The spread of Primitive Methodism 1810 -1850

Following the River Trent (1810-1820)

The missionary pioneers of the Primitive Methodist movement journeyed from town to town, and village to village. In a ten year span from 1810 to 1820 they “missioned” towns and villages following the course of the River Trent, in the English Midlands from Stoke-on-Trent and going east via Nottingham towards the port city of Hull. In each place they formed Methodist societies and in due course they built chapels. The slideshow illustrates the spread of the movement county by county.


1. How does your garden grow?
2. Multiplication by budding
3. Multiplication by offshoots

What Dave had for Christmas

Yes, you guessed ...

A Primitive Methodist Centenary plate. It's over a hundred years old, and celebrates the movement's achievements from 1807 to 1907.

The inscription on the back of the plates reads as follows:



“What hath God wrought!”

Chapels & Preaching Places…. 4,905
Ministers …. 1,153
Local Preachers … 16,209
Church members … 210,173
Adherents … 607,682
Sunday Schools … 4209
Teachers … 61,275
Scholars …. 477,114
Value of property … £4,958,978

RD. No 491901
Royal semi porcelain
Manufactured by Wood & Sons, Burslem

In summary, by 1907, that's over 800,000 members and adherents, five thousand churches and nearly half a million scholars.

Primitive Methodist annual membership statistics (1820-1888)

The men and women of the Primitive Methodist movement turned their world upsidedown. The movement grew rapidly in the face of persecution by gangs of rabble rousers (the mob), and persecution by those in power who brought them before the magistrate. A number of their preachers were sent to jail. In spite of this opposition, or more likely, because of it, the gospel spread as lives were changed, chapels and class meetings established, and towns and villages were impacted. The statistics below represent one way to measure how effective this movement was.

These statistics are taken from the Annual Conference statistics reported by H B Kendall in the "History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion", chapter 7, “Sidelights on facts and figures”. The first Conference was held at Hull, in May 1820. At this conference, the state of the Connexion was reported to be as follows: - eight circuits, 48 travelling preachers; 277 local preachers; 7,842 members. The annual increase or decrease is then added to this base figure of 7842 members, to give the annual total membership.

The chart shows that the growth was linear and sustained for well over 70 years. The movement grew from 7842 members in 1820 to 194,010 members in 1888. Significant years are 1821, when the movement doubled in size, the mid 1820s when the movement was on the brink of catastophe because of renegade preachers who had joined the rapidly expanding movement, and 1833 when the cholera epidemic caused many deaths in the community. Rapid growth occurred in 1849-1850. The founding fathers of the movement, William Clowes and Hugh Bourne died in 1851 and 1852 respectively. The movement nearly doubled in size in the 36 years after the death of the founders.

Year	Conference	Total	Increase
1820	Hull	7842
1821	Tunstall	16394	8552
1822	Loughborough	25218	8824
1823	Leeds.	29472	4254
1824	Halifax	33507	4035
1825	Sunderland	33582	75
1826	Nottingham	33582	(no return) 0
1827	Manchester	33582	(no return) 0
1828	Tunstall	31685	-1897
1829	Scotter	33795	2110
1830	Hull	35808	2013
1831	Leicester	37489	1681
1832	Bradford	41674	4185
1833	Sunderland	48794	7120
1834	Birmingham	52391	3597
1835	Tunstall	57163	4772
1836	Lynn Regis	62820	5657
1837	Sheffield	65791	2971
1838	Darlaston.	68180	2389
1839	Bradford	70910	2730
1840	Manchester	74504	3594
1841	Reading	76481	1977
1842	Newcastle on Tyne	80029	3548
1843	Nottingham	86079	6050
1844	Lynn Regis	88919	2840
1845	Hull	88099	-820
1846	Tunstall	88500	401
1847	Halifax	89691	1191
1848	Leeds	92297	2606
1849	Sunderland	98453	6156
1850	Nottingham	107658	9205
1851	Yarmouth	111677	4019
1852	Sheffield	112880	1203
1853	York	111829	-1051
1854	Manchester	111709	-120
1855	Hull	109654	-2055
1856	Darlaston	112353	2699
1857	Cambridge	114479	2126
1858	Doncaster	120012	5533
1859	Newcastle on Tyne	127656	7644
1860	Tunstall	135907	8251
1861	Derby	139185	3278
1862	Sheffield	144976	5791
1863	Leeds	150372	5396
1864	York	152481	2109
1865	Hull	153091	610
1866	Chester	155204	2113
1867	Luton	158717	3513
1868	Sunderland	163565	4848
1869	Grimsby	163831	266
1870	Nottingham	164765	934
187l	Oldham	163891	-874
1872	Yarmouth	164108	217
1873	London	164067	-41
1874	Hull	164179	112
1875	Leicester	169239	5060
1876	Newcastle on Tyne	176324	7085
1877	Scarborough	180537	4213
1878	Manchester	182567	2030
1879	Leeds	182396	-171
1880	Grimsby	182210	-186
1881	Hull	184831	2621
1882	Sheffield	187200	2369
1883	South Shields	192351	5151
1884	Tunstall	192329	-22
1885	Reading	193516	1187
1886	Derby	192777	-739
1887	Scarborough	192798	21
1888	Liverpool	194010	1212

A movement of rapid growth

The Primitive Methodist movement grew rapidly and spread across England, Wales, Scotland, and later to North America, Australia and New Zealand. They started in 1810 with just 10 formal members.

By 1820 there were a total of 7842 members as reported at the first annual conference held in Hull. The statistics for the annual conferences from 1820 to 1888 show a linear growth rate to nearly 200,000 members by that year, with very rapid growth in the early years of the movement 1820 - 1822. In 1820, membership more than doubled from 7,842 to 16,394. Membership increased rapidly until 1825-1827 when there was a decline because of difficulties with leadership issues in Edinburgh and elsewhere, with problems brought about by undisciplined preachers who jumped on the bandwagon and caused dissension. These problems were resolved by 1828, when growth resumed.

The chart shows the linear growth in membership from 1820 – 1888, based on the yearly statistics reported in the annual conference.

A memorial to an amazing church planter

Hugh Bourne, the main founding father of the Primitive Methodist movement, died on Oct 11th, 1852 aged eighty years. More than sixteen thousand people (note that number!) lined the streets for the funeral procession between the town of Tunstall in North Staffordshire and the little village of Englesea Brook where he was buried.

At the funeral sermon, the Rev. W. Antcliff said this: “On the Cathedral of St. Paul’s in London, in honour of its illustrious architect, Sir Christopher Wren, there reads an inscription in Latin, the English of which is, ‘If you ask for his monument, look around.’ We appropriate the beautiful sentiment, and to all the inquirers for the monument of Hugh Bourne respond – ‘Look around!’

Look on the

five hundred and sixty (560) travelling preachers,

the nine thousand three hundred and fifty (9,350) local preachers,

the six thousand six hundred and thirty two (6,632) class leaders,

the five thousand three hundred and eighteen (5,318) chapels and other places of worship,

the one thousand four hundred and sixty three (1,463) Sabbath schools,

the twenty two thousand three hundred and ninety eight (22,398) gratuitous teachers,

the one hundred and eighteen thousand five hundred and eight (118,508) scholars,

and on the one hundred and nine thousand nine hundred and eighty four (109,984) members,

belonging to the Primitive Methodist Connexion, not forgetting those who have already gone home (in other words, those who have died) ….

If he has not left behind him wealth and worldly glory, he has left what will survive them”

How about that for a monument and a memorial to a man of God? Let us pray that God will raise up church planters in our day and generation who make such a large impact on our world for Christ and the gospel.



Quotations
“Memoirs of the Life and Labours of Hugh Bourne", Volume II, p380, republished by Tentmaker Publications 121 Hartshill Rd, Stoke-on-Trent (http://www.tentmaker.org.uk/)

Big trees from small seeds grow

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed” said Jesus. “Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32)

Here is how the Primitive Methodists grew to become a movement of 200, 000 members, 6000 churches and half a million Sunday School children in attendance each week:

• 1799 Hugh Bourne converted to Christ



• 1801 Hugh Bourne led Daniel Shubotham to Christ on Christmas Day 1801



• 1802 Hugh Bourne, Daniel and a friend, Matthias Bayley bring four coal miners to Christ



• 1802-1804 The four coal miners lead others to Christ – they become great “talkers” of the gospel



• 1804 A revival breaks out in the village of Harriseahead and they experience a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit



• 1807 This group of believers organise an open-air camp meeting. Thousands come from the surrounding localities to attend



• 1808 -1810 Hugh Bourne (1808), William Clowes (1810) and others expelled from the Wesleyan Methodists, for organising open-air camp meetings



• 1810 New movement formed. There are 35 formal members



• 1816 Open air camp meeting at Nottingham Forest, more than 12,000 present



• 1819 William Clowes, preacher, evangelist and missionary enters Hull and the movement expands rapidly in that region
  
  
• 1820 Movement grows to 8000 formal members



• 1852 Movement expands to 100,000 members and almost 10,000 preachers



• 1888 Nearly 200,000 members, 6000 churches and half a million Sunday school scholars, and 17,000 preachers. The movement spreads to England, Wales, Scotland, America, Australia and New Zealand