clarkson, vice-president with Wilberforce of the Anti-Slavery Society.
page 143 note 2 Henry Brougham, moved on May 19, 1826, that as the House had had no satisfactory response to its resolutions on the treatment of slaves by colonial legislatures, it should consider early in the next session such measures as might be necessary to effect their purpose. The motion was defeated.
page 143 note 3 On March 1,1826, Buxton, presenting a petition from the people of London, urged that so little had been done for the slaves that the House should either abandon its pledge to them, or take the matter into their own hands. Canning replied that this would be hasty and precipitate, and that most of the self-governing colonies had adopted important reforms. Two days later Brougham moved for a return of acts passed since May 15, 1823, which revealed that little had in fact been done. Parliamentary Debates, xiv (1826), pp. 975–978, 1082.Google Scholar
page 144 note 1 Thomas Babington (1758–1837) of Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, brother-in-law to Zachary Macaulay.
page 144 note 2 Edward Harbord, 3rd. Baron Suffield (1781–1835), liberal peer, and almost single-handed champion of abolitionism in the upper house at this time.
page 144 note 3 Perhaps George Richard Philips (1789–1883), M.P. for Steyning, 1820–1832.
page 144 note 4 Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, later 14th earl of Derby; at this time M.P. for Stockbridge; sympathetic to the views of Canning under whom he became under-secretary for the colonies in 1827.
page 144 note 5 Henry Ryder, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, 1824–1836, the first evan gelical bishop, and, as son of the 1st Baron Harrowby of Sandon Hall, a member of an important local family.
page 144 note 6 William Rennison (d. 1854, aet. 69), superintendent, Uttoxeter circuit, 1825–1826.
page 145 note 1 John Sutnner(d. 1837, aet. 46), preacher, Sowerby Bridge circuit, 1825–1827.
page 145 note 2 On these collections which supported the Contingent Fund see the Introduction, p. 6. The letter illustrates (1) the difficulty which Methodism faced, in common with the independent denominations, of maintaining, in the long run, both a pastoral ministry and genuinely itinerant (i.e. not church-based) evangelism; (2) the impossibility of maintaining both a popular following, and the formal obligations of members to contribute their class-monies, obligations which were hardly anywhere completely met; (3) the impossibility of maintaining the strict theory of Methodist finance that the Society (i.e., the membership) supported the ministry, while the congregation supported the chapel trust. The subject is resumed in no. 84, infra.
page 146 note 1 Jonathon Barker (d. 1839, aet. 75), superintendent, Burslem circuit, 1826–1828. The question, ‘Who have died this year?’ is asked at the beginning of the Minutes of each Conference, and the obituaries of preachers and supernumeraries which answer it form a roll of honour of itinerants who have died in the work.
page 147 note 1 A third preacher had been appointed to the Burslem circuit in 1823, but was dropped at the next Conference.
page 148 note 1 The identification of this document, the holograph of which is at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, is made possible by M.C.A. MS. Scrapbook of James Everett, fo. 421, printed in the Appendix, infra. The 1826 Conference appointed a committee (cf. n. 1, p. 116) to systematize legislation governing Methodist Sunday schools and ‘hoped’ that those [undenominational] schools, which claim a relation to Methodism, and are supported in part by collections made in our chapels, will be induced as speedily as possible to adopt the same leading principles, and to walk by the same general rules' (Warren, S. and Stephens, J., Chronicles of Wesleyan Methodism (London, 1827) i, p. 399Google Scholar). Bunting who was a leading member of the committee immediately raised the question in a meeting of the Stewards and Leaders of the Manchester (Grosvenor St.) circuit. Full Wesleyan control was established in the annual general meeting of the Manchester school in 1830. (A statement of the origin and condition of the Sunday schools for children of all denominations in Manchester (Manchester, 1836Google Scholar.)) The connexional pressure here applied met with mixed success, for there were great secessions among the Sunday schools during the Warrenite and Wesleyan Reform separations. See also no. 87 infra.
page 150 note 1 Richard Treffry, sen. (1771–1842), superintendent, Hull circuit, 1825–1827 President 1833. Governor of Theological Institution 1838–1841.
page 150 note 2 Daniel Isaac, preacher, Hull circuit, 1825–1826, superintendent, 1827–1829.
page 150 note 3 Joseph Beaumont, M.D. (1794–1855), preacher, Hull circuit, 1825–1828. A prominent spokesman for liberal political views in Methodism.
page 150 note 4 Thomas Preston, superintendent, Bolton circuit, 1825–1827.
page 150 note 5 This letter illustrates the fact that not only the Methodists (as in no. 85) but also Churchmen were making forward moves against the informal arrangements which had subsisted with many Sunday schools.
page 150 note 6 The junior preacher at Bolton in 1821 reported that ‘we have no travelling on the Lord's Day excepting once in six weeks in the evening when we go to Mr. Holland's, who are charming people, and their place is a paradise' (M.C.A. MSS. J. Hanwell to James Everett, October 15, 1821). Roger Holland was a trustee of Fletcher St. Chapel, Bolton.
page 152 note 1 George Marsden succeeded Preston as superintendent of the Bolton circuit, 1827–1830.
page 153 note 1 John Mason became Book Steward at the Conference of 1827. The Book Room for which the itinerant preachers acted as travelling salesmen, proved less profitable to the connexion than was generally hoped. Rejecting good advice to leave the business to a lay professional, (M.C.A. MSS. Robert Lomas to Jabez Bunting, July 5, 1806; February 16, 1808), Conference kept the office as a place of dignity for a preacher. As this letter shows, they were still expecting substantial subventions from a publishing house which was itself in debt.
page 154 note 1 The Legalized Fund was a kind of group insurance scheme by which the preachers made provision for their aged brethren, widows and orphans.
page 155 note 1 Josiah Hill (1773–1844), preacher, Liverpool circuit, 1825–1826; Liverpool (South) circuit, 1826–1828. The letter exemplifies the pressure which began to build up in the later ‘twenties for the more systematic training of the preachers, and which led to the resolution of Conference in 1834 to found a Theological Institution.
page 156 note 1 Isaac Turton (d. 1851, aet. 74), superintendent, Leeds (West) circuit, 1827–1829.
page 156 note 2 Edmund Grindrod, superintendent, Leeds (East) circuit, 1827–1829.
page 156 note 3 Matthew Johnson and Josiah Yewdall, two of the leaders of Methodist radicalism in Leeds, and of the campaign against church rates in the Leeds vestry
page 156 note 4 John Partis Haswell (1790–1870) preacher, Leeds circuit, 1825–1826, Leeds (West) circuit, 1826–1827.
page 156 note 5 Joseph Hollingworth (d. 1836), preacher, Leeds (West) circuit, 1827–1829.
page 157 note 1 Thomas Stanley (d. 1832, aet. 59), superintendent, Dudley circuit, 1827–1830.
page 157 note 2 The undenominational New Schools of Leeds had been transferred to Methodist control by a majority of two votes at the annual meeting in 1816, but reports of the political aspirations of the teachers continued to cause alarm in Conference (Leeds City Archives, MS. Sunday School Minute Book 1816–1842; Smith, G., History of Wesleyan Methodism (4th ed., London, 1866), iii, p. 113.Google Scholar
page 158 note 1 ‘Billy’ Dawson of Barnbow (d. 1841), a noted Local Preacher and circuit steward of the Leeds (East) circuit, took the view that both sides were in error; the Trustees ought not to have pushed the organ case beyond the District Meeting, and when an appeal was made to Conference the members of the District Meeting ought not to have changed their minds under pressure from Bunting, and thus set the Leeds radicals aflame; on the other side Sigston was doctrinaire, stubborn and suspicious, and invited disciplinary action by holding weekly meetings at his house under pledge of secrecy (M.C.A. MSS. W. Dawson to R. Filter, December 10, 1827: W. Dawson to T. Mease, December 17, 1827). On Dawson generally, see Everett, J., Memoirs of William Dawson (London, 1842).Google Scholar
page 158 note 2 Like the Sunday school, the Leeds cottage prayer-meetings were an institution originally independent of circuit constitution, but now affected by the division of the circuit. For over a generation, they had formed a highly organized means of extending Methodist influence at a popular level. (Leeds Central Library. John [should be Thomas] Wray's MS. History of Methodism in Leeds xi, fos. 131–139). As a result of this conflict new Rules of Leeds frayer Leaders (Leeds, 1828)Google Scholar were published, under which no one was to be a prayer leader till he had been a member of Society for a year; he should lose office if he ceased to be a member. All the preachers were to be members of the committee, and the superintendent was to preside.
page 163 note 1 W. Gilyard Scarth, an old friend of Bunting, and Treasurer to the Leeds Brunswick Trustees.
page 163 note 2 John Stephens, President of Conference, 1827–1828.
page 163 note 3 I.e., the appointment and composition of the Special District Meeting which met to settle the affairs of the Leeds circuits. Bunting is here summoned to the meeting on the somewhat doubtfully legal title of President's special adviser.
page 163 note 4 James Sigston, Leeds schoolmaster and revivalsit (see n. 3, p. 46 supra). Acted as the constitution-maker for the Leeds Protestant Methodists who separated as a result of this dispute.
page 163 note 5 Mark Robinson also reappeared at the time of the Warrenite secessions in 1835. M.C.A. MSS. Jabez Bunting to John Beecham, November 16, 1835.
page 164 note 1 Joseph Entwisle, superintendent, Bristol circuit, 1826–1829.
page 164 note 2 The great losses of membership took place in the Old Chapel at Leeds.
page 165 note 1 Titus Close (d. 1833, aet. 37), preacher, Leeds (East) circuit, 1827–1829.
page 165 note 2 Matthew Johnson was secretary to the Leeds (East) Quarterly Meeting.
page 166 note 1 Isaac Keeling (1789–1869), preacher, Leeds (West) circuit, 1826–1829. President 1855.
page 166 note 2 Joah Mallinson, one of the most furious of the Leeds agitators, was a Leader and Circuit Steward.
page 166 note 3 William Henshaw (1775–1841), superintendent, Sheffield circuit, 1827–1829.
page 166 note 4 Thomas Harris (1791–1863), preacher, Rochdale circuit, 1824–1827.
page 167 note 1 While disclaiming any connexion with the Leeds separatists, the London (South) circuit Quarterly Meeting showed itself extremely hostile to the proceedings of the Special District Meeting at Leeds, and later printed a 40-page Address … to the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of 1828 for private distribution among the members, demanding constitutional clarification. See also nos. 99, 113. Robert Eckett (1797–1862), ‘the London North Secretary’ who was expelled from Wesleyanism for supporting Dr. Warren in 1836, and became the Bunting of the Wesleyan Methodist Association, was the principal agitator in the London (North) circuit.
page 168 note 1 Frederick Calder, preacher, Sheffield circuit, 1827–1829: Thomas Bridgman (d. 1832), preacher, Sheffield circuit, 1827–1829: George Cubitt, preacher, Sheffield circuit, 1828–1831: Samuel Jackson (d. 1861, aet. 75), superintendent, Sunderland circuit, 1826–1829. President 1847. Governor of Theological Institution, 1848–1854. An early advocate of a system of Wesleyan day schools: Robert Alder (retired from ministry, 1851), preacher, Sheffield circuit, 1828–1831. Served in Canada till 1828. Missionary secretary 1833–1851: Henry Longden, the circuit steward, whose father (of the same name) had been one of the most famous characters in Sheffield Methodism had, like his father, some revivalist tendencies.
page 168 note 2 The Plan of Pacification (1795) forbade the administration of the Lord's Supper in any chapel without the prior consent of a majority of its Trustees, of its Stewards and Leaders, and of Conference. Although the very heavy majority of leaders against the Leeds Brunswick organ was obtained in a circuit Leaders' Meeting, it is certain that if this Sheffield proposal had been law, it would have been impossible to proceed with the installation of the organ.
page 168 note 3 The next President, 1828–1829, was Bunting himself.
page 169 note 1 Richard Waddy, preacher, London (City Road) circuit, 1827–1829.
page 169 note 2 John Anderson (d. 1840, aet. 49), preacher, London (City Road) circuit 1827–1830.
page 169 note 3 Joshua Marsden (d. 1837), superintendent, Worcester circuit, 1827–1829.
page 170 note 1 Persistent difficulties in securing recognition of dissenting registers of births or baptisms by the courts of law or departments of state in this decade drove the Protestant Dissenting Deputies in 1826 to consider, and in 1829, to demand, the introduction of state registration of births.
page 170 note 2 SirNicheli, John, The judgment delivered, December 11th, 1809 … in a cause … promoted by Kemp against Wickes, clerk, for refusing to bury an infant child of two of his parishioners who had been baptised by a dissenting minister (London, 1810, and later edns.).Google Scholar
page 172 note 1 The lawfulness of Sabbath writing lessons came to be the great bone of contention between the supporters of the undenominational tradition in the Sunday schools and the advocates of full denominational control (cf. no. 2, p. 86 supra.) Bunting was turned against Sabbath writing by a paper presented to Conference in 1807 by Wm. Hey, a distinguished Leeds surgeon, and fought the question repeatedly until Conference declared against the practice in 1823. Nevertheless, in many parts of the connexion, as here, writing lessons continued as the only way of attracting the attendance of older children. The new Rules of the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday Schools for Leeds West Circuit (Leeds, 1828)Google Scholar permitted writing and arithmetic only on weekdays.
page 173 note 1 Samuel Hilaby, preacher, Swaffham circuit, 1822–1824.
page 174 note 1 Isaac Bradnack (1774–1833), superintendent, Swaffham circuit, 1821–1824.
page 174 note 2 Donald Frazer, preacher. Durham circuit, 1826–1828. Left the ministry to preach in Canada, 1831.
page 174 note 3 John Ward, prominent Durham Methodist, solicitor, and politician. Author of a MS. tract on the Sonship of Christ. M.C.A. MSS. B. Slater to Jabez Bunting, February 6, 1828.
page 175 note 1 Hodgson Casson (d. 1851, aet. 63), preacher, Gateshead circuit, 1827–1830. Began as a zealous field-preacher, and entered the regular ministry, 1815.
page 176 note 1 Two letters containing a plain account and explanation of various material circumstances of the late separation in the Leeds circuits … (Leeds, 1828).Google Scholar
page 176 note 2 I.e. the Leeds Protestant Methodists.
page 176 note 3 The nature and source of the offer of Church preferment to Bunting is not known.
page 177 note 1 Johnson, M., Rinder, W., and Hodgson, J., A reply to various false statements and gross misrepresentations contained in two letters lately published by the Methodist preachers in Leeds (Leeds, 1828)Google Scholar. Bunting figures little in the pamphlet until the last page when the whole responsibility for the Leeds case is laid upon him (p. 15): ‘No authority but that which he has usurped, could have induced Conference to give permission to erect an organ against the wishes of the society, and in the very teeth of their own law.’
page 177 note 2 Aaron Floyd (d. 1836, aet. 49), superintendent, Canterbury circuit, 1827–1828.
page 178 note 1 The Imperial Magazine, edited by Samuel Drew, the official biographer of Thomas Coke, had long been suspect to the Buntingites because of Drew's sympathy with the theological opinions of Adam Clarke (M.C.A. MSS. James Nichols to Jabez Bunting, April 8, 1819). Apparently the Magazine carried the appeal of the Leeds Protestant Methodists. M.C.A. MSS. Jabez Bunting to Joshua Marsden, May 6, 1828.
page 179 note 1 Joseph Agar (1761–1847), Sheriff of York, 1812, a leading York Methodist of long standing.
page 179 note 2 William Vevers (d. 1850, aet. 58), preacher, York circuit, 1827–1829. Vevers had contributed Observations on the power possessed and exercised by the Wesleyan Methodist ministers (London, 1828)Google Scholar to the Leeds controversy and for the rest of his life was much in print as a defender of the Methodist constitution and the Protestant cause.
page 179 note 3 Jonathan Crowther II (1794–1856), preacher, York circuit, 1826–1829. Headmaster of Kingswood School, 1823–1826.
page 180 note 1 All three of the York preachers left the circuit at the Conference of 1829.
page 180 note 2 James Blackett (d. 1848), superintendent, St. Austell circuit, 1828–1830.
page 181 note 1 Cornish Methodism had expanded so rapidly in the previous decade that it bore less resemblance to the official administrative model than that of any other part of the country. Despite the opinion here expressed it not only continued for many years in its irregular ways, but suffered a serious secession in 1835.
page 181 note 2 Alexander Kilham was expelled by Conference in 1796, and his Methodist New Connexion was founded in 1797. Francis Thoresby, preacher in the Leeds circuit, 1794–1795, and an active promoter of the administration of the sacraments in Methodism, was ‘suspended by the District Meeting for his indecent behaviour to sundry girls, chiefly servants’ (M.C.A. Tyerman MSS, i, fo. 140). In 1796 it was reported that Thoresby was very popular, and that Benson's opposition to administering the sacrament was enabling him to get a chapel built. M.C.A. Tyerman MSS, iii, fos. 273, 278, 279.
page 182 note 1 Truro had been divided from the Redruth circuit in 1799; in 1828 the St. Agnes and Gwennap Circuits were carved from Truro, and the Camborne circuit from Redruth.
page 183 note 1 John Hanwell (d. 1854), superintendent, Barnsley circuit, 1827–1829.
page 183 note 2 Error for Hanwell.
page 183 note 3 Cf. nos. 98, 114.
page 184 note 1 John A. Lomas, preacher, Barnsley circuit, 1827–1829.
page 185 note 1 Robert Wood (c. 1788–1851), superintendent, York circuit, 1827–1829.
page 185 note 2 William Harrison, senr., superintendent, Knaresborough circuit, 1828–1829.
page 185 note 3 Bunting's most famous sermon, Justification by faith. A sermon preached in Albion Street Chapel at Leeds (Leeds, 1813)Google Scholar. Cf. nos. 124, 144 infra.
page 186 note 1 London (Southwark) circuit. Cf. nos. 98, 99, 140–143.
page 186 note 2 David McNicoll, assistant London (Southwark) circuit, 1828–1829.
page 186 note 3 Robert Eckett (cf. n. 1, p. 167 supra) had already published A letter to the Rev. John Gaulter on the late occurrences at Leeds (London, 1828)Google Scholar, and took advantage of ruffled feelings in the London North circuit, where conference had appointed preachers rejected by the trustees in 1827, and where it had been impossible to replace circuit stewards who had resigned in March 1828; Leach, James, Wesleyan Methodism (London, 1828).Google Scholar
page 186 note 4 Richard Reece, superintendent, London (Great Queen Street) circuit, 1827–1830.
page 187 note 1 Especially Jabez Bunting (summoned as President's special adviser) who had moved Conference to over-rule the District Meeting and grant the application for the organ.
page 187 note 2 See no. 93 supra.
page 190 note 1 Keeling, I., A letter to the editors of the Leeds Mercury on the present unhappy dissensions of the Methodists in Leeds (Leeds, 1827).Google Scholar
page 192 note 1 Joseph Sutcliffe, superintendent, Bath circuit, 1827–1829.
page 192 note 2 In 1811 Lord Sidmouth had unsuccessfully moved a bill in the House of Lords to restrict itinerant preaching, urging that many itinerants were too un lettered to perform ministerial functions.
page 193 note 1 Charles Atmore (d. 1826, aet. 66), preacher, London (Great Queen Street) circuit (from which the Southwark circuit was formed in 1822), 1821–1823. President 1811.
page 193 note 2 William Dealtry (1775–1847), Professor of Mathematics, East India College, Haileybury, 1805–1813. Rector of Clapham, 1813–1843. Chancellor of diocese of Winchester, 1830–1845. Correspondent and friend of Thomas Allan, the Methodist connexional solicitor.
page 193 note 3 Henry Moore, superintendent, Bristol circuit, 1820–1823, while Sutcliffe was preacher.
page 193 note 4 William Constable (d. 1845), superintendent, Lane End (or Longton) circuit, 1828–1829. For a brief autobiography see M.C.A. MSS. W. Constable to Jabez Bunting, June 13, 1844.
page 195 note 1 John Shipman (1788–1853), superintendent, Lynn circuit, 1827–1829. Served 11 years in West Indies.
page 196 note 1 Watson, Richard, An affectionate address to those trustees, stewards, local preachers and leaders of the London (South) Circuit, whose names are affixed to certain resolutions (London, 1829)Google Scholar. Of this pamphlet Henry Moore remarked, ‘Mr. Watson has made one grand mistake. He has taken it for granted that men may be guided by argument’. M.C. A. MSS. R. Wood to Jabez Bunting, April 23, 1829.
page 196 note 2 Richard Treffry, senr., superintendent, London (Southwark) circuit, 1827–1829.
page 197 note 1 John Scott (1792–1868), superintendent, Liverpool North circuit, 1827–1830. President 1843, 1852. Principal of Normal Institution, Westminster, 1851–1867.
page 198 note 1 John Stephens.
page 198 note 2 Jacob Stanley, preacher, Dudley circuit, 1827–1830.
page 200 note 1 James Gill, superintendent, Northampton circuit, 1826–1829.
page 200 note 2 James Miller (d. 1853, aet. 60), superintendent, Newcastle-under-Lyme circuit, 1828–1830.
page 201 note 1 John Aikenhead (1768–1835), superintendent, Devonport circuit, 1826–1829.
page 201 note 2 For Bunting's attitude and his understanding that emancipation would be carried, see no. 130. Persistent reports from Irish Methodists about the evils of popery, and their own dangers and suffering (cf. no. 53 supra) built up considerable Protestant spirit in Methodism. Lord Eldon and the Protestant con-stitutionists were anxious for a demonstration by the Methodists, but, though in a minority of one on the Committee of Privileges, Bunting blocked any corporate action (M.C.A. Thos. Allan's MSS. Thos. Allan to Thomas R. Allan, March 9, March 19, April 25, 1829). A decade later he was in active alliance with the Merseyside Orangemen.
page 202 note 1 Matthew Tobias (1770–1845), one of the leading preachers and evangelists of the Irish Methodist Connexion.
page 203 note 1 In An expostulatory letter addressed to the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, assembled at Liverpool in July 1832, charging that body with maintaining and enforcing irrational and anti-scriptural dogmata as fundamental principles in their system of theology … (Liverpool, 1832) Samuel Tucker, an experienced Local Preacher in England and Ireland, declared that he had left the old connexion solely because of the aggressiveness of the preachers at Leeds. But he also held that Conference was infringing the freedom of speculative judgment which Wesley had guaranteed his preachers, by insisting on ‘the Unitrinitarian system, gratuitously but falsely styled “orthodoxy”, [which had]… driven thousands of upright men into the awful and destructive heresies of Sabellianism, Arianism, and Socinianism’. Op. cit., pp. ii, v.
page 204 note 1 Robert Newton, superintendent, Liverpool (South) circuit, 1826–1829.
page 204 note 2 George Marsden, superintendent, Bolton circuit, 1827–1830.
page 205 note 1 Leeds, 1829.
page 205 note 2 I.e. the address against disaffection adopted at the time of the Pentridge rebellion, February 6, 1817, and the resistance to Lord Sidmouth's bill to restrict the Toleration Act, 1811.
page 206 note 1 John Beecham (1797–1856), preacher, Liverpool (South) circuit, 1828–1831. President 1850.
page 206 note 2 The date is established by Bunting's reply, April 7, 1829, printed almost completely in Life of Bunting, ii, pp. 256–258.Google Scholar
page 206 note 3 See no. 93 supra.
page 207 note 1 At the Christmas Quarterly Meeting Beecham had stated the official view of the Methodist constitution in opposition to the radicals' emphasis on circuit rights. The manuscript referred to in this letter was a draft of a full-scale development of his speech, one of the first and most important statements of the high Wesleyan doctrine of the ministry, which he published soon afterwards, An essay on the constitution of Wesleyan Methodism (London, 1829)Google Scholar. As President, 1850–1851, Beecham bore responsibility for the stern enforcement of the doctrine it embodied, at a cost of the rapid loss of one-third of the membership.
page 207 note 2 Theophilus Lessey (d. 1841), superintendent, Stockport circuit, 1827–1829; Manchester (Grosvenor St.) circuit, 1829–1832.
page 207 note 3 Though disregarding this prayer for the most distinguished preachers in the connexion, conference appointed an experienced superintendent, Richard Treffry, senr., who came straight from his contests with the radicals in the London (Southwark) circuit, 1827–1829 (cf. nos. 140–143 infra.).
page 209 note 1 William Leach (d. 1846, aet. 67), preacher, Bristol circuit, 1828–9, superintendent, Bristol (Langton Street, circuit, 1829–1831.
page 209 note 2 The Bristol circuit was divided at this Conference.
page 209 note 3 Entwisle was succeeded in Bristol by ex-President Jonathan Edmondson.
page 209 note 4 The original Kingswood School near Bath was created by Wesley in 1740 for the education of colliers' children. The school here mentioned was an additional institution created in 1748 for the education of sons of itinerant preachers and other Methodists.
page 209 note 5 The age structure of the Wesleyan ministry had been greatly altered by the rapid recruitment of young men in the early years of the century. Bunting had risen to power by the support of the young men, their resentment at the caucus politics of some of the seniors (M.C.A. MSS. Joseph Entwisle to Jabez Bunting, June 2, 1809), and their exclusion from the Legal Hundred whose consent gave legal force to the work of Conference, and who elected the President and Secretary. In 1814, Bunting carried a proposal that every fourth vacancy in the Legal Hundred be filled by a preacher of only fourteen years standing, was immediately elected and installed Secretary of Conference. It had been complained at the Conference of 1820 that ‘we are coming under the government of rich men who think more of the young than the old preachers' (M.C.A. MS. Conference Journal 1820). In Bunting's later years irritation at the deadweight of seniority made itself felt again. Kelly, C. H., Memories (London, 1910), p. 171.Google Scholar
page 210 note 1 Lambeth circuit was separated from Southwark at the Conference im mediately following; the letter referred to has not survived.
page 210 note 2 Reply to the affectionate address of the Rev. R. W.‥, being a defence of the concessions and code of laws of 1797 and of the constitution of Wesleyan Methodism against the modern assumption of ministerial power (2nd edn., London, 1829).Google Scholar
page 211 note 1 John Stephens, President 1827–1828; superintendent, London (City Road) circuit, 1827–1829. He had been the first superintendent of the London (Southwark) circuit, 1822–1824. On the eight years' rule, see n. 1, p. 87 supra.
page 211 note 2 Timothy C. Ingle (1792–1851), preacher, London (Southwark) circuit, 1829–1831.
page 211 note 3 James Dixon (d. 1871), preacher, London (Southwark) circuit, 1828–1829, London (Lambeth) circuit, 1829–1830.
page 211 note 4 John Hodgson (d. 1853), superintendent, Wolverhampton circuit, 1828–1830.
page 212 note 1 The views here described seem to be akin to those which led to the expulsion of the ‘Derby Faith people’ in 1832, the loss of nearly half the membership of the Derby circuit, and the creation of a small new connexion of midland circuits. The practical upshot, renewed revivalism, was certainly the same. Cf. Macdonald, George Browne, Facts against fiction (2nd edn.Derby, 1832)Google Scholar; Hackett, J., Arminian Methodism miscalled ‘Derby Faith’ (Derby, n.d. [1832]).Google Scholar
page 213 note 1 David McNicoll, superintendent, London (Lambeth) circuit, 1829–1831.
page 213 note 2 A fourth preacher had been appointed to Southwark circuit in 1825, thus reducing the number of appointments for local preachers.
page 215 note 1 The 1829 Conference gave its view of the disputed constitutional issues in Minutes of the Methodist Conferences, vi, pp. 512–513.Google Scholar
page 215 note 2 This seems to be the anonymous pamphlet described in n. 2, p. 210.
page 216 note 1 James Gill, superintendent, London (Southwark) circuit, 1829–1831.
page 216 note 2 Grindrod had had much ill-health during his appointment at Leeds, and was now unable to vacate his manse so that Treffry could take up his new appointment.
page 225 note 1 Samuel Jackson, superintendent, Sheffield circuit, 1829–1831; Sheffield (Carver Street) circuit, 1831–1832.
page 226 note 1 Sheffield Park chapel, planned from 1827 and opened in 1831. At the 1831 Conference the Sheffield circuit was divided into the Carver Street and Norfolk Street circuits.