Thomas Wride and Wesley's Methodist Connexion

Abstract

‘His singularities of spirit and manners prevented him from being [as] acceptable and useful as he otherwise might have been’ (Wride's obituary in the Methodist Magazine). Thomas Wride is not one of Wesley's preachers anyone would expect a modern biographer to choose. He does not appear in Thomas Jackson's Early Methodist Preachers. Neither Charles Atmore's Methodist Memorial nor the printed version of John Vickers's Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland mentions him. Yet Clive Norris, whose book on Methodist finance in the eighteenth century remains the standard work, has found much more material than this reviewer had realized was available and has used it to produce a portrait of a preacher who served Wesley and whom Wesley seems to have valued, despite Wride's failure to get on well with his fellow preachers. He also has produced a picture of the Methodist connexion in the later eighteenth century, with useful sketches of Irish circuits, of how a supernumerary preacher managed in York in his old age, and how Wesley supervised and encouraged his itinerant preachers, maintaining good relations even with one of the more difficult and prickly among them.The sizeable cache of documents in the John Rylands Library written by Wride has been well known for some time, though usually dismissed as long-winded, sometimes both confused and confusing, and often doggerel with some poetry. Norris worked out that some of the confusion was caused by Wride using a blind ‘in case it be seen by any one not concerned’. Norris prints an illustration to show how it worked, and so has brought order to much of the more confusing material. He also has discovered a similar store in the United States at Duke University and brings it all together. Norris used material from other Itinerants of the time, such as John Cricket, to illuminate Wride's relatively long stay in Ireland. A useful appendix lists extant letters between Wesley and Wride.This book is an excellent description of Wride, based on deep study of the documents. Wride married late, with Wesley's (possibly reluctant) permission, and one of the strengths of the book is its summary of the love relationship, which this certainly was (though Jenny was as unpopular in Wride's circuits as he could be) and the problems faced by preachers' wives as well as the preachers within Methodism. Wride began life in Salisbury in 1733, and entered the itinerancy in 1768, late for the eighteenth century. By 1770 he was the Assistant in Whitehaven, a new circuit with few members, which included the Isle of Man. Norris describes Wride's attitude to revival. He shows how complex was his relationship with Wesley, who was very patient with him, telling him to be ‘mild’.Norris has chapters on Wride as physician (common among Wesley's preachers who were imitating the great man), Wride's personal and professional networks (mostly about Wride's quarrels with other preachers), and on Wesley, Wride, and the marketplace of (mostly religious) ideas. In the last he shows Wride's independence of Wesley. In Norwich Wride was suspicious of a Baptist called John Hunt, who was offering help, but Wesley thought Hunt would be useful and moved Wride away. There is an interesting chapter on the growing pains of the Connexion. This includes such topics as money and horses, both of which were a problem for preachers like Wride. There is an intriguing insight on the slowness by which Methodism's central grants might reach their intended target, a criticism that could be levelled today also. In November 1772 Wride reported to Wesley from Newry that the grant to the circuit to cover debt of £6 and a halfpenny had still not arrived, though Conference had met on 4 August. Wride also followed Wesley's rules on hymn-singing, much to the distaste of many of his congregations who wanted more hymns. In 1780 Wesley and Conference made Wride leave the itinerancy, accusing him of not taking his duties as Assistant seriously, of ‘drollery’ (his language was sometimes unacceptable), that he was ‘light and trifling’ in manner, and that he was ‘slothful’. Norris assesses the charges and in general finds him not guilty, except of failing to work well with his fellow itinerants. Wesley was lenient and allowed him back in ‘on Trial’ in 1782.This is an important book that all historians of Methodism in the eighteenth century should read and ponder. It illustrates the importance of the ordinary preacher who kept the Methodist system going and expanded the circuits' sphere of influence with great success, despite their own personal failings and limitations. It also shows how the Methodist connexional system, once created by Wesley, was moving beyond the control even of its founder, who could visit each area only once a year.