HISTORY OF METHODISM IN HUDDERSFIELD HOLMFIRTH, AND DENBY DALE. “V REV. JOEL MALLINSON. ‘*»%3%W~ Ennhnn: CHARLES H. KELLY, 2, CASTLE STREET, CITY RD., E.C.; AND 26, PATERNOSTER Row, E.c. : 8\9~8. IIAYMAN, CHRIST? AND LILLY, L'rn., |=|uv'r|-' ns=, IIA1"IO\‘ woax-, H3-H5, waannwooou non), Asu 20-2'2, 51'. Bums :'raR+'r, I:.c. 1270839 Ex F2 '7? we CONTENTS. /1415 ——o-@0 CHAP. PAGE I. VENN . II George III. — I-luddersfield—— Venn —— Extracts from Wesle .s ]outna1s—N etherthong—]ohn ]agger—William Grimshaw-— Birstall Circuit—- Almondbury— William Darney ~Vicar of Sandal — Robert Roberts — Abraham Moss — " Reek0em ”—Bank Chapel—Th0rnas Goldthorpe —Lock wood — Honley — john Atlay — Thomas Haigh — Farnley Tyas. II. SHELLEY BANK AND HUDDERSFIELD . 30 Shelley Bank —— Clayton West — Emley—Thurlstone— I-Iardingley—Cumberworth—Lindley—Longwood House Kirkburton — Village Preaching — Revival — Holmfirth — Huddersfield a Cireuit—Class Meeting —Wesley’s Death Bishop Sugden—]oseph Thornton—Timothy Bentley Alexander Kilha1n—Statistics. III. THE OLD BANK CHAPEL . 50 Highfield and Moss- Linthwaite—Court of Chancery Restoration of Bank Chapel—Sundayj School—Alm0ndbury —]ohn Haunah—Benjamin Cocker—Huddersfield Society —Queen Street Chapel—Robert Newton—George Wilson Outlane — Butterworth Broadbent— Revival — Holmfirth a Circuit—Luddites—Linthwaite—S uire Brooke—Three Sykes —Samuel Dyson—Abraham As t0n—] ohn Walker— Benjamin Lockwood. IV. DENBY DALE . 71 Denb Dale—Penistone—John Wood, Sen.~ Cowms and Kir burton——D. Stoner~General Revival—Skelman thorpe—]oseph, ohn, and Richard Field—Slaithwaite— {ohn and Char es Wilkinson— osegh I-Iaigh—Prayer eaders0 Plan—]oseph Bower— irk eaton, Dalton and U perheaton —An Old Man Saved—William Medley A raham Mellor—Deadmanstone—George Atha—Thomas Seymour — Longwood — John Broadbent — Marsden — 'Willlam Shaw —William Schofield—U setting of a Coach —Holmfirth—Queen Street Chape1—]o n Bowers—I-lonley Chapel. SQUIRE BROOKE . 93 Squire Brooke — lngbirchworth — Cowms — Hannah, Farrar, and Bunting—Robert ]ackson— oseph Newsome— The Bank Chapel— Buxton Road C apel— Revival at Thurstonland — James Hobson — Clayton West— Robert Wood — Dr. George Sargent — Abraham Moss— Samuel Simpson—Pontey Chapel—Great Revival and Caughey Buxton Road becomes a Circuit— Lockwood—Cr0sland Moor — Skelmanthorpe — Reform Agitation — Evangelical Alliance—Dr. Adam Clarke. CONTENTS. CHAR PAGE VI. STORR AND CAUGHEY . 118 Decrease of Membershi — Lockwood—Kirkburton— Hinchllfle Mill—I-lolmfirth %lood— Deadmanstone—]ohn H. Faull—Can' and McAulay— Queen Street—]ohn Starr N;thert0n—Gervase Smith—]ames Caughey—Jobson and ot ers. VII. HOLMFIRTH . 131 Llndle(y——Holmfirth—Meltham—]ames Dyson—Samuel Lockwoo — “ Old Sackey " - Samuel Lees — William Dawson—Crosland Moor—“ Old Zacchy”—Queen Street Young Men0s Classes—Tablets in ueen Street Chapel L0ckwood— ames Loutit—]ohn S. orkman—]ohn Wood, B.A.——]ohn . Lord—Richard Roberts—Richarcl Green VIII. I James Nance and others BUXTON Row . 146 Burton Road Scl1ool—Curnock, Martin, and Kenyon— Lockwood—Thorpe—S1aithwaite Sch00l—Sir Isaac Holden —Marsden—Rebecca Shaw—] oseph I-lolroyd—MaryHelme. IX. ‘ LONGWOOD . 158 Longwood School and Chapel—Butterworth Broadbent— Honle —Paddock—Mary Howe—l-lannah Brown—Holm firth ircuit—Young Men0s Missionary Meetlng—Rowley Hlll—Alderman Henry Butterwoi-th,].P —Charlotte S kes— George Sykes—Conference Address—George Clegg— oore Sykes—Lay Representatlon—George Dickens0n—W. O. Simpson—Hinchlifl0e Mill School—Far Town—Richard Brown—Centenaryof Sunday Schools—Elizabeth Mallinson —Deed of Declaration— Mount—Me1tham—George Brooke, Esq., ] P.—Farnley Tyas—George Malllns0n—]ames Clegg. EXTENSION or METnoD1sM . .189 Marsh—Division of Circuits - Gledl1olt—T. Inglis Walsh —Gledho1t Chapel ~ Milnsbridge—Lindle —Crosland Hill — Netherthong — James djagger and ot ers — Cowms — Worthles—Kew I-llll—Pa dock—Berry Brow—]. Gibson H0nley—Methodist Council -- Census—Cawthorne— Ing birchworth — Wesley Guild — Almondbury — Upperheaton —Thornton Lodge - Skelmanthorpe. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. REV. JOEL MALLINsoN (Front1's_;>z'ecz} PAGE NETHERTHONGMR. GEoRcE GELDER CHAPEL 14 HousE IN WHICH THE FIRST METHODIST SERMoN PREACHED BY J0HN MURLIN I8 SHELLEYScENE OF BANK THE RIoT NEW CoNNExI0N CHAPEL I9 31 INscRIPTIoN 0N THE WINDOW PANE 33 HousE AT LINDLEY WHERE SIR WILLIAM HENRY BRQADBENT PONTEYWEsLEYANST.LINTHWAITEABRAHAMLATE JoHN0s wAs BIsHOP CHAPEL BORN... Moss CHAPEL, CHAPEL, CHAPEL, SUGDEN DENBY ALMONDBURY HuI)DERsFIEI_D DALE... " 43 51 66 72 74 ScENE OF THE COAcH ACCIDENT 88 HQNLEY MO0R 93 SQUIREBUXTON BROOKE R0AD CHAPEL, HUDDERSFIELI)... 94 I 02 THE COTTAGE IN wHIcH ABRAHAM Moss LIVED AND DIED I07 WEsLEYAN CHAPEL, KIRI<B uRToN... I09 HOLMFIRTHQUEEN STREET CHAPEL... CHAPEL, HuDDERsEIELD I32 139 THE OLD SLAITHWAITE GRAMMAR ScHooL 153 GLEDHOLT CHAPEL, HUDDERSFIELI) I95 PREFACE. —m— THIS history was undertaken at the request of the Huddersfield Wesleyan Methodist Council. To all who have in any way helped in its preparation I tender hearty thanks. Mr. George Gelder and others have furnished valuable information. The illustrations are through the kindness of the Rev. Nehemiah Curnock. It has been a work of love to fix in affectionate remembrance sainted names eminent for sanctity, zeal, and service. Short biogra phical sketches of many others no longer of the church militant would have been given, had they been communicated. There is, for prudential reasons, the omission of names that survive. These continue to speak by their unremitting zeal and unabated love of Methodism. It is hoped the book will have an appreciative reading and a beneficent mission. Sunday School Committees would extend its circu lation, and encourage in young people a love for the Church of their fathers, by making it a reward book to the scholars. It is peculiarly suitable for presenta tion in Sunday Schools of the Huddersfield, Holm forth, and Denby Dale Circuits. ]01:L MALLINSON. Glenside, Huddersfield, }'auua1'y, I898. M‘ ‘t ,0)’, 1 I ;~‘{\ I; b; = A ,4’ ' ' ‘g 0 1 -4 A HISTORY OF METHODISM IN HUDDERSFIELD. HOLMFIRTH, & DENBY DALE. CHAPTER I. VENN. HE rise and progress of Methodism was the most important ecclesiastical fact of the eighteenth century. History and tradition testify that, next to Whitefield, John Wesley was the most illustrious of preachers of that age. The opinion of George III. of Wesley and the Methodists was of the highest. The king, once passing a Methodist meeting-house surrounded by a tumultuous rabble, said: “The Methodists are a quiet, good people, and will disturb nobody. Any persons in my employment disturbing them shall be immediately dismissed.” In June, 1757, the Rev. John Wesley rode over from Halifax to Huddersfield, and records in hisjournal : “A wilder people I never saw in England. The men, women, and children filled the streets and appeared just ready to devour us.” Huddersfield was then an insignificant village, IX I2 METHODISM IN HUDDERSFIELD, and the villagers, as elsewhere, were given to pugilistic contests, bull-baiting, intemperance, and dissipation. In his IVal,€,s about Hudder.g/ield Mr. Phillips says, “The people were degraded and wild in their manners almost to savagery.” Mr. Wesley took the oppor tunity of preaching to “the wildest congregation he had seen in Yorkshire, and believed some felt the sharpness of the Word, while all were restrained by an unseen hand.” The visit and preaching of Wesley, and repeated rumours of the doings of Methodists in Leeds and elsewhere, awakened no small amount of interest. The names of John Nelson, of Birstall, and William Shent, of Leeds, were already familiar. The story of Nelson’s conversion, through Wesley’s instrumentality, had a great fascination for the West Riding rustics, and those seriously disposed ever wel comed his presence and preaching. Already from Netherthong, Honley, and Almondbury journeys to Birstall, to hear the converted stonemason and other kindred spirits, had been taken ; and tidings were circulated which roused curiosity and provoked admiration. By day at the loom or on the farm, and by night around the cottage hearth, the con versation turned to the people called Methodists, and to the doctrine of justification by Faith they persistently preached. Here one and there another wrestled with the Angel, as Jacob by the brook Jabbok, until they could speak of sin forgiven. In 1759 the Rev. Henry Venn, an evangelical and faithful minister of Christ, became the vicar of Hud dersfield. He came from the curacy of Clapham, where his character and preaching had produced HOLMFIRTH, AND DENBY DALE. I3 profound effects. For ten years his ministry in Huddersfield attracted hearers for miles round. A new impulse was given to religious life, and a new era dawned on the people. Venn never officiated at a fireless altar, and never preached soulless sermons. It is related that a neighbouring clergyman, lamenting his failure as a preacher, was advised by Mr. Venn “to burn all his old sermons, and try what preaching Christ would do.” Between Wesley and Venn a true affection arose. They were like-minded. The pulpit of the parish church was readily placed at the dis posal of Wesley when he visited Huddersfield. Several entries in Wesley’s Journals clearly indicate the friendship and fervour of Mr. Venn. “April 25, I 761, I took horse early, and breakfasted with Mr. Venn. 1761, July 24. From Bramley I rode to Kippax. Mr. Venn came a little after we had gone into church. I764, July 6. Preached at Halifax, where I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Venn, with whom in the morning I rode to Huddersfield and preached between eleven and twelve. The church was pretty well filled, considering the short warning. 1765, August 14. Preached in the evening at Leeds; next morning in Huddersfield, Mr. Venn having given notice on the Sunday of my preaching. I766, August 8th. Rode over to Huddersfield. The church, though large, was exceedingly hot through the multitude of people, on whom I enforced Paul’s words, ‘God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord jesus Christ,’ etc. I774, April I7. I came into the church at Huddersfield while the vicar was reading the Psalms.