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ANNALS
OF THE
CHURCH IN SLAITHWAITE,
(NEAR HUDDERSFIELD),
WEST-RIDING OF YORKSHIRE,
From 1593 to 1864,
IN FIVE LECTURES,
WITH A CONTINUATION AND NOTES.
BY CHARLES AUGUSTUS HULBERT, M.A.,
PERPETUAL CURATE OF SLAITHWAITE-CUM-LINGARDS,
AUTHOR OF THE “GOSPEL REVEALED TO JOB.”
“This Shall be written for the generation to come,
And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.”
Psalm eii. 18.
LONDON :
LONGMAN & 00.
HUDDERSFIELD: JOSEPH BROOK.
1864.
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TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
WILLIAM WALTER,
FIFTH EARL OF DARTMOUTH,
LORD VISCOUNT LEWISHAM, ETC., ETC., WHO, AS LORD OF THE MANOR OF SLAITHWAITE-CUM-LINGARDS,
HAS SUCCEEDED TO A LONG LINE OF ANCESTRY IN THE SUPPORT OF THE CHURCH,
WITHIN THAT THEIR ANCIENT DOMAIN, THESE ANNALS ARE, WITH PERMISSION,
RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The ancient and populous Chapelry of Slaithwaite, or Slaugh- waite, situated chiefly within the extensive Parish of Huddersfield, but lying on either side of a romantic valley, from four to six miles east of that town, has been long remarkable for its succession of pious ministers, — and, of late years, for its Mineral Baths.
The Yorkshire reader will not fail to add, with a smile — for its famous half moon ! The version of the tradition deemed most authentic, represents a boy from Slaithwaite as spending the day at York, in admiration of many things in the Metropolitan City of the North, so different from what he had seen at home ; but when night came he exclaimed — “ Well ! if there is not our Old Slaughwaite Half Moon ! ” Dr. Chalmers relates a similar story of a man whom he engaged to drive him from Huddersfield to the roman¬ tic parts of Derbyshire, and whose constant surprise
PREFACE.
Viii.
was excited by scenes so different from anything “ in all Huddersfield.”
There is, however, a moral in the story which is not without its bearing on the present volume. The Moon is the Scriptural symbol of the Church, as a light-bearer, and as reflecting the glory of the Sun of Righteousness, and surely “ the Church of our Fathers,” in her Doctrine and Liturgy, fairly repre¬ sents that secondary splendour. The Churchman in his wanderings through his native land, rejoices to find, amidst the diversities of men’s minds and man¬ ners, the same blessed luminary in every parish, although shining with greater or less brilliancy. The Author of this volume deems it a privilege to have ministered for a quarter of a century, where that light had been so purely diffused for so many generations. May these “Annals” tend to foster — not a worldly Churchmanship, — but the growth of that simple and Evangelical piety, which owns Christ crucified as the Sun and centre of its system, and the Church as the Moon at his feet : that faith which is the work of the Spirit, which itself worketh by love and overcometh the world.
PREFACE.
IX.
The name of Slaughwaite — derived from the sloe tree — also refers to its once woody character. Hence, combining these two allusions, the device in front of this preface represents the moon rising out of a thicket, with the words 11 E Luco Lux ” (Out of the grove light), invented at the request of the Slaith waite Gas Light Company, for their seal and motto. The traveller by night along the London and North Western Eailway from Huddersfield to Manchester, may observe that, alone of all the villages in the valley, the street and road lamps of Slaithwaite cast their beams on all the surrounding country. Even so have the various Spiritual and Educational lights kindled in our midst, shed their benignant rays on those portions of the population which were not equally blest with the light of the Established Church.
The, Mineral Springs and Baths, with the lovely gardens in which they are embosomed, augment the remarkable salubrity of the district: to which salubrity Dr. Aikin bore testimony seventy years ago, in his “ Description of the Country thirty or forty miles round Manchester, 1793.’ * After describing Hudders¬ field, he adds : —
X.
PREFACE.
“The Chapelry of Slaughwaite in this parish, which equally partakes of the increased population from trade, has afforded the following list of births and deaths, — 1784 — Christenings, 124; Burials, 53. 1785 — Christenings, 135 ; Burials, 29. 1786 — Chris¬ tenings, 140 ; Burials, 49. 1787 — Christenings, 140 ; Burials 90. 1788 — Christenings, 153: Burials, 37. From this table a very favourable idea may be deduced of the healthiness of this district, and the advantages it offers for the increase of the human species. These chiefly proceed from the comparative healthiness of a manufacture carried on in rural situations, and at the workmen’s own houses ; from the plenty of employ and high price of labour encouraging to early matrimony ; and from the warm clothing, good fare, and abundant fuel enjoyed by the industrious in this place.”
Although several Woollen and Cotton Manufac¬ tories now exist, and the population of the district has increased to about 5,000, yet this description of domestic employment, connected with small farms, continues to apply, and with it much of patriarchal manners and thought.
PREFACE.
xi.
In the days of Stage Coaches, ten passed through the village daily; but the Eailway opened in 1849 has, however, more rapidly introduced modern refine¬ ments, and at the same time the deteriorating influ¬ ence of less simple pleasures.
The Sabbath is less hallowed by attendance in God’s House, although great order prevails without. Facilities are now being given for building: and as our youth in large numbers, trained up in our Schools, diffuse themselves over the country, we trust others attracted by the advantages afforded, may supply their places, whilst they carry intelligence and moral influence abroad. About forty Schoolmasters and Mistresses have been sent forth since thp opening of our National School in 1835 ; and they have all been taught those religious principles which, under the grace of God, will render them a blessing wherever they labour.
In all the departments of professional and com¬ mercial life we have our offshoots. To our eminent native artist, Mr. Jabez E. Mayall, of London, this Work owes the contribution of the photographic por-
Xll.
PREFACE.
trait of tlie Author. For the view of Slaithwaite Church and Schools, he is indebted to his former pupil, Mr. Albert Willan, B. A., of Caius College, Cam¬ bridge : and to the late Mrs. Dyson, of Huddersfield, for the opportunity of copying the profile of her uncle, the Bev. Thomas Wilson. The wall in front of the view represents part of the ancient Chapel, still hallowed by the graves of Mr. Meeke and other venerable persons. The Author is also indebted to various other friends for the information supplied; but chiefly to the manuscripts of the former Ministers. In printing the Lectures delivered in his National School, in the spring of 1863, and the two Decenial Beports, nearly in their original form, he has been actuated by a desire to retain that freedom of style with which he addressed his own parishioners, rather than any for¬ mal condensation for the sake of general readers. The impatience expressed by many of the former for the publication, which has been unavoidably delayed, is the best assurance that the subject has awakened a lively interest in their minds. Some whom the Author wished thus to gratify, have themselves become matter of history; but they are added to the number of “the Spirits of just men made perfect.”
PREFACE.
xiii.
Of the succession of holy men, whose memoirs form the most important part of this volume, it may be said in the language of the Son of Sirach, “ All these were honoured in their generation, and were the glory of their times. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore. The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will shew forth their praise.” — Ecclesiasticus xliv. 7, 14 & 15.
The picturesque scenery, the Keservoir, the various Schools, would have invited to further description and illustration, but the design of the present work is not topographical, but religious; and it would have increased the expense and thereby defeated the object — which is, to perpetuate among the humble and pious people of this country the relics of their former pastors, and at the same time to testify that Christ has never been absent from the Church of these realms ; but that He has been “ found in the fields of the wood” “ that dwelt in the bush.” Psalm cxxxii. 6., Deut. xxxiii. 16. — In Luco Lux.
C. A. H.
Slaithwaite, June 7th, 1864.
THE BRITISH CHURCH.
I joy, deare Mother, when I view. Thy perfedl lineaments, and hue
Both fweet and bright;
Beautie in thee takes up her place.
And dates her letters from thy face. When fhe doth write.
A fine afpeft in fit array.
Neither too mean, nor yet too gay. Shows who is beft:
Outlandifh looks may not compare;
For all they either painted are.
Or elfe undreft.
******
But, deareft Mother, (what thofe miffe) The mean thy praife and glory is.
And long may be.
BlefTed be God, whofe love it was fo double-moat thee with his grace. And none but thee.
George Herbert.
CONTENTS.
LECTURE I.
Introduction.— Early History : 1593 to 1685.— Incumbency of the Rev. Robert Meeke, 1685 to 1724.
Clothing district early favoured with faithful Ministers — Arch¬ bishop Grindal’s letter to Queen Elizabeth — Valley of the Colne — Descent of the Earl of Dartmouth — Family of Kaye — Dooms¬ day book — Etymology of Golcar, Lingards, and Slaithwaite — Dr. Walker — Dewsbury Parish Church — Crosses at Slaithwaite, Golcar, Woodhouse, and Deanhead — Ancient Chapel repaired — Sir John Kaye — Parliamentary survey — Baptisms and burials — Dark age of the Church — Revival of religion — Succession of Ministers — -Church of our Fathers — Rev. Robert Meeke, 1685 to 1724 — William Meeke — Salford Chapel — JEneas Bottomley — Extracts from Mr. Meeke’s diary — Old burial place — Free School — Sermon of Mr. Meeke — Lists of Archbishops of York and Bishops of Ripon. Pages 12 to 38.
Appendix No. I.
Manors in Doomday book — Lingards and Linthwaite parlia¬ mentary writs — Tyas family — Law suit for Slaithwaite, in Henry VIII.’s time — Lawton’s Notices of Slaithwaite — Mr. Meeke’s endowment deed and will — Register of birth. Pages 39 to 44.
LECTURE II.
The Rev. John Sutcliffe, Incumbent, 1724 to 1727.— Rev. Joseph Thorns, 1727 to 1760.— Rev. John Murgatroyd, Schoolmaster, 1738 to 1786. — Occasional Ministers, to 1806.
Edmund Bothomley — Elegy on the Rev. John Sutcliffe, by Mr. Boulton — Rev. Joseph Thoms’s sermons — Renewal of trust deeds — Death of Mr. Thoms — Rev. John Murgatroyd : extracts from
xvi.
CONTENTS.
his manuscripts ; Chinches supplied ; inscriptions on his house and school ; persecution at Marsden ; resignation, death, and burial ; extract from his diary. Pages 45 to 60.
Appendix No. II.
Presentation to Archdeacon, by John Eagland, of Mr. Thoms and others — Slaithwaite Free School, copy of second endowment deed — Messrs. Walker and others — Mrs. Dorothy Walker — Graduation of Ministers. Pages 61 to 65.
LECTURE III.
The Revival of Religion. — Rev. Henry Venn. — Rev. Samuel Furly, B.A., Incumbent, 1761 to 1767.— Rev. Matthew Powley, M.A., Incumbent, 1767 to 1777. — Their subsequent Memoirs.
Infidelity prevailing — The Wesleys — Rev. Benjamin Ingham — Dr. Conyers — Rev. William Grimshaw and Isaac Smith, Haworth — Countess of Huntingdon — William, second Earl of Dartmouth — Cowper’s lines — James Hall, Golcar — Longwood Chapel — Elland Society — Rev. Samuel Furly : successful minis¬ try ; enlargement of Chapel ; pastoral address ; opposition ; letter of Archbishop of York ; removal to St. Roche ; letter to Mr. Joseph Mellor — Extract from Memoirs of the Countess of Hun¬ tingdon ; visit of her Ladyship to Slaithwaite — Obituary in the Evangelical Magazine — Rev. Matthew Powley : preaching in the Burial Ground ; great floods ; reading the Articles ; removal to Dewsbury ; traditional account ; monument — Extract from Mr. Venn’s life — Life of the Countess of Huntingdon— Family of Unwin — Account of Mr. Powley in the “ Life of the Rev. John Buckworth” — Mrs. Powley’s monument. Pages 66 to 97.
Appendix No. III.
William, second Earl of Dartmouth — Elland Society — Lay and Clerical contributors — Memorial to Rev. Henry Venn — Rev. Matthew Powley, extracts from registers, &c. Pages 98 to 100.
LECTURE IV.
The Rev. Thomas Wilson, Curate and Incumbent, 1777 to 1809. — Rev. Walter Smith, Curate, 1789 and 1790.— Rev. William Roberts, Curate, 1805 to 1810.
CONTENTS.
Mr. Wilson’s first coming — Difficulties respecting rebuilding the Chapel — Spiritual success : Sunday School begun — New Church built — Trustees — Unity and conformity — Pews — Parsonage house — Queen Anne’s bounty — Great distress — Rev. Walter Smith — Origin of Dissent inSlaithwaite — Powle Moor Chapel — Providence Chapel — Death of Mrs. Wilson — Death of Mr. Wilson : character and style ; anecdote ; burial ; inscription on tombstone ; sermon for Church Missionary Society — Memoir by Rev. W. Roberts, in Cottage Magazine — Obituary by Rev. Walter Smith. Pages 101 to 129.
Appendix No. 1 V.
Powle Chapel: Ministers — Great scarcity — Rev. Walter Smith : obituary and tombstone — Rev. William Roberts — Registers — Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Roberts — Rev. Samuel Longhurst, and other Ministers of Linthwaite. Pages 129 to 132.
LECTURE V.
The Rev. Charles Chew, Incumbent, 1810 to 1818.— Rev. Samuel Walter, Curate, 1815 to 1818; Incumbent, 1818 to 1823. — Rev. Thomas Jackson, Incumbent, 1823 to 1839.
Mr. Chew’s previous history — Rev. E. Parkin, W. Hanbury, and W. Harding — Removal of Sunday School — Appointment of George Mellor — Weekly meetings of communicants — Resignation — Rev. Legh Richmond : sermon at Slaith waite — Rev. J. Wesley on female preaching — Hoylehouse Methodist Chapel — Church tower raised — Rev. Samuel Walter — Note from funeral sermon by Rev. H. J. Maddock — Revs. John Eyton, William Morgan and Patrick Bronte — Mr. Walter’s long sermons at Huddersfield — Family — Distribution of tracts — Tombstones at Madely and Slaithwaite — Rev. Thomas Jackson : appointment by Rev. John Coates ; selection of hymns ; trouble with Organist ; marriage ; failure of health ; Curates ; officiating Ministers ; graduation at Cambridge; Incumbents of Golcar — Rev. James Lacy — Sunday School remodelled — National School commenced — Discipline — New road — Public baths — Preparatory School — School at Cophill — Ministers of Linthwaite : Rev. N. Padweck and Dr. Wolff — Centenary Chapel — Wm. Bamforth — Anecdotes — Samuel Wood — John Lawson Varley — James Roberts — James Sykes — First confirmation — Mr. Jackson’s death, gravestone, and monument. Pages 133 to 162.
xvm.
CONTENTS.
Appendix No. V.
Church Missionary Society — Preachers and collections — Rev. John Coates — Rev. William Robinson — Rev. Thomas Jackson : further particulars — St. John’s Church, Golcar — Dates of Minis¬ ters — Linth waite Hall — Clerical scholars of Slaith waite School — Rev. James Dransfield, James Quarmby, Joseph and John Dransfield — Sunday Schools — Organ — William Whitacre, Esq.— Extracts from Churchwardens' accounts. Pages 163 to 168.
CONTINUATION.
Rev. C. A. Hulbert, Incumbent, 1839 to 1864.
Reception on coming — Previous ministry at Islington — Visit of the Earl of Dartmouth — House of residence improved.
First Decennial Report. — Sunday School reformed — Cottage lectures — Lending library — School at Holthead — Erection of National School : opening, bazaar, inspection — Second confirma¬ tion — Free School rebuilt and restored — O’ Cot Chapel bought and removed — Upper Slaithwaite School and Licensed Chapel — Mechanics Institution — District Visiting Society — Maternal Society — Clothing Club — Spade Husbandry Association — Prac¬ tical observations. Pages 169 to 184.
Second Decennial Report, 1850 to 1859. — Retrospect — Annual School Sermons — Fifth confirmation — Rev. T. H. Wat¬ son — Young Men’s Classes — Illness — Lectures on Job — New Schoolhouse at Lingards — Foundation and opening — Infidel pub¬ lications — Mormonism — Holmfirth Flood — Improvement of organ — Sixth confirmation — Ordination sermon — Death of the Earl of Dartmouth — Memorial window — New chancel erected by bis son — Antechapel — License to marry — New Burial Ground — Free School suspended — Rebuilding of Farmhouse — Gas Company — Widows’ cottages — Free School : new scheme for management — Visit of the Earl and Countess of Dartmouth— Opening of the Infant School — West Slaithwaite School : laying of first stone — Opening of the Meeke and Walker’s Institution — Great meeting of Sunday Schools on Whit-Monday, 1855 — Bishop Bickersteth: first sermon at Slaithwaite — Eighth confirmation — Church Mis¬ sionary Society — District Visiting Society — Legal provision for the Minister— Concluding observations — State of the Schools, 1860. Pages- 185 to 205.
CONTENTS.
xix.
CONCLUSION.
Retrospect op the Sears 1860 to 1864. — Biographical Notices.
West Slaithwaite School completed— Psalmody — Rifle Volun- teers — Ninth confirmation — Annual sermons and collection — Marriage of Prince and Princess of Wales — Indisposition of Author — John Schofield — John Varley — Richard Varley — Robert Wood — Joseph Mellor — James Bamforth, Birks — Joshua Bamford, Slacks — Samuel Sykes — George Mellor — James Bam¬ forth, Holme — Thomas Haigh, Colnebridge — John Roberts — William Dean — William, fourth Earl of Dartmouth : letter to the Author — Frederick Thynne, Esq. — Spade Husbandry Meet¬ ings — Assistant Curates : Rev. Charles Brumell, Cutfield Ward- roper, Thomas Henry Watson, Stephen Pering Dampen, William Henry Girling, William Callis, John Teague Green way, William Gray Gilchrist, and E. G. Charlesworth — Rev. J oseph Hughes : character and death — Visits of Bishops Longley and Bickerstetk — Conclusion.
Appendix No. VI.
Frederick Thynne, Esq. : extract from speech — Benefac¬ tion Boards and Inscriptions — Clock — Slaithwaite Church and Curacy — School Terrace — Old Free School — National School- house — Upper Slaithwaite School — Lingards School — West Slaithwaite School.
Obituary : Members of the District Visiting Society ; other venerable inhabitants ; Providence Chapel; James Hall, Golcar ; Rev. W. C. Madden ; Dr. Edmund Smith ; Messrs. D. and Ca Evans. Pages 229 to 244.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait and Autograph of the Author . . .
Vignette and Motto .
Profile of the Rev. Thomas Wilson .
View of Slaithwaite Church, Free School, and National School .
To front the Title.
,, the Preface.
„ page 114.
„ page 169.
SLAITHWA1TE CHUKCH ANNALS.
LECTUEB I.
Introduction — Early History, 1593 to 1685 — Incumbency of the Eey. Eobert Meeke, 1685 to 1724.
The Church of England has not, we believe, in the worst and darkest times, wanted able and holy Ministers, who in the remote valleys of our land, have kept alive the lamp of gospel light. Perhaps this is especially the case in the Northern Counties, whence many of the eminent Eeformers of our Church arose; who first adorned the Universities with their learning, and afterwards, devoting it to the glory of God, were the valiant defenders of the faith.
The immense parish of Halifax — in area exceeding the County of Eutland — and the clothing district around it, were highly favoured with faithful Ministers in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Archbishop Grindal,
14
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
writing to that illustrious Princess in defence of the practice of preaehing, in the year 1576, reminds her that the rebellion, which had recently been suppressed in the North, was occasioned “ through papistry and ignorance of God’s word, through want of often preaching ! And in the time of that rebellion” he says, “ were not all men of all states, that made profession of the gospel, most ready to offer their lives in your defence ? In so much that one poor parish in York¬ shire, which by continual preaching had been better instructed than the rest (Halifax I mean) was ready to bring three or four thousand able men into the field to serve you against the said rebels. How can your Majesty have a more lively trial and experience of the contrary effects of much preaching, and of little or no preaching? The one working most faithful obedience, and the other most unnatural disobedience and rebellion.” In the same letter, the Archbishop declares that “ Public and continual preaching of God’s word is the ordinary means and instrument of the Salvation of Mankind.”* “I myself,” he adds, “ procured above forty learned preachers and graduates within less than six years to be placed within the Diocese of York besides those I found there.”
We must, however, confine ourselves to one of the remoter ramifications of this fruitful vine — the Valley of Slaithwaite, running for about seven miles from
* See the “ Remains of Edmund Grindal, D.D., successively Bishop of London, and Archbishop of York and Canterbury.” — Parker Society Edition, 1843, page 380.
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.
15
East to We3t, from Huddersfield towards the Moun¬ tain Chain, which forms part of the backbone of England ; and practically separates Yorkshire from Lancashire.
The Valley is watered by the Kiver Colne, rising in the hills at the head of the Valley and flowing west¬ ward to Huddersfield, about two miles beyond which town, it falls into the Calder, and thence onward to the German Ocean. This stream divides the two great parishes of Huddersfield and Almondbury, the former on the North, and the latter on the South side ; in which during the last thirty years there has been a remark¬ able extension of Church accommodation, and a body of Clergy rarely equalled for unity and devotedness.
The Ancient Chapel of Slaithwaite stood in the midst of this valley, and was the only one, until the above augmentation, for the four Townships of Slaith¬ waite and Golcar in the parish of Huddersfield, and Lingards and Linthwaite in that of Almondbury. But the two Townships of Slaithwaite and Lingards, though in different parishes, forming one Manor, and isolated from the other estates, were always in a pre¬ scriptive manner more closely united, and form at present the parpchial chapelry or new parish of Slaith- waite-cum-Lingards. The Church Bate for the repairs of the Chapel, has always been limited to, and continued uninterruptedly in these two Townships. They are the property of the Earl of Dartmouth, derived by descent from the issue of the marriage, above a century ago, of George Viscount Lewisham to the heiress of Sir Arthur Kaye, Bart., of Woodsome Hall, in Almondbury.
16
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
At the time of the conquest the whole country was probably a forest. The nearest manors mentioned in the Doomsday Book, are Croisland and Gudlacsarc, (or Gudlacscar) ; with the last, we shall have to do, as representing the modern Township of Golcar. Guthlac appears to have been an Anglo-Saxon Saint; there is a Church dedicated to St. Guthlac in Hereford¬ shire, named in the same record. Tradition says that the valley was so full of wood, that a squirrel could leap from bough to bough, all the way from Marsden to Huddersfield. Such is certainly not its present appearance, although it has many lovely points, and numbers of places, long ago stripped of their “ wood,” still retain the name. Fossil trees have been found lying at full length on the surface of the earth, and the boulder stones of Lingards (Lingearths) especially, are full of these remains of primeval forests. The name of Slaithwaite, originally Slaugh-thwaite, or Slaighthwaite, is derived from the slaigh, slack, or sloe tree, which once prevailed ; and which is still found wild in the adjoining Township of Marsden. In clearing Slaithwaite Moss a few years ago, Mr. John Bamford, of Barrett, found the remains of a charcoal fire, about four feet below the surface of the peat.
It is the opinion of some antiquaries, including our learned friend Dr. Walker, of Deanhead, that Mis¬ sionary Priests traversed the country in early times from Dewsbury, the great Mother Church of the large district, including Halifax, Almondburv, Kirkheaton,
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.
17
Kirkburton, and Huddersfield ; and that Guthlacscar, or Guthlac’s Dock, may have been a “scar” or rock on which the gospel was originally preached. Another is pointed out at Woodhouse, on the East of Hudders¬ field, marked by a small cross, now in the garden of the parsonage ; and a third, at Deanhead, in Scam- monden, still called Cruthill, or Cruxhill — the site of the present Chapel. Each of the two former places is now crowned with a heaven pointing spire, and the Chapel of Deanhead will soon be replaced by one of the same character, by the exertions of the present Incumbent. Crosses were erected in the meetings of cross roads, here as elsewhere : the base and part of the shaft of one still exist in front of the Manor House, in the village of Slaith waite, and “ Lingards Cross” was recklessly destroyed about thirty years ago.
These were probably the most ancieut scenes of divine worship in the times before the Deformation, but there wTere Chapels at Marsden and Slaith waite some centuries ago. Marsden Chapel possesses a Eoyal Grant, bearing date in the reign of Edward IV.- -and there is a record that at Slaith waite “An Ancient Chapel being much decayed, was repaired and enlarged at the charge of John Kaye, Esq., and his tenants and neighbouring inhabitants, in 1593,” the reign of Queen Elizabeth. We have, however, no data for ascertaining the origin of Slaithwaite Chapel, or anything of its earlier history ; but as the Manor of Slaithwaite and Lingards formed part of the possessions of the Earl of Lancaster, and were held by members of the Tyas
18
SLAXTHWAlTE CHURCH ANNALS.
family, of Woodsome Hall, in Parnley Tyas, and their collateral descendants and successors, the Kayes ; it is most probable that in the more ancient times as now, the family at Woodsome were tne chief promoters of the Chapel. Sir John Kaye, of Woodsome, gave £500 to King Charles I.,* and no doubt sustained the interests of the Church. But in 1651, when the Parliamentary Survey was made — the year when Meltham Chapel was consecrated by an Irish Bishop — it was reported that there was “Ho Minister, way bad, and only four shillings per annum endowment,” a sum which is still paid from a farm at the Binn, in Marsden : the same report recommended the forma¬ tion of Slaith waite into a parish, with Linth waite, in Almondbury annexed. Under the Commonwealth, therefore, and the prevalence of the Independents, there was no supply for the spiritual wants of the people.
We have no Ministerial records earlier than the reign of Charles II. The first entry in our Register is that of “ Burials” in 1679; there are also Baptisms and Marriages in the same unknown hand, until 1685 ; when the ministry of the Reverend Robert Meeke commenced. But in a pastoral letter of the Rev. Samuel Burly, published in 1 7 64, there is an intima¬ tion that the same moderately Calvinistic doctrines were preached about eighty years before.
It has been common to denominate the eighteenth century the dark age of the Church of England, but not a few burning and shining lights existed in the
Lloyd’s Memoirs, 1668.
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.
19
remote districts, whose rays, though extending no further than their own valleys, kept the fire of true Apostolic spirit glowing in the midst of general darkness and coldness. This more particularly appears in the early part of the century, when religion, both in the established church and among the nonconformists was at the lowest ebb. An Arian system of Theology, a frigid morality, and a general laxity of manners, followed the angry controversies of the period which ended with the revolution in 1688. In the Isle of Man, however, sound doctrine, united with primitive discipline, subsisted under the episcopate of the truly Apostolic Bishop Wilson, for 58 years, 1697 to 1755. In general the Puritan strictness of manners, as well as doctrine, had given way. Sancroft, Kenn, and the non -jurors had left few successors, and the low church party were Arminian at best, under Tillotson, Sherlock, and others ; ultimately little better than heathen morality was inculcated even by the successors of Baxter, Owen and Howe ; and when the Kevival of Beligion took place towards the middle of the century, Doddridge was almost the only nonconformist of note who gave it welcome.
That Bevival, however, shewed that the Established Church contained within itself the seeds of its own regeneration. The true x^postolic succession of holy men and blessed confessors had never failed. The Dove of peace bad never finally departed; England had never wanted the real spiritual presence of Him who walked among the golden candlesticks, and had the
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
SO
stars in His right hand. There was “ the hiding of his power but “ horns” (or beams) “ came out of his hand, and his brightness was as the light,” and this, in answer to the prayer of his secret ones, “ 0 Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath remember mercy.” Habakkuk, hi. 2, 4.
We have already suggested that some Minister, whose religious sentiments were those of the moderate Calvinistic section of the Church, seems to have pre¬ ceded Mr. Meeke, whose residence commenced here in 1685, when James II. ascended the throne of these realms, and continued until 1724, when G-eo. I. was reigning. Mr. Meeke was followed for three years, 1724-27, by a Rev. John Sutcliffe, a good man, and for thirty-three years by the Rev. Joseph Thorns, who appears to have been as dry and ethical in doctrine as he was unspiritual in life, reaching to the beginning of the reign of Geo. III., when the celebrated Henry Venn, being Yicar of Huddersfield, and therefore Patron of the Perpetual Curacy of Slaithwaite, ap¬ pointed the Reverend Samuel Purly, a man of his own decidedly Evangelical sentiments and spirit. Prom that time, until my appointment in 1839, a period of eighty years, including the long reign of Geo. III., and those of Geo. IV., William IV., and Victoria, there has been a succession of holy and devoted men, Evangelical in their general doctrine, although varying in their particular views of predestination and election ; and if I might he allowed to add my own name to the
INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.
21
honourable list of my predecessors, there has been a succession, with one exception, for a hundred and eighty years — and without any exception, eor one hundred years of Ministers holding and preaching the distinctive doctrines of the Eeformed Church of England, in all their fulness and depth, accompanied by a life of devotedness and consistency.
This is the proposition to be maintained in the following pages ; and it is the more remarkable, as it has become almost a proverb, that a pure dispensation of religion never remains above three generations in the same place. In the Homily of our Church against Idolatry, third part, it is advanced against the use of Images, which it was maintained by Papists would be harmless, while accompanied by a faithful Ministry to limit and explain their use, that “ It appeareth not by any story of credit, that the true and sincere preaching hath endured in any one place above one hundred years ; but it is evident that Images, Superstition, and Idolatry, have continued many hundred years.”
This notable circumstance may, however, well prove one of warning, lest the candlestick should soon be removed from its place, unless we walk in the light of it, and pray for a continual supply of the oil of divine grace to keep it burning. Once we have heard there was no minister — when the Established Church of England was prostrate in the dust ; — and there are still those who cry, “ Down with her, down with her, even to the ground !”
22
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Tliese considerations originated (in 1844) the poem which is so frequently sung until enthusiasm to a well- known chant : —
Cl)e Cijurc!) at our
“Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee.”— Isaiah, lxiv. 11.
Why should I wander from the ways My wise forefathers trod,
Or, in these cold degenerate days,
Forsake the Church of God ?
They loved the venerable dome,
Where still their ashes lie,
The Saint’s abode, the Martyr’s home,
The portal of the sky !
For there, upon their infant brow,
The cross’s sign was made ;
The token of the Christian’s vow,
Till death to be obeyed.
And there their youthful lips had join’d The plaintive Psahn to raise,
And there they bent with lowly mind To mingle prayer with praise.
There did their faltering accents plight Their vows of mutual faith, t
There did the white-robed Priest unite Their hands and lives till death.
THE CHURCH OF OUR FATHERS.
23
There, constant in their well-loved place, Each Sabbath saw them throng,
With reverent step and serious face,
The sounding aisles along.
They loved the floor then- fathers trod For many an age long past,
It was the ancient house of God,
From age to age to last.
Great was their zeal, with decent care,
Its high vault to adorn,
They could not brook the house of prayer Their negligence should mourn.
The table of the Lord they sought Each festival of love ;
Their gifts — but most then hearts — they brought, To yield to God above.
They heard with humble thankfulness What Christ for them achieved ;
Our Fathers heard in ancient days,
And, simply taught, believed.
They lived in unity and peace,
No party discord knew ;
Like angel-bands in holiness,
And ready service too.
Yet, in the horn* of trial brave,
When persecution came,
They fought the fight their Church to save,
And dared the martyr’s flame.
24
SLAITHWAITE CHUECH ANNALS.
And since tlie same blest truth is ours, For which they fought and bled, And the same Holy Spirit pours,
His unction on our head ;
Since the same blest communion joins Our hearts which blended theirs, The same sweet service still combines Our common wants and prayers ;
Why should we leave the holy ways Our wise forefathers trod.
Or, in these cold degenerate days, Forsake the Church of God !
C. A. H.
THE REVEREND ROBERT MEEKE,
1685 to 1724.
It required no small courage and devotedness to undertake a Cure, for which the only certain provision was four shillings per annum ; as appears not only from the parliamentary survey already quoted, but also irom the terriers delivered in 1688 and 1716. There were, as now, small payments made by the inhabitants of the townships, at the rate of one shilling and sixpence each sitting, and these cannot have amounted to more than twenty pounds per annum when Mr. Meeke entered upon his charge. Being possessed of some private means, and continuing a single man, of simple habits, he was enabled to undertake and continue in the Cure for nearly forty years. His diary, already referred to, from May, 1689, to September, 1694, is very minute and circumstantial, and will be the prin¬ cipal source of information respecting him and his ministry. His dues seem to have been collected with difficulty, “ trading being bad ;** and he receives with some surprise and gratitude the present of a few potatoes from an aged woman ; thankful, nevertheless, that he is independent of such contributions.
26
SLAITII WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
I have only recently been able to arrive at accurate information as to the parentage of Robert Meeke. In his diary, Dec. 30th, 1693, he says, “ This day begins my thirty and eighth year, being born on Tuesday, the 30th of December, 1056, between three and four in the afternoon, in Salford, near Manchester and on the cover of one of the books bequeathed by him to the succeeding Curates, is a curious memorandum scratched, which gave me the first clue to his connec¬ tion with an eminent divine, who proves to be his father, “ Pack this book in the first books that are sent to Will. Schelthorne, in Manchester, for Mr. Meeke, Minister of Salford Chapel.” From various sources, I learn, William Meeke (whether originally in episcopal orders does not appear) was the Parochial Minister of the above Chapel, which had been recently erected and endowed by Humphrey Booth, when the parliamentary sequestration was made in 1650. Mr. Meeke conformed to the Presbyterian Classis, and was a distinguished Member of the Synod, on its establishment during the Civil War; but suffered persecution from the Independents, when they became powerful under Oliver Cromwell. The Chapel stood on the Bridge between Manchester and Salford. Meeke was imprisoned at Liverpool, with other Ministers, in 1651, upon suspicion of some corres¬ pondence with the King in his going through the country. This was at the time when the gallant Earl of Derby died as a martyr for his loyalty. Having been at length set at liberty, William Meeke retained
REV. ROBERT MEEKE.
27
the pulpit in Salford until 1658, when he died. A dispute then arose, which was finally terminated by the Eestoration of the Monarchy and the Episcopal Church, in 1660. This venerable divine I find described in Newcome’s Memoirs, as “Sincere Meeke,” and that “as a choice preacher, as it is said of Absolom’s body, it might of him, that none was so much to be praised for beauty as he.” In his diary, September 1, 1692, Eobert Meeke describes a visit to Elam- borough, to see his father’s relatives ; and “ went to Skiplev to see the tenant who liveth where my father was born, it is an old house, much out of repair, and very mean. I went to see my father’s study. I thank God I have one much more convenient and pleasant. I desire to be thankful and humble, for my parentage is of an inferior rank, but I hope, and as I hear, of a religious family, which is better than gen¬ tility and greatness. My father was born in a very mean house, my mother in a courtly hall : thus the Lord is pleased to make high and low, noble and ignoble, equal, and both one. I am a branch of yeomanry by my father, of gentility by my mother. Lord, grant me true nobility, virtue, and grace, above my mother’s blood ; meekness and humility according to my father’s name.” He speaks of receiving rent from the tenant, and much kindness from relatives at Elamborough. I should have had no difficulty in inferring that his father here alluded to was the Eev. William Meeke, of Salford, where Eobert was con¬ fessedly born, although that event took place only two
28
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
years before the death of the former divine ; but in some of the books I found “Will. Meeke, eldest son of William Meeke,” and in the diary a frequent mention of a Billy Meeke, a fatherless boy, whom Eobert seems to have adopted. I have recently obtained the certifi¬ cate of Eoberfc’s birth and baptism (see appendix), and onclude that William Meeke the younger was an elder brother of Eobert, and that on his death the books reverted to him, with the family estate, and the care of the widow and family.
June 4, 1694. — He speaks of himself as of small stature, and a shy disposition ; and that such was his father’s temper, and which occasioned him to marry late in life, and the son to forego altogether the charms of the married state. He also speaks of the pious coun¬ sels of his mother, and her death in 1 693. It is manifest that he sprung from godly parents, of great respect¬ ability of character; and I presume that his mother’s relatives, one of whom of the name of Brooksbank, resided at Linthwaite Hall, were chiefly settled in the neighbourhood of Manchester.
Eobert Meeke was about twenty-nine years of age when he came to Slaithwaite, in 1685. He was a moderate English churchman, and the library which he bequeathed to his successors, Curates of Slaithwaite, many of the books having belonged to the elder William Meeke, prove both of them to have been learned men and sound divines ; as well by the choice of authors as the manuscript notes on the margin of not a few.
Eobert Meeke was lodged from 1689 to 1724 at the Green, Hilltop, in Slaithwaite, a house still existing in
REV. ROBERT MEEKE.
29
good repair, with his cousin iEneas Bothomley, who was a woolstapler. The lintel stone still bearing the inscription JE. S. B., 1685. He had previously lodged at Waterside. His study is still pointed out, but there are few or no other traditions respecting him. He left a copy of Poole’s Annotations, and various manu¬ scripts, to be kept continually at that house, which was the case, until the decease of the last member of the Bothomley family about fifty years ago, when they were dispersed ; and only the diary, to which such frequent reference will be made, has been recovered. This occurred to myself in the year 1848, when I found it opportunely in the possession of the late Mrs. Hannah Cock, of Cophill ; by whose husband it has been bought at the sale referred to. This interesting document shews that he was a studious and pious man; a laborious and prayerful preacher. He says, “ Lord, hear the prayers put up unto Thee this day and succeed Thy Word.” He also catechized publicly in the church, and introduced the frequent administration of the Lord’s Supper, not without some opposition. •* Some think it will put the town to much charge, and were against it.” This murmuring may have led Mr. Meeke to bequeath nine pounds, the interest to be applied to buy bread and wine for the communion. The Vicar of Huddersfield came in Easter week to administer the sacrament and receive his dues. Wine, in later times, was furnished by the Parish Churches of Huddersfield and Almondbury, but which has long ceased.
30
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
We have no account of his ordination as Deacon ; but in September, 1689, he was ordained Priest at York, and received the sacrament. He says “ I thought the Bishop was very solemn and serious in the office of ordination, Lord, hear the prayers of the church for us, and give us grace to mind the duties which were told us of.” His views of Baptism may be gathered from the following extract : — “ Oct. 21. I went to Mr. Bamsbotham’s (at Huddersfield), to dinner, his daughter being baptised, for whom I stood as a witness and sponsor, being requested by the father ; this is the first that I am engaged for, and grant the child may have Thy grace, renewing and regenerating, that the benefits of baptism may be conferred.” He appears to have been ingenious, for he says “ I have some skill in tempering clocks ; I wish I had wisdom to redeem time.” This may refer to frequent confessions of sloth, and other occasional indulgences owing to the customs of the people, at funerals especially, which he deplores, and which are followed by expressions of deep humiliation and repentance. His diary throws much light on the state of things, public and private, and shews that the general character of the population has undergone very little change since his time.
It is to be regretted that his previous and subse¬ quent diaries have perished ; with the year 1689 our direct and minute acquaintance with him ceases. With it terminates all account of Mr. Meeke, except his will ; leaving twenty-five years of his life blank. A few extracts will prove interesting.
REV. ROBERT MEEKE.
31
Alluding to the feast or wake (St. James’s day), he says, “July 25, 1689. To-day is our doings at Sleighthwaite. 28. There was to-day as great a con¬ gregation as I have seen, but I am afraid many came more to see than hear; more for pleasure and curiosity than anything else ; but, Lord, if thou be pleased to do them good by my labours, blessed be thy name ; thou didst help me in my work of preaching this afternoon above my desert.” August 5, “ My heart, O Lord, is still impure, O create in me a humble, and contrite, a holy and a clean heart, let not sin reign lest it bring my ruin. O Lord, by thy Providence about me, I am convinced that thou art Omniscient and Omnipresent, pure and holy, but merciful, pardoning iniquity, trans¬ gression and sin.”
Mr. Meeke’s views of Nonconformity may be gathered from the following: — “August 31, 1694. Went to see a new Chapel at Tintwistle, which is built by a Nonconformist, who is tabled at my Aunt’s. There are since the toleration many Chapels builded. Lord grant it may be for the good of souls. Alre all preach the same doctrine, pray for the same things. All the difference consists in garments, gestures and words ; and yet that difference breedeth heats, discus¬ sion, division, prejudice, jealousies, judging and coldness of Charity, and Christian affection among friends. I am afraid this is the effect of such separated Meetings and different modes of worship, Lord, &c.”
“Nov. 1693. It is now wet and moist weather again, thick and foggy. The vapours arising from the
32
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
earth hinder the light of the sun — and so, my sinful corruptions, arising in my heart, might justly deprive me of Thy shining countenance. O Lord, sanctify the circumstances which oftentimes follow my offences, and lead me to a sincere repentance thereby.” “ May 1694. Met with an old acquaintance, a Noncon¬ formist, who told me there was an ordination of Ministers at Mr. Thorp’s of Hopton. There is much difference among learned men about ordination. Some are for Bishops, some for Presbyters, some for the Congregation and Lay Elders. Lord, promote true religion by men of thine own sending, and by what hands thou pleasest, in thine own time. Grant a greater union in judgment among learned, and in practice among pious and religious men ”
Mr. Meeke’s labours in Slaithwaite may not have been very successful, hut they were very diligent and exemplary. He says, July 1694 — “Discoursed about an hour with a good old woman. I find it convenient, on several accounts, to be familiar with, and to visit my chappelrie. Lord, give me all wisdom and prudence in all places to behave myself as I ought.”
In 1718, Mr. Meeke obtained £200, Queen Anne’s Bounty for the living of Slaithwaite, to meet Benefac¬ tions of £100 each from Sir Arthur Kaye, Bart., and "William Walker, Esq., of Wakefield; and with these sums that part of the estate at Sowood in Stainland, Parish of Halifax, was purchased and settled on the Curacy, which still forms its chief endowment. At the same time the other portion of the same estate
REV. ROBERT MEEKE.
33
was bought by Mr. Meeke, for his own use, for £100, and was conveyed by him in 1721 to trustees, as an endowment for the Slaithwaite Parochial School, which appears to have existed under Mr. Meeke’s superin¬ tendence for thirty years before, as several memor¬ andums in his diary, shewing acts of supervision and authority indicate, in connection ‘‘with the town men.”
This trust he confirmed by his will in 1724. In 1719, the Chapel was rebuilt and enlarged hy his exertions, and his remains repose within the sacred walls and near the place of the Holy Table ; his tombstone, an upright slab, still existing at the East- end of the enclosed site of the Old Chapel, reads thus — “Nere this place is interred the body of Mr. Robert Meeke, who was Curate of this Chapel 39 years and 5 months, to ye satisfaction of his auditors : he left £4 per An. to ye School of Slaightwaite for teaching 10 poor children, and ye interest of £9 for Bread and Wine, and 133 Books for the succeeding Curates. He departed this life May 31st, A.D. 1724, in the 67 year of his age.”
The School which he thus founded continues to this day a more permanent monument of his interest in the highest good of his people. The provisions of the deed of endowment and the will are somewhat con¬ flicting, but in all respects shew a firm attachment to the pure doctrine and discipline of our Church ; and the preamble of his will thus expresses his faith.
“ In the name of Grod, Amen, this 20 day of March in the year of our Lord 172-1, I, Robert Meeke, of
34
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Slaighthwaite, Curate, in the Parish of Huddersfield, in the West-Hiding of the County of York, being in good health and understanding and memory, blessed be my God, do make this my last will and testament in manner and form following: — First, I commend my spirit into the hands of God my heavenly Father, firmly and comfortably hoping to be blessed imme¬ diately after my departure throw faith in Jesus Christ, my .Redeemer, and I leave my body to be buried in a decent and Christian manner, looking for a glorious resurrection of the same, from a vile and corruptible to an incorruptible and glorious estate, thanks be to God who giveth me the victory over sin, death and the grave through Jesus Christ my Lord.” (See Appendix, No. I.)
A Stone Font still remains in the Church, bearing the inscription, K.M. 1721 ; and the lintel of the prin¬ cipal entrance of the Old Church, a«s rebuilt by Mr. Meeke, bearing the date 1 7 1 9, has stood as the door¬ way of the Minister’s garden ever since the new Chapel was built in 1789.
Mr. Meeke’s bequest for wine was included in the purchase of the School estate at Sowerbv, in 1731, and the Trustees still pay nine shillings per annum to the Chapelwarden for this purpose. He also left five pounds to make “ an easier and shorter way to the burying place.”
This burial place, being detached from the Chapel, is a curious illustration of the History of England. In the oldest Register of Burials is a Memorandum
REV. ROBERT MEEKE.
35
in Mr. Meeke’s handwriting — “Prom this time (1684) there was no person buried at Slackthwaite, except one or two; until October 13, 1688, for the Yicar commanded the Corps to be brought to Huddersfield. But the Chappelrie presented a petition to the Con¬ sistory Court of York, and the Dean and Chapter ( Sede Vacante ) granted this following License to bury in ye Chappell of Slackthwaite, or in an adjacent Caemeterie being freely given by the Bight Worship- full Sir John Kaye, and decently repaired by ye Chappelrie for that purpose.’* The license does not follow, but it is curious that this date, when it is said the See of York was vacant, agrees with the time, as related by Lord Macaulay, when King J ames II. kept the Archiepiscopal See vacant, in order to put in a Papist. Mr. Meeke’s journal also illustrates the National History in many other particulars: shewing that he carefully kept all the public days of thanks¬ giving or humiliation set forth by authority ; and seems always to have been a loyal subject and a strict Con¬ formist, though liberal iu his views and charitable in his practice.
On a review we cannot but observe that Slaithwaite must have been much indebted to the residence of such a man for forty years. Coming at first, with scarcely any remuneration, and exercising charity far beyond the means at his disposal for that purpose. Intelligent and kind, he appears to have been ready at all times and hours to visit his parishioners, and even far beyond — for I find records of journeys to baptize
3G
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
as far as Outlane on the one hand, and Crosland on the other, a distance of four miles each way. He frequently preached at Huddersfield and other churches ; and the records of his benevolent exertions induce us to believe that he bore the fruits of temperance, as well as other virtues, in old age.
The permanent provision for a settled Ministry was obtained by his exertions ; and consequently the suc¬ cession of resident Curates secured. He provided for their learning by the bequest of his Library. He either originated or confirmed the School of Slaith- waite, which has been so valuable a provision for the instruction of youth. His endowment was augmented by the bequests of his friends Thomas and William Walker and Michael Anely; and the second Deed provides for a School of Good Literature ; and the Catechism contained in the Liturgy of the Church of England. The School was carried on as nearly as possible to the primitive foundation, upon the original site of the Free School, rebuilt in 1744, and again in 1842 — and adjoining the old Chapel, where Mr. Meeke’s remains repose — until the completion of a New Scheme in 1859, for its management, obtained by the present Trustees, sanctioned by the Commis¬ sioners of Public Charities and the County Court, according to the Act of 1853. This Scheme retains all the purposes of a Free School for children, designed by Mr. Meeke and the other benefactors, whilst under the name of “Meeke and Walker’s Educational Insti¬ tution,” it provides for the adult population, male and
REV. ROBERT MEEKE.
37
female Evening Classes, for their instruction in useful learning and religious education ; and I trust it may continue for many generations as “ a School of good literature,” and the nursery of every Christian virtue.
A few of Mr. Meeke’s Sermons remain, preserved by the late Eev. John Murgatroyd, Master of the School from 1738 to 1786, and resident in Slaith waite until his death in 1806. The manuscripts of this gentleman, occupying a space of seventy years, pre¬ sented to me by his niece, the late Miss Hannah Mellor, form an important addition to those of Mr. Meeke.
These Sermons are very neatly written, and are sound in doctrine and practical in their application, on the Arminian, rather than Calvinistic hypothesis ; occasional notes exhibit considerable learning. In the Introduction to a Sermon upon Ephesians ii. 19, we read — “ In this and the other Epistles of St. Paul, he principally insisteth upon three things : Articles of Eaitli; the benefits we receive by Christ; and the Duties of a Christian. Under the benefits which we receive by Christ are comprehended the great difference or differences between sinners converted by true repentance unto G-od, reconciled by faith in Christ Jesus, and there is a vast difference, and a very great unlikeness, betwixt these and unconverted, unbelieving sinners.”
This VAST AND ESSENTIAL DIEEERENCE is what we must ever bear in mind, and its maintenance is the espe¬ cial characteristic of the series of holy men, who have
38
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
laboured bere for so many generations. Other men have laboured and we have entered into their labours. “ Whose faith let us follow, considering the end of their conversation : Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Heb. xiii. 7, 8.
March 5th, 1863.
As the Archbishops of York and Bishops of Ripon will be frequently referred to, I add the following list from the time of the Revolution :
Akchbishops of Yoke : —
Thomas Lamplugh . 1688.
John Sharp . 1691.
Sir William Davies . 1713.
Launcelot Blackburn . 1724r.
Thomas Herring . 1742.
Matthew Hutton . 1747.
John Gilbert . . 1757.
Robert Drummond . . . 1761.
William Markham . 1777.
Hon. E. Yenables Yernon Harcourt 1808.
Thomas Musgrave . 1847.
Charles Thomas Longley . 1860.
William Thompson . .....1863.
Bishops of Ripon : —
Charles Thomas Longley . 1836.
Robert Bickersteth . ...1857.
APPENDIX No. I.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF LECTURE I.
DOMESDAY BOOK.
Dr. Whitaker, in his edition of Thoresby’s “ Leodis and Elmete,” 1816, page 348, says : —
“ The G-udlacsarc of Domesday is now contracted to Goldcar ; but it must have been written Gudlacscar. The innumerable errors in the spelling of local names, which prevail throughout the record, can only be accounted for by supposing that Nor¬ man Scribes were employed, who, with the pitiful affectation which prevails among their countrymen to this day, carelessly or purposely falsify English names.”
LINGARDS AND LINTHWAITE
Are not mentioned in Domesday Survey, which proves them to have been separated from some of the more ancient manors at a later period. Those mentioned (in Almondbury parish) are Almanberie, Ferleia (Farnley), Hanleia (Honley), Meltham Cola, and Crop¬ land. p. 327.
In Huddersfield parish, also, we have only Odersfeldt, Bradleia, Gudlacsarc, Combi (Quarmby), and Lilia (Lindley). No mention of Slaithwaite or other townships.
I find the following subsequent notices : —
In Parliamentary Writs, 1316, Edw. II, are named,
J ohn Tyas, Slaighe waite.
Richard Tyas, Farnley.
Among the possessions of the Earl of Lancaster are, Lingarthys, Lepton, Holm, iii vill. Co. Lancast.
Dr. Walker informs me that John and Richard Tyas before named, were owners of the towns under the Earl of Lancaster, just before the breaking out of the civil war between the Houses of York and Lancaster ; when the Earl was executed, Henry Tyas was condemned and executed. No mention of John or Richard Tyas. The Beaumonts took no active part. The Elands lost estates.
The Manor of Lingthwaite belonged to the Duke of Lancaster in 1361, as part of the Honor of Pontefract.
40
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Leodis and Elinete, p. 331, under Famley Tyas, parish of Almondbury, says : —
“ A° Henry VIII. was a law- suit for the Manor of Slaithwaite, which from the time of John de Tyas had accompanied Woodsome, between Charles Yarburgh and Arthur Kaye, when both parties claimed, as heirs of the body of John Tyas the Younger (Hopkinson’s Pedigrees). It seems evident that after the death of Franco Tyas, the estates passed to the descendants of an heir female, several generations higher up in the line, and that the grant of Franco Tyas to Fitton was merely in trust for some intent not expressed.”
In Valor Ecclesiasticus, Henry VIII. time,
“ Payments to the Chantrey of St. Mary’s, York, inter alia, is the following :
‘Pent in Stainland, Slaghwhaite, Rastrick, (Hudd. Is. 8d.)’
“ From Rental of the Manor of Almondbury, in Elizabeth’s time :
‘ Waterfarms in Slaeghwet, iiijd.’ (Dr. Walker.)
From Lawton’s Collections relative to the West-Riding of Y ork, (supplied to me by the Rev. Christopher Alderson, Rector of Kirkheaton) I add the following : —
“ Slaithwaite (Parish of Huddersfield, Perpetual Curacy), Agbrigg, Wapentake upper division. Population, 2,892 (in 1831). Patron, the Vicar of Huddersfield.”
From the Parliamentary Survey made 1651, Vol. xviii, p. 305 : —
“ Four miles from Huddersfield ; way bad. No minister. No maintenance save 4s. per annum. Recommended to be made a parish, and Linfitt, in the parish of Almondbury, to be added thereto.”
From the Notitia Parochialis or returns made by Incumbents of Livings to queries sent them by a divine whose name is now unknown, in 1705 : —
“ An Ancient Chapel being much decayed, was repaired and enlarged at the charge of John Kaye, Esq., and his tenants, and other neighbouring inhabitants, in 1593. No endowment, but contributions something better than £20 per annum ; a gift of 4s. yearly, left by the will of one — Eastwood, of the Binn, in Marsden. It is charged on the Binn Land, and now paid by Samuel Haigh, Widow Kaye, and James Hirst, the occupiers.”
Subsequent notices by Lawton : —
“ Augmented in 1718 with £200 to meet benefactions of £200 from Sir Arthur Kaye, Bart., and William Walker, Esq., and in 1776 with £200, and in 1792 with £200 by lot.”
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF LECTURE I. 41
“ 30th April, 1765. Faculty to erect a gallery.”
“ 27th August, 1787. Faculty granted to re-build the chapel.”
“ 4th August, 1789. The chapel and chapel yard were conse¬ crated.”
“ No Glebe house.”
“The register books commence in 1684. Defective in some parts, but entered at Huddersfield.”
“ Charity Free School founded by the Rev. Robert Meeke, by deed 21st June, 1721. Income of 18a. 2r. I7p. of land, after paying 9s. per annum for bread and wine for Sacrament on Whit Sunday. Twenty free scholars are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. The Curate is declared by the deed not to be eligible as schoolmaster.” Vide 19th Charities Report, page 548. Post town, Huddersfield not noticed by Torre.
Rev. Robert Meeke.
The original trust deed of Slaith waite Free School is not now to be found, but the following abstract is in the possession of the Trustees : —
“June 23rd, 1721. Rev. Robert Meek invested the said trust in iEneas Bottomley, James Bamforth, Thomas Shaw, and Edmund Mellor, their heirs and assigns, ye survivors and survivor of them, and his heirs after the said Mr. Meek’s death, to the use of the said iEneas Bottomley, &c., with intent and purpose that they, and the last survivor of them shall from the clear yearly rent of the said premises, pay to such schoolmaster of Slaightwaite as by the said trustees or the major part of them shall for ever be elected (not being the Curate of Slaighth waite), for yearly, half-yearly, and quarterly teaching such a number of poor children within the Chapelry of Slaighth waite as the said trustees shall think fit, in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; which number of chil¬ dren are to be elected and named by the Curate, Chapel- warden, and Overseer of the Poor of Slaighth waite for the time being, for ever : two to be chosen from Golcar, two from Linth waite, two from Lingards. and four from Slaigh¬ th waite. The number of children to oe increased or lessened at the discretion of the Trustees for the time being ; such Trustees are to pay ye clear remainder of the yearly rent and profits of the premises, if any be, to such Schoolmaster (not being the Curate of Slaighthwaite), as a reward for his pains. And if there be a vacancy or no such Schoolmaster at Slaighthwaite, then the Trustees for the time being shall be accountable to pay over the rents of the premises that shall become payable and due during any such vacancy unto the
42
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Curate, Chapelwarden, and Overseer of the Poor for the time being, for them to pay over to the succeeding master, and the like order to be ever observed. And when there shall be but two Trustees living, then the two surviving Trustees shall choose to themselves three more Trustees, to make the number five, out of such principal inhabitants of Slaighthwaite, as they shall think fit, of which number the Curate of Slaighthwaite for the time being to be always one. Of intent and purpose that such surviving Trustees shall con¬ vey to themselves and new elected Trustees, &c.”
The said Mr. Meeke departed this life at Slaighthwaite, 31st May, 1724. The following is a copy of his Will, taken from the official copy with probate in the possession of the Trustees : —
“ In the name* of God, Amen !— this 20th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1724, I, Robert Meek, of Slaighthwaite, Curate, in the parish of Huddersfield, and the West Riding of the County of York, being in good health and under¬ standing and memory, blessed be my God, do make this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following : — First, I commend my spirit into the hands of God my Heavenly Father, firmly and comfortably hoping to be blessed immediately after my departure, throw faith in Jesus Christ my Redeemer ; and I leave my body to be buried in a decent and Christian manner, looking for a glorious resurrection of the same from a vile and corruptible to an incorruptible and glorious estate, thanks be to God who giveth me the victory over sin, death, and the grave, through Jesus Christ my Lord. — As for my worldly estate which it hath pleased God to bestow upon me, and to preserve for and unto me until this day, I give and bequeath as folio weth : — Imprimis : I give and bequeathe unto the Schoole and the use and livelihood of the Schoolmaster in Sleighwaite, who is not the Curate or Minister of Sleighwaite aforesaid, nor of any other place elsewhere, that he may attend the duties of the School without any hindrance, and may have time for necessary reading and lawful diversion. I give and bequeath to him a parcell of land in Far Sowood, in Stainland, in the county aforesaid, now in the possession of Henry Haigh, of Sowood aforesaid, which said land I nave already conveyed by deeds sealed and signed by my own hand before sufficient witnesses, into the hands of faithful feoffees or Trustees for the use aforesaid : and if there be no Master my will and desire is that the profits of the land aforesaid be given to the poor within the chappellrie of Slaighthwaite, to be distributed in Bibles, New Testaments, and Common Prayer-books, according to the discretion of the Warden, the Minister, and three or four understanding men belonging to the chappell aforesaid. If
MR. MEEKE’S WILL.
43
the occasional profits be thought too much for Bibles, &c , my will is that the feoffees intrusted do bestow it in buying warm and decent wearing cloaths for some of the poorer children aforesaid. Item, my books I leave to be sold, except those of which I have left a catalogue in the hands of my Executor, which I give to the Minister of Sleighthwaite for the time being, and some of them to the particular friends mentioned in the catalogue aforesaid ; the price of the books sold I give to the poor of the Chappelry of Sleighthwaite and Linthwaite, and Lingarths, and that part of Golcar on this side the brook under Share-hill, to be divided and distributed by some impartial and prudent men in the said Chappelry as they can, according as the several hamlets pay to the chappell aforesaid. Item : I give twenty pounds to my brother Ralph Ardern, in Newton, near Manchester, in Lancashire. Item : I give to my sister Martha's son, now an apprentice in Man¬ chester, ten pounds, and to her daughter ten pounds, but the benefits or interest of the twenty pounds aforesaid I give to my sister Martha during her natural life, and after her death, the money to her son and daughter.
Item : I give to my sister Hall and her daughter, thirty pounds, Item : to Brother Erooksbank and my sister five pounds betwixt them. Item : to Mr. Hilton, his wife and two children, twenty shillings a-piece. Item : to my land¬ lord ./Eneas Bothomley, fifty shillings ; and to my landlady, his wife, also fifty shillings ; to their children, Deborah, Richard, vEneas, and Abigail, twenty pounds to be divided equally amongst them ; to the other three children, Elizabeth the wife of James Walk, of Thirstland, in the parish of Burton, to Martha and James, in Manchester, forty shillings a-piece. Item : to Mr. James Lightbourn and his wife and sister Elizabeth, five shillings a-piece. Item : to Jonas Walk’s children, my landlady’s grandchildren, twenty shillings a-piece ; to the servants in my landlady’s house at my decease, ten shillings among them. Item : to Joshua Woodhead twenty shillings. Item : I give all the cups in the trunk, $nd two salts and three spoons to Deborah and Abigail Bothomley, and all the napkins with the trunk ; also to my landlady the bottle seller in my closett Item : I give the two volumes of Pool’s English Annotations to the use of the family, and to whomsoever resideth at Hilltop, in Sleighth¬ waite, and not to be lent abroad lest they be sullied and spoiled. Item : with these books I give the two reading desks in my closett. Item : to Edmund Bothomley I give the safe at my closett door and all my notes and my Father’s diary, and my own, being in several paper books, to be perused if he please, or else to be burnt. Item : to Edmund the booksafe in his chamber. Item : the two gold rings I give to
44
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Deborah and Abigail aforesaid ; the two little boxes with small monies I give to Elizabeth and Martha, the daughters of Jonas Walker. As for other things too tedious to name, of any worth, I leave to my after-named Executor, to be kept for himself or given as he pleaseth. Item : I give nine pounds to be placed in good hands, and the interest to be paid yearly to buy wine for the Communion. Item : I give five pounds to make an easier and shorter way to the burying place. Item : I give to my landlady the reading glass and its case. Item : to my brother Ralph Ardeme my steel tobacco box. Item : to Abigail Bothomley I give my knife and fork in my pocket, and the old fashioned knife and case. And lastly, I appoint Edmund Bothomley my Executor, to pay my funeral expenses, my debts, the legacies aforesaid, and hereunto I set my hand and seal the day and year above said,
“ ROBERT MEEKE.”
“ Signed, sealed, and declared, the contents of this whole sheet to be my last will and testament, in the presence of us,
“ Thos. Shaw, Edmund Mellor, Daniel Eagland.”
Mr. Meeke’s Birth and Baptism.
Extract from the Register of the Cathedral (late Collegiate) Church of Manchester : —
“ Births in December, 1656 :
30. Robert, sonn to Mr. William Meeke of Salford, Clerke, baptized at Salford Chappell the ffourth day of January one thousand six hundred ffiftie and six.”
The ordinary reader may perhaps be puzzled by these dates, which are old style, when the year ended on the 25th March ; consequently J anuary came after December.
LECTUKE II.
The Rev. John Sutolieee, Incumbent, 1724-27 — Rev. Joseph Thorns, Incumbent, 1727 to 1760 — Rev. John Murgatroyd, Schoolmaster, 1738 to 1786, Occasional Minister to 1806.
Although the matter to be laid before you, in this lecture, may not be of the same diversified character a3 that contained in the introductory address, and the account of the Rev. Robert Meeke, yet it will be found to throw light on a part of our religious history of which, perhaps, the least is popularly known ; and when the state of religion and morals was the lowest of all the period to which our records refer. There remained, however, some of the worthies who were contemporary with Mr. Meeke ; among whom was Mr. Edmund Bothomley, son of iEneas Botliom- ley, Mr. Meeke’s host at Hilltop, and continuing to reside there. The record of his burial, in the hand¬ writing of Mr. Murgatroyd, is, March 3rd, 1762 : —
“ Mr. Edmund Bothomley, Hilltop, Slaith waite, a thorough honest peaceable man, and good Christian. In a word, one of the usefullest persons in his time amongst his neighbours.”
Mr. Meeke was succeeded by
The Rev. John Sutclieee, respecting whom I have not been able to collect any information, except that the Rev. Thomas Sutcliffe, late
46
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Incumbent of Heptonstall, informed me some years ago that he was a relative.
The record of his burial is as follows : —
“ 1727, Ap. 8. Mr. Jno. Sutcliffe, Curate of Sl-ghwh Chap.”
In the third volume of Mr. Murgatroyd’s manu¬ scripts I find, however, “ An Elegy on the death of the Kev. John Sutcliffe, Curate of Slaithwaite, who died April 4th, 1727, by Thomas Boulton, Schoolmaster of Slaithwaite,” of which the following verse is a specimen : —
Since Sutcliffe, pious Sutcliffe’s gone,
His rigid fate I must bemoan ;
I’ll warble forth his obsequies,
And with lamenting fill the skies ;
Nor shall I much adorn my sense Of grief, with painted eloquence ;
But such as sua sponte flows
Out of a heart full fraught with woes.
What cross malignant star hath gained The sceptre and supreme command ;
Throughout the bright ethereal court,
With dust and ashes thus to sport ;
Which laughs, while peals of sorrow ring,
Making an autumn of a spring ;
Cutting the choicest blossoms down,
For Sutcliffe, pious Sutcliffe’s gone !
And so, through six stanzas of equal length, in which the birds, the fishes, the beasts, the earth, and finally Atrophos, are invoked to lament for “ Pious Sutcliffe:” but the poem is left unfinished. It certainly exhibits the character of the writer, rather than the subject,
EE VS. JNO. SUTCLIFFE & JOSEPH THOENS. 47
who, at all events, was probably an amiable man, to have secured the respect of Mr. Boulton, who has also left, in manuscript, a paraphrase on the Book of Ecclesiastes, which, if original, shews that he was a man of some learning, taste, and piety. Mr. Sutcliffe was followed by
The Bev. Joseph Thorns, 1727 to 1760. Nothing has been gathered respecting this gentleman’s parentage and education. I possess a number of his sermons, preserved by the Bev. J ohn Murgatroyd, and who seems to have re-written and preached many of them. Their style is that of a scholar and a gentleman, and some having been preached in Cambridgeshire, apparently during a visit there, I am led to conjecture that Mr. Thorns may have been a native of that county, and probably a Graduate at Cambridge. One of the sermons bears the date “ Dridlington (Norfolk) Nov. 27, 1726,” which may be another indication that Mr. Thorns came from the Eastern Counties.
His doctrine is not very distinct ; the subjects being chiefly practical or rational. He however states in one on Phil. iii. 10, “ Eirst, by our Saviour’s resurrection we are assured that a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction was made for the sins of the whole world. That the aids of God’s holy spirit are vouchsafed to us, in order to help us forward in the ways of holiness and virtue, and to assist us in our engagements with the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.”
48
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
The former sermon is also inscribed “ Slaighwaite, June ye 10th, 1727, at the funeral of J. Binns, of Ealden worth from which I conclude that Mr. Thorns was appointed soon after the death of Mr. Sutcliffe, which took place April 4th preceding. The entries of burials and baptisms are in a different hand, probably that of Mr. Boulton, until October 1st, 1727, when seemingly Mr. Thorns came to reside ; and his hand¬ writing continues, without intermission, until his death in 1760. Mr. Thorns was evidently, therefore, a resident minister, during the whole thirty-three years of his incumbency. In 1731, during his time, the second Deed of Endowment of the Eree School was executed, but his name does not appear. The school- house was rebuilt in 1744, but chiefly by the exertions of Mr. Murgatroyd. The trust deeds of the school were with much difficulty renewed in 1749, and Mr. Thorns appears as one of the trustees. Mr. Murgat¬ royd then notes “ That tedious affair about renewing Mr. Meeke’s trust ended April 14th, Saturday, 1750.” There is no monument, stone, or memorial of him remaining, but in Mr. Murgatroyd’ a journal is the following memorandum : — “ The Bev. Mr. Thorns died, 3 o’clock, p.m., Sep. 13th, 1760. I saw him die.”
With reference to Mr. Thorns’ character, we have a slight indication in a note of Mr. Murgatroyd, on the origin of the name of Slaigh waite. <c Now the witty, prickly Mr. Thorns (as some may epithet him), X^observe always spells it thus — Slaighwaite.” There is a further indication in a curious document, more
REV. JOSEPH THORNS.
49
than one copy of which I have seen ; the one before me was kindly lent by Miss Roberts, of Broad Oak, daughter of the late Mr. James Roberts, one of the founders of Linthwaite Church. It is a presentation of Mr. Thorns, by Mr. John Eagland, the chapel war den of Slaith waite, to Dr. Pyle, x\rch deacon of York, June 27, 1758. It is difficult at this distance of time to judge of the merits of a dispute, which seems to have arisen between the minister and chapelwarden ; but Mr. Eagland complains that Mr. Thorns had threatened to present him, for not presenting the landlords in Slaith waite for selling ale on Sundays ; and in his turn presents the chapelwarden, newly chosen by Mr. Thorns, and four other men, as common and notorious profane cursers and swearers. He defends the land¬ lords, and their houses; and the singers who had displeased Mr. Thorns, whom he impugns in no very respectful terms. And making every deduction for the temper of the complainant, the description, if correct, is that of a very worldly character ; addicted to singular dress, jockey cap, &c., and lowcompany, with “only a few old sermons to repeat, which almost everybody knows.”
Tradition confirms the habits of Mr. Thorns to have been those of a sportsman, but that he wras exceedingly afraid of thunder and lightning, having experienced a literal fulfilment of our Lord’s words, Luke xvii., 34, when a man sleeping in the same bed was killed. Hence, on one occasion, Mr. Thorns hastily left the pulpit during a thunderstorm, and ran to hide himself in his own cellar. This was part of the house in Backlane,
50
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
which appears to have been first obtained for the use of the minister in Mr. Thorns’ time, from a memorandum in Mr. Murgatroyd’s M.S., April 12th, 1744. This house continued to be occupied by the succeeding ministers, until the erection of that in which I live by the Eev. Thomas Wilson, in 1 789. And was taken down in 1849.
The Book of Homilies was set up in the church in 1758, during Mr. Thorns’ incumbency, and the wardenship of John Eagland, before mentioned, who resided at the Old Hall, or Manor House, in Slaith waite, as his descendants still do. The Book is still chained to an oak desk, having been removed from the old chapel to the new one, on the erection of the latter.
Martha Wood, of Crimble, in Golcar, who died there in December, 1839, aged 91 years, told me she remembered saying her catechism to Mr. Thorns in the aisle of the old chapel, during afternoon service ; a practice I believe pursued by Mr. Wilson, and revived by myself in 1840. She also remembered the Eev. Henry Venn, Vicar of Huddersfield, and said that he was “ the first Methody who came into this country.”
On the whole, I think it is manifest that vital religion was at a low ebb in Slaithwaite during the incumbency of Mr. Thorns, as was generally the state throughout the country ; but that the moral condition of things here was a favourable picture of the kingdom generally before the great revival of religion took place. There was no actual unsoundness in Mr.
REV. JOHN MURGATROYD.
51
Thorns’ discourses, hut a lack of spirituality and fervour. The last sermon on which there is any note of time is dated June 1st, 1760, and it is a sermon against the love of the world, and the love of riches, often preached — fifteen times at Slaithwaite — but seems to lack direction to the true riches which are laid up in Christ ; and as the congregation cannot generally rise above the tame of the minister, we may fear that there was very little more than the formal but Scriptural service which, in the worst cases, our Church secures. Mr. Thorns’s burial is recorded on the 13th September, 1760, in the handwriting of The Rey. John Mtjrgatroyb.
This gentleman, who was in holy orders, and was master of the .Free School from 1738 to 1786, and resided in Lingards until his death in 1806, partly supplied the interval between the death of Mr. Thorns, and the residence of his successor, Mr. Furly. This appears from a note of his in his journal, being a copy of a letter to the Rev. Henry Venn, dated Jan. 20th, 1761 ; and the entry of sermons in the after noons, at Slaithwaite, from Sep. 21st 1760, to Jan. 25th, 1761, being engaged at Almondbury in the morning.
The present is a convenient opportunity of noticing this worthy and laborious man, who, residing in this vil¬ lage for nearly seventy years, must have exercised con¬ siderable influence over the minds and manners of the inhabitants. I have always heard him spoken of with the greatest respect by those who recollected
52
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
him. I am indebted to his niece (already mentioned) for his copious and laborious manuscript collections, extracts and journals ; and for several other books, which I reserve as a permanent addition to those bequeathed by Mr. Meeke. These writings have thrown much light upon many parts of our local history. Those who recollect his person describe Mr. Murgatroyd as a tall and vedferable looking man, who wore a powdered wig and long cloak. His habits were temperate and pious. He was a native of Weathercock Told in the Parish of Halifax. His father was William Murgatroyd, a blacksmith by trade. His mother was daughter of William Tairbank of Halifax. They were possessed of some property, which still remains in the family of Mellor, into which he married.
The first account which I have of him is contained in the first Volume of his M.S. Collections ; it is a testimonial addressed to a gentleman of the same name, the Eev. Mr. Murgatroyd, of Kirkleatham, by a Hester Metcalf, dated July 1737 ; and describes him as “ Son of William Murgatroyd, late of Harley Eoyd, but now of Halifax, eighteen years of age ; desirous of being made a scholar, and having been several years under the care of Mr. Wadsworth, Schoolmaster, of Eishworth — a sedate, thinking and promising boy ; who reads the following authors, viz. — Greek Testament, Homer, Juvenal, and Persius, with tolerable judgment, and makes exercises answer- able thereto. His father is unable to send him to the
mv. JOHN MURGATROYD.
53
University, therefore humbly begs you to be so good as to take him into your care, as being your usher, or any other preferments you shall think proper. He is a man of the times, for in the late election at York, for Members for the County, he gave his vote for Sir Rowland Winn and Squire Turner.” Another testi¬ monial appears from Dr. Legh, Vicar of Halifax, addressed to the Trustees of Keighley School. Young Murgatroyd was unsuccessful in both applications ; but the testimony is very creditable.
The first notice relative to Slaithwaite School which I find is the entry of some Scholars in 1738 : the first being Thomas Boulton the younger, probably son of the late Master, Thomas Boulton, who died in 1734. Mr. Murgatroyd was not licensed to the Dree School until 1740. In his own journal, January 19th, 1786, he says, “ This afternoon agreed about quitting the School and on the 23rd, “ This afternoon I resign’d Slaithwaite School into the hands of the new chosen Trustees. I have been Master from May 29th, 1738 — near 48 years. I hope that I have done my duty in this important trust with faithfulness. If I have at any time erred may God forgive me for Christ’s sake. 24th — Awak’d with God. C.D. A fine winter’s day. This is the last day of School teaching with me at Slaighwaite ; being St. Paul’s Eve, ’tis a remarkable time. The Lord give me grace to live my few remaining days to his glory.”
Mr. Murgatroyd was ordained in 1754 deacon, and in 1755 Priest, by the Archbishop of York, as Curate
54
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
of the Parish Church of Almondbury, on the nomina¬ tion of the Rev. Edward Rishton, Yicar, on a stipend of fifteen pounds per annum. His letters of orders and licenses are in my possession. In addition to this salary, a collection was made from house to house throughout the parish — which is ten miles long. He records “ Augt. 6th, 7th, and 8th, 1755, a collection made for Almondbury Curate, got £4 110: gave the Clark 5s. for going with me, and one day’s horse hire.” His testimonials were signed by Dr. Legh, Yicar of Halifax, Mr. Sandford, Yicar of Huddersfield, and Mr. Thorns. Mr. Murgatroyd continued, whilst residing at Slaithwaite, the Cure of Almondbury, until July 17th, 1767 ; after which he was engaged in various Churches from Sunday to Sunday for nearly forty years — frequently taking duty at Slaithwaite for the successive Ministers ; and must have ridden or walked many miles, for a very small remuneration. He writes “Rev. Mr. Burnett* paid Eeb. 12, 1761, £10 10s. Od. and surplice dues for taking care of Slaigh. Chapel 20 Sundays.” He remarks that he never received more than half-a-guinea for a Sunday’s duty, except once from the widow of the Yicar of Huddersfield, who gave him a guinea ; and then he returned it to her. His journal of sermons records his services at Huddersfield, Almondbury, Kirkheaton, Kirkburton, Saddleworth, Eriar Mere, Elland, Honley, Holmfirth, Ripponden, Sowerby, Emley, Longwood,
* Curate to the Rev. Henry Venn, and afterwards Incumbent of Elland.
REV. JOHN MURGATROYD.
55
Marsden, Lightcliff, Bastrick, Deanhead, Slaithwaite, &c. &c. In fact, all the Churches and Chapels within twenty miles of Slaithwaite ; and this continues with gradually less frequency until his death. The last entry is July 27th, 1806, ‘‘At home — no horse.”
On his resignation of the Curacy of Almondbury he seems to have sought the charms of connubial life. He was married at Almondbury, December 16th, 1767, to Ann Mellor, daughter of Edmund and Martha Mel- lor, of Lingards ; one of the most respectable families in the place. He built a house in Lingards in 1786, on his resignation of the School, and resided there until his death, Oct. 27th, 1806. The house is still in good condition, and in the possession of his nephew, Mr. John Mellor,' under the Earl of Dartmouth. The following inscription over the door still remains, in ornamental characters :
En Lector M attende.
I. 1786 A.
Slender’s the thread on which life doth depend,
A moment’s time may bring me to my end ;
Therefore while I do live my care shall be To have true comfort in eternity.
Mr. Murgatroyd’s Commonplace Books shew a great amount of industry, in abstracting and copying various works in Divinity, History, and Poetry, which he borrowed from his friends ; also a correspondence in early years with Mr. Miller, School Master of Milns- bridge, I presume Longwood School, founded about the same time with Slaithwaite, and by Mr. Thomas Walker, one of our benefactors. Mr. Miller was a
56
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Classical Scholar, and ingenious in stone cutting. An old inscription remains in the Free School, which was placed over the door of the School when rebuilt, engraved by him :
#.Nbn operis famam poterit delere vetustas.
Anno Domini 1744.
Letters are also preserved from several grateful pupils, who had gone forth and occupied good situations in life in London and elsewhere. From all which it will appear, that as a School Master, Mr. Murgatroyd must have been a very use’ful and valuable man.
But we have rather to do with him in this Record as a Divine ; in which character I do not think that he was very eminent, but laborious and conscientious, and took great pains in the preparation of his sermons. He never practised extemporary preaching: it was little used in those days, except among the Methodists, as the revivers of Evangelical doctrine were called. He seems at first to have adopted the moral style of Mr. Thorns, and after his death the actual sermons of that gentleman, but re-written ; and to have had consider¬ able prejudice against the gospel a 9 preached by Mr. Venn and others of his views. But a gradual change is observable, both in his sermons and his notes ; and about 1778 we find him frequently engaged at Elland, for Mr. Burnett, who was a decidedly Evangelical Clergyman. He records the texts preached on by Mr. Venn, Mr. Ingham, and Mr. Powley, at Slaith-
* “ Antiquity shall not be able to obliterate the memory of the work.”
REV. JOHN MURGATROYD.
57
waite, with some interest. He may probably have been disappointed in not succeeding Mr. Thorns as Incumbent : certainly Mr. Turly, bis actual successor, seems to have met with no particular favor, as we shall have to shew in giving account of .that gentleman, whose matter and style were new and startling to him. Mr. Murgatroyd was also frequently accustomed to preach for Mr. Wilson, from 1780 to 1806, and hence I have no doubt that there was a substantial agreement between them. I have heard it said that when Mr. Wilson wished for his services, he would ring a bell early on Sunday Morning, their houses being on •opposite sides of the valley. A devout feeling runs through all his later diaries, and he notes the substance of the sermons which he hears.
May 30, 1789, he writes — “ This day, by the day of the. month, fifty-one years ago, I began to be the Master of a School. Old David Eagland entered me into Slaighwaite School. I hope that the Lord has ever been my guide, both in my private and public capacity hitherto — where and when I have been guilty of commission of sin, and omission of duty, I pray God in Christ’s name to forgive me, and in future guide me through those few days which I have to be on this side eternity. Amen, Amen, Amen !”
So good a man could scarcely escape persecution in some form ; although
“ Along the cool, sequester’d vale of life He held the noiseless tenor of his way.”
He officiated at Marsden very frequently, and in the
B8
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
year 1779 — when a vacancy in the living occurred, he expected to have been appointed, and it seems with reason. But he met with very rude treatment from some of the inhabitants, who seem to have favoured Mr. Bellas, of Height (Friar Mere), in Saddle worth, afterwards Incumbent of Marsden ; with whom, how¬ ever, Mr. Murgatroyd was always on good terms, and often preached for him; but who was, as tradition reports, a man of very different habits ; and who bid the people follow his words, not his deeds. In consequence of which many of them came to Slaith- waite Chapel. The following are curious extracts : — “ 1779, March the 28th, at Marsden, and the Chapel- warden, encouraged by the Methodistical party, (?). kept the door locked again, so we’d no service. I dined at Waterside, and got well home, Mr. Marsden came with me to this side Shaker Wood. The 11th, The chapel door was kept locked again, Mane (morn¬ ing). For the same reason, V. (evening). They got foolish Taylor, of Saddleworth Church, to interfere and do the duty, Yesp. They at noon kept the chapel door fast, and turned the people in at the other door. Shameful work.” So on the 18th. — “ April the 25th. At Marsden, and the door locked still. As I went up three or four men were placed in Mr. Marsden’s wood to abuse me, who did so in a shameful manner. They were placed there again at night, but Mr. Marsden being with me, they walked off without giving any abuse. Bellas, of Height, came to do duty for them, Yesp. Bobert France, of Blakestones, brought me a
REV. JOHN MURGATROYD.
59
message, April 24th, from Mr. Smith (Yicar of Almondbury), to persist in going, which encouraged me to go again. Must such work go unpunished ? May the 2nd, at home. Oh pity ! Mr. Marsden was to acquaint me if the hell rang, but hearing nothing from him, I stayed at home. Snow fell this day. The 9th, at home. Oh pity I” The same continues for the next month. "We have no further account.
Mr. Murgatroyd had no children; he lived in Slaithwaite 29 years as a bachelor, thirty as a married man, and nearly ten as a widower. Mrs. Murgatroyd died April 27th, 1797, aged 77 years. He bequeathed his property to his niece, Miss Mellor,who was brought up under his care, and who died June 20th, 1854, aged 74. He lies buried within the site of the old chapel, with the Mellor family. An appropriate inscription was added, in 1844, to the record on the family grave¬ stone, at my suggestion, at Miss Mellor’ s cost, just a century after his completion of the rebuilding of the School-house.
Mr. Murgatroyd was succeeded, in 1786, in the School, by Mr. John Boulton, a relative of the former master, and subsequently by the Bev. William Smith, and others, of whom an account will be given here¬ after.
It is difficult to estimate the value of such a man’s labors and example ; although, as a preacher he may not have been highly gifted. His burial is thus recorded by the Bev. William Boberts in the Begister :
“ 1806, Oct. 30, Bevd. John Murgatroyd, an amiable man, aged 87, Slaithwaite/ 1
60
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
I shall conclude this Lecture by an extract from Mr. Murgatroyd’s diary — his closing observations on the year 1791 : — “ The Lord for Christ’s sake forgive the sins committed by me throughout this year — and if my life be continued, give me grace to prepare to live for ever in heaven, that I may be meet to join in the praises of the Triune God, Lather, Son, and Holy Ghost, — make one of the chorus in the everlasting songs of redeeming love. Lord, guide me henceforth for this glorious purpose. Almighty God, give me and my family and relatives, and all others, grace; that thy will may be done by us on earth, as it is done in heaven. Then having lived in obedience to thy word in our Bibles, we shall look on our deliverance from this cumbersome world by death, to be a friendly inlet to a place where cumber can never come ; but our comforts will be pure and unmixed with any trouble, and everlasting in God’s presence, where there is ful¬ ness of joy. This happiness should be ever, while pas¬ sing through this world, highest in our thoughts, and if we bear a true love for our souls, will be so. Amen !”
It is a matter of great thankfulness that Slaith waite has had, generally, both a minister and a schoolmaster of learning and piety, and thus Science has walked hand in hand with Religion ; like the Star of Beth¬ lehem, conducting the sages to Christ. Even so may you walk in the light of the many and blessed advan¬ tages afforded you, until the light of this world is lost in the glory of that Sun which shall never set.
March 19th, 1863.
APPENDIX No. II
NOTES & ILLUSTRATIONS OF LECTURE II.
THE REV. JOSEPH THORNS.
“A COPY.”
The answer of the Chapelwarden of Slaithwaite to the Articles to be inquired of in the Visitation of the Itight \V0r3hipful E Imund Pyle, Doctor in Divinity, Archdeacon of the Arch¬ deaconry of York, June 27, 1758.
Title 1. — Concerning Churches and things appertaining there¬ unto. None to present.
Title 2 — Concerning the Living and the Minister’s House. None to present.
Title 3. — Concerning Hospitals and Schools, Schoolmasters, Physicians, Surgeons and Mid wives. None to present.
Title 4. — Concerning the Clergy, except on the other side. None to present
Title 5. — Concerning Parish Church Officers. None to present.
Title 6. — Present: VVm. Bamforth or Bamford of Inghe«,d ; Jos'"1, Sugden ; John Hirst, of Castle, and James Bamford or Bamforth, of Einley Place, for common, open and notorious profain cursers and swearers.
Title 7. — Concerning Ecclesiastical Officers. N one to present.
(Witness) JOHN EAGLAND,
Chapelwarden.
Indorsed as follows : —
Mr Thorns protests and affirms that he will present me for perjury. If I do not present all the Landlords in Slaith¬ waite for selling A le on Sundays at W eddings, &c. Also he wants me to suppress and hinder the Singers from singing in our Chapel. Also he has chosen Wm. Bamforth to be Chapelwarden for this present year, and according to the opinions of all the best sort of men in chapelry, he is not a propper person for that Office. In the first place, as to the Landlords there is not more sivilized men, Take them all together in one Country Town in England. Their Houses are kept free from gaming or whoring or any other vice that I know of, Only the sin of cursing and swearing, is too much
62
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
used by the country people when they meet together, but I have taken care to present four of the most notorious villans. One of which Mr. Thoms has nominated the new Chapel- warden. As to the singers they have always bom a very good character forty years, to my certain knowledge. And a very good set of singers we have, which gives their services gratis. — A few years since Mr. Thoms was sorely Troubled with Mercenary qualms, as his constitution is very subject to that Distemper, and he extorted a good Guinea from ye poor singing Lads, upon "this condition that he would never disturb them in their singing any more. Now the Fitt returned on Feb?- last and Mr. Thorns ordered Mr. Batty to send for a Citation for the Singers. Upon that I heard a great part of the Congregation say that if the Singers must not sing, they would not come to Chappel any more — for the singers had something new and affecting. But Mr. Thorns for his part had nothing but some Old Sermons to repeat which almost every Body knows : As to reading ye Divine Services he makes a poor doo with it— he is so very idle yl scarce one half of the congregation can hear what he says, which is a great pitty, for it makes a great many absent themselves from Chappel. I dont think but Mr. Thoms is presentable in his apparel, in his white stockings, his white waistcoat, his mottle coat and his J ockey Cap, so that no one can tell by his garb that he is a Priest, for he is oft dresst more like a Dancing Master then a Priest — (not to mention his fighting). Mr. Thorns has a bad property in going over his neighbours Thresholds oft to hear news and lies amongst the Butchers and sitting in Cobler’s shops, day by day. Busying himself with every Body’s business, Repeating Grievances, and proving Tales, causing great disturbance all the Town over, Giving nicknames and makes a droll upon everybody’s character, Calling every body Fool or Beggar but himself, Bullocking and hectoring every body with Wagers, that he is so rich and so rich. Well I do believe the man is rich in money — But would be far better for his Congregation if he was more rich in his Talents of grace — I am sorry to speak it. — But he realy is a common Town Pest, continually causing difference Both in the Chappel and in the Street. So I pray God either to mend him or to Remove him, or take him quite away. Which is the Harty prayer of the Congregation.
JOHN EAGLAND, Chapel warden.
June 26th, 1758,
SLAITHWAITE FREE SCHOOL.
63
SLAITHWAITE FREE SCHOOL.
The following is a copy of an old Abstract of the Second Trust Deed. 1731.
“ Thomas Walker, Salter, (Huddersfield) gave one hundred .pounds (by will dated 9th May, 1719). Michael Anely ten pounds, Dr. William Walker (of Wakefield) ten pounds, and the Rev. Mr. Robert Meek nine pounds ; to be laid out for the use of a School of good Literature at Slaighthwaite (excepting 9s- deducted for a sacrament) with which sums Mr. William Walker purchased a farm, copyhold land at Woodlane-in-Sowerby, containing one messuage or dwelling house, one laith, and one cow house, with 3 acres and 3 foods of meadow and pasture land, also ye Ley Close, and besides that 1 acre and 1 rood, and a close called the Ing. One shilling and sixpence is paid to ye Lord of the Manor of Wakefield, for which composition is made. — Nine shillings (as above) is paid yearly out of ye said premises for wine for a sacrament at Whitsuntide at Slaighwaite, according to Mr. Meek’s will, ard five pounds eleven shillings to the school, in case that the rents and profits will amount to pay both sums, otherwise each must abate proportionably. The. said premises were conveyed by the former owner to the said William Walker, Edmund Bothomley (son and heir of ./Eneas Bothomley) and William Dawson, of Wakefield, Gent., and last surviver.
s< The schoolmaster must be elected and qualified to perform his duty, as is in this Tripartite Deed bearing date ye Twenty- fifth day of December, 1731, hereafter expressed. First. — Such schoolmaster shall on every vacancy or removal, or in forty days after, be elected and chosen by the said William Walker, Edmund Bothomley, and William Dawson, and the last survivors of them. Then afterwards or after their deaths, a schoolmaster shall be chosen by the Vicar of Huddersfield for ye time being, ye Curates of Slaighwaite and Deanhead for the time being, and their respective successors for ever. u Item. — Ten children, boys and girls to be taught. ,
“ Item — The master must be a member of the Church or England ; of a sober life and conversation, and one who frequents the Holy Communion. Hath a good genius for teaching youth to read, can write a good hand, and under¬ stands the grounds of arithmetic, will also carefully attend his school.
“ Item. — The master must take care of the manners and behaviour of ye scholars ; use proper methods for discourag¬ ing vice, particularly lying, cursing, swearing, and profaning the Lord’s-day. Qblige them in order hereunto to attend
64
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
divine service, teach them to read English well. When the boys can read com] etently well, then teach them to write a fair legible hand, with grounds of arithmetic, sufficient to qualify them for common apprentices. u Item — The master must teach both the boys and girls the catechism, as is contained in the Liturgy of the Church of England, and catechise them once a week in the school. ✓ u Item. — The children who are taken in must be the poorest objects, and chosen out of the townships of Slaighwaite and Lingards, by Edmund Bothomley during his life, and after his death by the curate, chapel warden, and overseer of Slaighwaite for ever.
il Item. — If any child, proves to be incorrigible after due admonition and moderate correction, such must be displaced and another chosen in its room.
** Item. — The parents of the elected children shall assure the master as far as they can that they shall not be kept from school on any occasion whatever except want of health “ Item — Girls only to be taught to read well and catechized, except the master has a wife, who can teach them to knit or sew, then that to be done.
u Item. — Should the estate by any unforeseen accident be deficient or not raise the yearly value it does now, then both the charities shall abate proportionably of their value “ Item. — The master shall keep a book where he shall fairly enter the names and age of the children on their being admitted, together with the names of the parents, and when such children are dismissed, shall enter their age, and how much improved.
“ Item. — Lastly : If any master does not perform his duty according to the above Rules, or fails in any of the qualifica¬ tions required of him, then the said electors shall have power to keep back his stipend, remove him and elect another more proper person in his stead.”
MESSRS. WALKER AND OTHERS.
The above Deed made however no provision for the con¬ tinuation of the Trust.
The property therefore lapsed to the heirs-at-law, and they kindly united in 1784 in renewing the Trust, and both estates were placed in the same trustees and have so con¬ tinued ever since. The parties to the last named deed were Rev. M. Powley, Vicar of Dewsbury, and James Shaw, of Lingards (surviving trustees) and Richard Shaw, of Man¬ chester, heir-at-law of Thomas Shaw, late of Lingarths, Salter, who survived Edmund Mellor of the first part. Richard Kennett, of Wakefield, Esq., only son and heir-at-
SLAITH WAITE FREE SCHOOL.
66
law of Mary, late wife of the Reverend — Kennett, late of Bradford, which said Mary was the only surviving child and heir of William Walker, of Wakefield aforesaid, merchant, by his late wife, and who was the only surviving heir of William Walker, of Wakefield ; who survived Edmund Bothomley, of Slaith waite, son and heir of ^Eneas Bothomley, formerly of the same place, all deceased, of the second part ; and William Elmsall, of Brearley Manor, of the third part. The estates were thus conveyed to Mr. Elmsall, who was Lord Dartmouth’s agent, and by him to surviving and new trustees. And the Trust has been duly continued ; and is now executed with great facility under a new scheme, sanctioned in 1859 by the Commissioners of Public. Charities.
MRS. DOROTHY WALKER.
In the oldest "Register of the Chapel there is a memorandum in Mr. Meeke’s handwriting, being a list of articles belonging to the Chapel, amongst which is : “ A new silver plate given by Dr. Walker's wife, Mrs. Dorothy Walker ; it weighs ten ounces troy, wanting — pennyweights. Sent to me for the Chappell Communion. Sep. 28, 1720.” The plate is still in use, with a cup of the same date, and another cup purchased by the Chapelry in 1779, for four guineas. We have only a pewter flagon. May some kind person be induced to imitate Mrs. Dorothy Walker !
GRADUATION OF MINISTERS.
Since the completion of the foregoing Lecture, I have visited Cambridge, and obtained the following extracts from the “ Graduati Cantabrigienses” in the University Library : —
“ Meek, Gul. Jesus College. A.B. 1706.
“ SutclifF, John St John's. A.B. 1718.
“Thorns, Jos. Trinity. A.B. 1725. A.M. 1732.
“ Furly, Sam. Queen’s. A.B. 1758.
“ Furly, Sam. Magdalen. A.B. 1781.
The “ Gul. Meek” above mentioned may have been the “ Billy Meek,” who was the nephew and protege of our benefactor. Mr. SutclifF and Mr. Thorns are evidently shewn to have been graduates, as conjectured of the latter : and of Mr. Furly, father and son we shall have occasion to speak in the next lecture.
LECTUEE III.
Tee Eeyival oe Eeligion.— Eey. Henry Venn — Eey. Samuel Furly, B.A., Incumbent, 1761 to 1767 — Eey. Matthew Powlet,M.A., Incumbent, 1767 to 1777. — Their Subsequent Memoirs.
It was observed in the last lecture that the coldness and deadness in the pulpit, and negligence out of it which prevailed during the period (1724 to 1760), to which that lecture referred, were only too characteristic of England in general. Infidelity had made such havoc among the higher orders, that Christian writers thought it enough to defend the outworks ; whilst profaneness and immorality spread among the lower ranks of society. Moral and spiritual darkness rested upon the deep ; but at length the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. He who walks among golden candlesticks had said “ Let there be light !”
A revival of true religion had commenced about the year 1730, at Oxford among some young students, including the two Wesleys ; who were joined by Whitfield and others, and called from their strict¬ ness of manners and regularity of religious services, “ Methodists.” In the course of thirty years this movement, which began within the Church of England itself, had extended far and wide ; although checked by the Ecclesiastical authorities. The first who in¬ troduced the revived doctrines of grace, with energy into the West-Eiding, was the Eev. Benjamin Ingham,
REVIVAL OE RELIGION.
67
one of the associates of the original methodists at Oxford. He was followed by such crowds, whenever he preached in the churches and parochial chapels, that it gave great offence: and at a visitation held June 6th, 1739, he was forbidden by the Arch¬ bishop of York, to preach in any churches and chapels in his diocese. This led to the introduction of the Moravian Brethren; the formation of the Wesleyan Society, and of a small sect eventually called “ Ingham- ites” — not quite extinct. The new preachers were at first driven from the churches to the fields ; and the doctrines of redemption, conversion, justification and sanctification, produced marvellous effects wherever they were declared.
Mr. Ingham married Lady Margaret Hastings, sister of the celebrated Countess of Huntingdon, and they resided at Bedstone Hall, near Leeds.
At Helmsley, in the North-Biding, Dr. Conyers became a distinguished and successful minister, and had at one time 1 800 communicants : and on account of the prominence of the doctrine of the new birth in his discourses he was called profanely “ Old born again.” At Haworth, near Bradford, the Bev. Wm. Grimshaw had no less than 1200 communicants. Mr. Grimshaw was an eminently laborious and successful preacher, and at Haworth there has been a succession of faithful and earnest preachers, for more than a century : for I have in my possession a printed letter by Isaac Smith, M.A., of Haworth, occasioned by his suspension in 1739, nominally for marrying persons
68
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
not resident in liis chapelry, but most probably for the evangelical doctrines which he set forth — and Haworth has been rendered famous, of late years, by the writings of the daughters of the Hev. Patrick Bronte,
The noble Countess of Huntingdon was a great promoter of this evangelical revival. She appointed several clergymen as her chaplains, who officiated, according to the order of the Church of England, in Parish Churches, and also in chapels founded by her ladyship in various parts of the kingdom : and this continued until it was decided that those chapels were unlawful, when several eminent clergymen withdrew, and confined their services to consecrated buildings.
At the same time the excellent and pious William, second Earl of Dartmouth, became an influential patron of the same party : and being highly esteemed by the good King George III., was able to exert con¬ siderable power in their protection. He was the friend of the poet Cowper, who speaks of him as an exception to the general state of society in the higher ranks, and as
“ One who wears a coronet and prays.”
It was through his lordship’s influence that, in 1759, the Eev. Henry Venn, became Vicar of Huddersfield ; and this commenced a new era in the religious history of the parish and neighbourhood. Mr. Venn was a man of mighty power, “ A burning and a shining light.” His ministry was wonderfully blest to all around ; until he was overwhelmed by his labours, and obliged, in 1770, to resign a post of small endowment,
REV. HENRY VENN.
69
though of extensive usefulness, through failing health, for the small and retired vicarage of Yelling in North¬ amptonshire. The effects of his preaching were compared to that of water upon lime — the people fell before him.
The nomination of Slaith waite perpetual curacy being in the Vicar of 1 1 uddersfield, Mr. Venn appointed the Kev. Samuel Furly, B A , who had been connected with the Countess of Huntingdon, as the successor of Mr. Thorns, in 1761. Mr. Venn preached occasionally at Slaithwaite, and in the course of his visitation to the different townships to receive his dues. In his Memoirs, by his grandson, the present Kev. Henry Venn, he says, “ I am now sitting at Abraham Hall’s, in Goldcar, who is I believe a faithful disciple.” His son, Mr. James Hall, of Golcar, a worthy sup¬ porter of the church in that township, will be recollected by many. He told me that when Mr. Venn came to Huddersfield, some years after he had resigned the vicarage, he remembered going to the parish church with his father to hear Mr. Venn, and in returning some one said — c‘ What ! hast been to hear t’owd Trumpet again !” The anecdote is characteristic of the clear, lucid and authoritative power of Mr. Venn’s ministry of the word, although some¬ times with great tenderness and love. Mr. James Hall, a short time before his death, sent for me, for the purpose of making over to me and my successors his interest in a pew near the pulpit in Slaithwaite church, which he thought convenient for the minister’s family.
70
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
The pulpit of the old parish church in which Mr. Venn preached was removed to Longwood Chapel, on the rebuilding of the church in 1836. Longwood chapel was erected about 1750. Mr. Murgatroyd records : — “ Dec. 12, 1750. Gave James Sykes, Linth* Hall, 5s. a subscription to Longwood Hew Chapel.” There was previously no chapel or place of worship between Slaithwaite and Huddersfield. After Mr. Venn’s removal, as he was not succeeded by a person of like views and zeal, many of the more earnest people came to Slaithwaite Chapel, to enjoy the ministry of the Eev. Mr. Powley, who was also appointed by Mr. Venn in 1767; and his successor the Eev. Thomas Wilson. All of whom were distinguished and honoured preachers of the everlasting gospel : holy and devoted men of God.
The most permanent memorial of this period is “ The Elland Society.” An association of clergymen of Evangelical sentiments, commenced at Huddersfield in 1767, by Mr. Venn, and held at the vicarage until removed to Elland in 1770, when the founder resigned the former cure. It has now continued for ninety- six years ; at first only as a society for mutual exhor¬ tation, instruction and comfort ; but since 1777, as an association for the purpose of helping pious and devoted young men to obtain an education at the universities, and to fit them for the sacred ministry of the church. It still flourishes. The number of its members being limited to twenty-four, who are elected by ballot, a single black ball excluding a candidate.
" REVIVAL OF RELIGION.
71
Nearly two hundred young men have received assist¬ ance ; and many have occupied distinguished positions in the church. The celebrated poet, Henry Kirke "White, and the first Missionary of New Zealand, Samuel Marsden may be specified. The list of members from the first includes many of the eminent names of those clergy who have, in this country especially, maintained the cause of Evangelical religion. Among them are Mr. Powley and Mr. Wilson, of Slaith waite, Mr. Smith, of Almondbury, Mr. Eobinson, of Longwood, and Mr. Padwick, of Linthwaite. The society has again met at Huddersfield since 1844, and its useful¬ ness is only limited by the amount of subscriptions to its funds from well disposed members of the church.
The latter part of the nineteenth century was remarkable for the rise of other societies #of more extensive influence, for the promotion of the cause of true religion at home and abroad — and it was the earnest desire of the ministers to whom our record refers, to co-operate in these movements, in strict accordance with the principles and discipline of the Church of England. The revival had been evidently wrought by the Spirit of God ; it arose within the Church of England ; and it was not the original intention or design of even those who practically separated from her communion, to do so, until, as they thought, compelled by circumstances. It is neither my duty nor wish to judge others, but to rejoice that in this chapelry the zeal of the ministry was tempered with a due regard to ecclesiastical order in the public
72
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
administration ; whilst advantage was taken of such private means of grace as are not now deemed to be inconsistent with true churchmanship.
We return therefore to the first of the new series of Evangelical Ministers: —
Tue Rev. Samuel Euely, B.A., Incumbent, 1761 to 1767.
I am indebted to the late venerable Mr. Samuel Sykes, of Holywell, Slaithwaite, for traditional recol¬ lections of several of the ministers whose labours I have to record, and from him I learned that Mr. Eurlv, when he came to Slaithwaite was a slender, middle-aged man ; that he preached extempore, and resided in the house already described.
The entries of baptisms and burials in the register are in the handwriting of Mr. Murgatroyd, from October, 1760, to March, 1762 — when Mr. Eurly’s hand first appears ; but this may be owing to the entries having been previously made in some other book, as the uniformity of the writing seems to indicate, and Mr. Murgatroyd employed to copy them in. Hence we cannot infer that Mr. Eurly was non¬ resident. The entries continue in his handwriting chiefly until March, 1767, when that of Mr. Murgat¬ royd again appears, until July in the same year, when Mr. Powley’s first occurs.
It is a proof of the success of Mr. Furly’s ministry that it became necessary to enlarge the chapel by the
REV. SAMUEL FURLY.
73
erection of a gallery, for which purpose a faculty was granted 30th April, 1765.
Among Mr. Murgatroyd’s books is a volume of sermons and tracts by Whitfield, Eomaine, and Yenn, with an address by Mr. Furly, entitled “ A Minister’s Letter to his Parishioners, in answer to some serious questions.” Printed by Griffith Wright, at Leeds, dated Slaigh waite, October 20, 1764. A striking and excellent paper, chiefly on the new birth and the doctrines connected therewith. He says “ Your last question inquires 1 What you are to understand by what you are told from the pulpit that there has not been any true Christian doctrine preached here these 100 years, ’till of late.’ This you have never been told from the pulpit ; for I have been informed that, a very little more than eighty years ago, the same truths were taught in this place which are now preached. But waving this, I would desire every impartial person to judge whether the sermons that were preached here a few years ago were agreeable to the true Christian doctrine expressed in our Homilies, and set forth in the writings of our great Eeformers. I leave every one to judge for himself.”
Mr. Furly thus appears to have met with consider, able prejudice and some opposition at Slaithwaite ; .and if I may judge from the very large handwriting in which the following letters are copied by Mr. MurgaL royd, even that good man was not exempt from the feeling at first, although he ultimately adopted the
same views.
74
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
“ An extract of some passages in a letter from the Archbishop of York to the Yicar of Almondbury, dated: Bradsworth, November 24th, 1769, occasioned by Mr. Bishton’s having made his Grace a present of one of Mr. Furly’s famous printed papers : —
“ With regard to the delusions spread amongst the people in your Parish, and in that part of the Diocese, I know no better way to resist the artifices of the deceivers than by plain instruction in the genuine doctrines of Christianity, and constant attention to the parochial duty. In conversing with those who are likely to be led astray, and by small tracts (such as Archbishop Synge’s Knowledge of Beligion made easy for the meanest capacity,) being given them, they may be satisfy’ d with themselves and live honestly, soberly and industriously with comfort and credit. There will be deceivers and deceived, as there have been since the rise of Christianity ; and guarding the minds of those likely to be deceived has been found more effectual than opposing in controversy the Deceivers. I wish success to all your labours and am Your affectionate Brother,
B. EBOB.”
I presume that the following was addressed by Mr. Bishton to Mr. Murgatroyd, at that time his curate.
“ Deae Sie, — As I have not his Grace’s express permission to make his letter public, I must insist upon it that you suffer no copy to be taken, nor even to show or read it, but to persons of approved prudence
REV. SAMUEL FURLY.
75
and discretion — for, should it fall into the hands of those turbulent gentlemen they might possibly publish it, with their unmannerly comments upon it, which might subject me to his Grace’s displeasure, which I am very unwilling to incur. I have been long sensible that these men bear no inward reverence to their ecclesiastical superiors, and only submit to them because they cannot help it, and to keep themselves out of the reach of their discipline.”
Mr. Furly laboured with much earnestness and success, until he left, in 1767, for St. Boche, Cornwall; a small and remote church — and he regretted leaving Slaithwaite. My old friend added that Mr. Furly became blind, but continued to preach; he could repeat the prayers and most of the psalms from memory, and his wife used to read the lessons. I have, however, no confirmation of his blindness, though much of his affliction, And this is all which I have been able to gather respecting him from local tradition, except the following letter, of which I have the original autograph, addressed to Mr. Jos. Mellor, of Lingards, and bearing the post mark of St. Boche.
“ March 25th, 1768.
“ Dejlr Sir,
“ It is now very near a year since I left your village ; but time, which is the rapacious devourer of all things, will never erase from a grateful mind favours that have been once received. When I had the happiness to reside in Slaighwaite, a place which
76
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
will ever share in my affections, I remember with gratitude the repeated civilities which your good nature led you to shew me and mine. But, Dear Sir, it ought to be ever impress’d upon your mind that good nature, which gives a title to the regard of our fellow creatures, will never entitle any one to the kingdom of heaven. What God requires is a sincere acknowledgement and deep sense of the natural aliena¬ tion of the heart from Him ; its shocking inward corruption, an abhorrence of its worldly and sensual desires, a penitent renouncing of this present evil wrorld, and an unfeigned attachment to the Lord Jestjs Cheist, His person, work and grace, His people, cause and truth. Where this is not, the heart is full of evil in the sight of GOD, the external profes¬ sion of religion despised by Him, and the soul rejected from before Him. For the heart can never be in a state which God will approve, till real repentance has humbled it, in a deep sense of its horrid depravity, and the blood and grace of Christ have purged it from guilt and renewed it in holiness. To this the Holy Scripture bears sacred testimony in every part. The Lord give unto you understanding in all things pertaining unto your soul’s good.
It gives me great satisfaction that so valuable a man as Mr. Fowley is with my dear people of Slaigh- waite. Lord Dartmouth esteems him very highly, and thinks him not only a truly gracious servant of God, but in particular a man of most excellent spirit. Our Christian friends at Bath love him and esteem him
REV. SAMUEL EURLY.
77
to a great degree. And two Gospel Ministers in this country, who were with him at College at Oxford, look upon him with an uncommon affection. I am very intimate with them, and often hear them speak of him.
As therefore he is far more worthy of your regard than myself, no doubt but the same kindness you shewed to me you will continue to him.
Our little Jansie and little George had the small pox two or three weeks ago ; they were both very full, and at the time, very ill ; but are happily recovered, and not likely to be much marked.
My dear Nancy now lies in of a little girl and is purely. We both desire our respects to your sister, Miss Mellor, and your son, Pray remember us to the family of the Neilds. With gratitude and love.
I am, Dear Sir,
Your affectionate Friend,
S. FURLY.
P.S. — I have this post wrote to Mr. Bottomley and desired my affectionate regards to all the rest of the people.”
In addition to these local traditions it will be in¬ teresting, I believe, to add the accounts which I have been able, to collect respecting Mr. Furly’s labours and suffering from other sources ; and his previous and subsequent history. In the Memoir of the Countess of Huntingdon, vol. II. p. 2, we read
78
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS,
“It was now (1781) that the Eev. Samuel Furly was removed to Bath, on account of his health. This good man was early connected with the Methodists. While at Cambridge he had formed an acquaintance with Mr. Yenn, then fellow of Queen’s College, ands his senior by eight years. To him he recommended ‘Law’s Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life ;’ and Mr. Yenn read it with peculiar interest and advantage, and immediately began to frame his life, according to the Christian Model there delineated. After his ordination Mr. Furly did duty a few months in London, occasionally assisting Mr. Eomaine, and soon after removed to Lakenlieath in Suffolk. He continued there but a short time, and from that place went into Yorkshire, and resided at Kippax twelve months. Whilst there, Lady Huntingdon became acquainted with Mr. Furly, through the medium of Mrs. Medhurst. He afterwards removed to Slaighthwaite, where he remained five years, and preached to a large congrega¬ tion, to many of whom his ministry was much blessed. There he received, avisitfrom the Countess of Huntingdon, when she was with Lady Margaret Ingham at Aberford. In the year 1766, being in London, he was introduced by the Countess to the excellent Mr. Thornton, of Clapham, who presented him to the living of Eoche in Cornwall.”
“Mr. Furly seldom left his parish ; but whenever he visited Bath, he always rejoiced at being invited to preach in Lady Huntingdon’s chapel. He was a faithful and zealous preacher of the Everlasting Hospel ; rather
REV. SAMUEL FURLY.
79
a Boanerges than a Barnabas (more a Son of Thunder than of Consolation) and his learning aud abilities made him an excellent explainer of the Holy Scriptures. During the period that he was at Bath, for the benefit of his health aud medical advice, Lady Huntingdon, often visited him. “ Dear Mr. Burly (says Mr. Venn) writes me word he had the pleasure of seeing your Ladyship at Miss Gideon’s. Your visits of love to that afflicted friend of mine, and child of God, I doubt not are a more reviving cordial to her soul than any medicine.” (Miss Gideon was a Lady wrho was con¬ verted through the services of Lady Huntingdon’s Chaplain, in her Ladyship’s drawing-room.) Through the whole of her severe illness, Miss Gideon’s cheerful resignation to the Divine will wTas wonderful to those who were eye and ear witnesses to the Christian forti¬ tude and patience with which she bore the most excruciating pain. The conversation of Lady Hunting¬ don and Mr. Burly was peculiarly serviceable to her, and though she had to struggle with much feebleness and pain, occasionally attended his ministry at her Ladyship’s Chapel. ‘‘Hot a complaining word” says the Countess, ever escaped her ; but she is continually repeating the sweet passage of scripture “ Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Dear Mr. Burly prayed with her a few days ago, and administered the Lord’s Supper at her house. Truly this Child of God is in the furnace of affliction ; may she come forth “ like gold from the refiner’s fire.”
80
SLA.IT H WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
The Evangelical Magazine for July 1797, lent me by the Rev. Richard Ebenezer Leach, Incumbent of Holmfirth, contains a life of Mr. Eurly, from which part of the above account is evidently taken. I gather further from it that Mr. Eurly was bom at "Westham in Essex, October 17th, 1722, and was placed early at the Grammar School in that County.
After the death of his father, which happened when he was young, he was entered Eellow Commoner at Queen’s College, Cambridge, as his love of learning and early piety made him wish to take holy orders ; and his wishes were seconded by his worthy and pious mother. "While he was at Cambridge, it pleased God to give him such a measure of divine grace, that he stedfastly resisted those temptations which are so pernicious to young men on their first advancing into life. He was often wont to express the greatest thankfulness to his God for enabling him in mercy to withstand those snares and temptations with which he was surrounded while there. "When he removed for the last time, in 1767, to St. Roche, with his wife and five children, he was a stranger in a remote county, but the supports of the God of Jacob were with him, and enabled him to preach his word with power. Upon his first coming he had to declare the Gospel to a dark people, and it pleased the Lord to bless his labours. The dry bones began to stir. Eor a time he was much attended by numbers from neighbouring parishes. That, however, did not continue long ; the novelty soon ceased, but his zealous labours went on, minding not
REV. SAMUEL FURLY.
81
discouragements. He constantly preached twice every Lord’s day, and for near twenty years had a lecture every Wednesday evening; but as the church was large, and very cold, he, at last, removed the lecture to his own house. In his family he was indefatig¬ able, and he educated his three sons himself. After they were grown up, and had left him. he took a certain number of young gentlemen to instruct; and his great assiduity and attention to them are well known in Cornwall. It pleased God to bless him with a remarkable share of health and spirits for the greatest part of his life ; but about twelve years before his death he was attacked with a violent and uncommon pain in his face, which was at first supposed to be rheumatic, and as such was treated It has since been discovered that his case was mistaken ; and it was plainly perceived at last to have been the seeds of that fatal disorder, a cancer, which removed him from this vale of tears. He had an interval of near five years from his first attack, in which time he suffered but little. In the spring of the year 1794 his disorder took a different turn, though attended with but little pain ; but in the autumn of that year the symptoms had arisen to a very alarming height. From the first, when he heard the nature of his complaint, he well knew he should have much to suffer ; and the Lord gave him strength for the day. His agonies were beyond description great, and from Christmas till his death, which was in August 1795, his nights were sleepless, and spent in the bitterest
82
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
pain, and during all that time lie could not rest his wearied body, for he was totally unable to sit down. In the midst of this furnace of affliction, his reliance on his God was firm and unshaken, and his patience and resignation most exemplary. Not one complaining word ever escaped his lips ; but he was continually repeating that sweet passage of Scripture, “ Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourge th every son whom he receiveth.” “ I know, (said he) that my heavenly Father sends me this affliction in much love, and shall I not patiently bear it ? Is it not a proof that the Lord treats me like a dear child ? and has he not kindly bid me not faint when I am rebuked of him ? Oh that I may but glorify his blessed name in this sore trial ! My God sees that I want the furnace ! May I but come out like gold that has undergone the refiner’s fire !** Throughout the whole of his severe illness his cheerful resignation to the divine will was wonderful to those who were eye and ear witnesses to the Christian fortitude and patience with which he bore the most excruciating pain. Though his sufferings were so great, yet did he still continue his labours both in the church and family ; and when any part of that , or his friends told him that they feared his exertions were beyond his strength, his answer was always, “ My God supports me, and shall I not glorify him while I have breath P Shall I not declare the everlasting Gospel which he has appointed me to preach as long as I am able ? Yes, through his divine assistance, I will shew forth his praise till I join the church triumphant
REV. SAMUEL FURLY.
83
above.” He had always a great share of animal spirits, and much strength of mind ; and, in the younger part of his life, he had to struggle with a natural hastiness of disposition. But how was he changed into the patient lamb before he quitted earth for heaven ? His tenderness and affection to every part of his family was great indeed ; and to a friend, who once came to see him, he blessed God for having given him children who were willing and able to afford him all the assist¬ ance in their power. He was still able to walk by leaning on two persons, and they were his constant supporters. Often did he lift up his heart in thankfulness to the Lord for this mercy ; and he said that his prayers were heard by his heavenly Father, who, in much love, had not confined him to his bed, which he always dreaded.
About a fortnight before his death he was seized with a deadness in his right arm, and his legs were so much swollen, that it was with difficulty he could walk a few steps. Yet such was his ardour in his great Master’s cause, that he was supported to the house of God, and preached a sweet sermon on these words, " Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Numbers heard him, and many strangers were there, who were much affected to see how God assisted his dying servant to declare his precious word to the last. He afterwards adminis¬ tered the blessed sacrament to many Christians, who beheld him with astonishment, and streaming eyes. It was with pleasing and mournful wonder that they
84
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
saw a dear Minister of the blessed Jesus, almost on the verge of heaven, exerting himself to perform his Master’s work : and though one hand was totally dead, yet with the other did he, with trembling steps, carry round the bread and wine to his dear flock for the last time. Throughout the week he seemed to grow weaker and weaker; but faith and patience strengthened. On the Saturday following a symptom took place which betokened that his end was fast approaching. One of his daughters first mentioned it to him with weeping eyes. For a few moments alter he heard it, he continued in prayer with lifted eyes to heaven ; after that he broke forth into an exclamation of praise> telling her she had brought him joyful tidings ; and he then added, “ My prayer to my God has been heard, that he would enable me to bear with meek patience whatever he saw fit to lay upon me. I bless and adore his holy name for this affliction ; he saw that it was necessary for me to wean me from earth. Well know¬ ing that it was the hand of God, I have been contented to suffer as much and for as long a time as he pleased. I shall now soon be released; and how shall I be thankful enough that he, in much love, is going to shorten my sufferings ?” Thus did this blessed man receive the intimation that death was near. In the evening of that day his son-in-law came to see him, who is a sincere believer. The moment he approached him, he cried out, “ My dear son, I have heard joyful news to-day. Your father will soon be in glory.”
Though it may seem incredible to those who read this account, yet did Mr. Eurly go to his church the
REV. SAMUEL EURLY.
85
next day, and preached from t;hese words in the Psalms, “ They that know thy name, will put their trust in thee ; for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” This was a blessed discourse indeed! He spoke from real experience, that he had found the God he trusted a strong hold, a covenant God, who never forsook those who put their reliance on him : and how did he warn sinners to repent, and turn from their evil ways, telling them that he had preached to them for near twenty-seven years from that pulpit, and had, during all that time, repeatedly warned them to flee from the wrath to come ; that he now delivered his message perhaps for the last time, therefore whether they would hear, or whether they would forbear, he had delivered his own soul ; and their guilt would be upon their own heads.” This was indeed the last time he ever preached that Gospel in which his soul delighted. The next day, upon enquiring whether his congregation could hear him, and being told that his voice was very weak, he said, “ Then I am now useless; I have finished my Master’s work , I have done with all things here below.” He also spoke with much dejight of his approaching dissolution. He was now in the last stage of weakness, but his faculties were still unimpaired. On the W ednesday following it was with much difficulty that he was held up by his family ; for in bed he could not continue, and they were afraid that he would die in their arms. In the evening, however, with great difficulty he was put into bed, and for some hours after he seemed rather easier, though
86
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
he could say but little. About three o’clock on Thurs¬ day morning he was taken with the agonies of death. His wife and six of his children were around his bed ; and it was evident that his senses continued, and that in the midst of pain his prayers were directed to his Saviour, who forsook him not in the shadow of death. A short time before he breathed his last, his wife took his hand, and said, “ My dear husband, you are going to Jesus.” He then sweetly fell asleep in that Jesus, to whose arms he was indeed going.
He died August 6th, 1795, at about nine o’clock in the morning. He left behind him eight children, two sons and six daughters, who were all grown up.
The Record extracted from the Graduati Canta- brigienses, at the end of the last Lecture, shews that Mr. Burly took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1758, and did not proceed to a higher degree. Another Samuel Burly, most probably his son, took the same degree at Magdalen College in 1781. This is all that I have been able to add to the preceding accounts of himself and family.
The Rev. Matthew Powley, M.A., 1767 to 1777.
We have already been prepared by the written testimony of Mr. Burly, to appreciate the excellence of his successor in the Cure of Slaithwaite, the Rev. Matthew Powley, who held the same for about ten years. He was a very superior man, and his memory is justly cherished. His wife was also a person of learning and piety. I have heard it said that he took
REV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
87
his Hebrew Bible to Church, and she her Greek Testament. They resided in the old house in Backlane, which was taken down a few years ago, and he minis¬ tered in the Old Chapel. In his time there was a new Deed of Trust of the Free School executed, of which he was ex-officio a Trustee: it bears date Dec. 14th, 1771; and again he continues Trustee, although be¬ come Yicar of Dewsbury, and executed a new Deed of Trust, in 1784. In June 1775, on the occasion of a great flood, it appears from several entries in the Town Books that Mr. Powley preached in the Burial Croft. The Old Chapel was then liable to these inun¬ dations, which were effectually prevented by the diver¬ sion of the course of the Biver Colne, on the formation of the Canal, about twenty years afterwards.
Mr. Powley’s very neat hand first appears in the Begister March 26th, 1768, and continues until June 28th, 1777, when it is succeeded by that of Mr. Wilson, which is very poor.
Mr. Murgatroyd’s Common Place Books contain re¬ cords of Mr. Powley reading the Articles and a Homily, (probably that on Justification, referred to in the Eleventh Article, and entitled “ On the Salvation of Mankind,”) on his reading himself him ; adding obser¬ vations upon them as he went along. Mr. Murgatroyd also mentions his first text, 1 Cor. II. ch. ver. 2 — “ I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him Crucified,” and many other similar texts are recorded, which shew the very large and faithful dispensation of the gospel which the peo-
88
SLA.ITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
pie then enjoyed ; and Mr. Murgatroyd’s gradual appreciation and approbation, as before expressed. I found also in the church an old folio copy of the Book of Common Prayer, in which are various notes on the Psalms, in the handwriting of Mr. Powley; and in the Register Book, a recipe for making ink, which cer¬ tainly proves its own excellence, being, after the lapse of near a century, black and brilliant as ever.
The Rev. Thomas Wilson became Mr. Powley’s Curate in 1777, about a year before the latter resigned Slaithwaite, when appointed to the Vicarage of Dews¬ bury, but he held both livings by dispensation from the Crown, which was obtained through Lord Dartmouth, the object being to enable Mr. Wilson to succeed. Mr. Powley continued to preach occasionally until 1779. On one of these subsequent visits he preached an emphatic sermon on the words of Zechariah, chap. I. v. 5, “ Your fathers, where are they ? and the pro¬ phets, do they live for ever ?” I am indebted to the present Vicar of Dewsbury (Rev. S. P. Field), for the following information : — “ The tradition here as to his personal appearance is that he was a tall, thin, pale man, with dark hair. In his ministration in the pulpit very energetic, but his voice shrill and unpleasing. As the verses on the mural tablet in the Chancel seem to indicate, the parishioners did not esteem him as he deserved ; partly because he was a preacher of righteousness in an ungodly generation, and partly because in the late years of his ministry, he was much hindered by bodily infirmity, which the good Christians
REV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
89
ot those days, as too often in our own time, seemed to think to he in a clergyman a fault rather than a mis¬ fortune. In the Chancel, too, is an oval-shaped mural tablet, to the memory of two female servants, for many years resident in the family. His domestic habits and ways seem to have been of the plainest and simplest character.’ *
Mr. Field adds the following copy of the inscrip¬ tion : —
IN MEMORY
OF THE REY. MATT. POWLEY, M.A.,
(29 years Vicar of this Parish),
Born in Westmorland, 1740,
Buried here, 1806.
He lov’d the earth that hated him, the tear That dropp’d upon his Bible was sincere ;
Assailed by scandal, and the tongue of strife,
His only answer was a blameless life ;
And he that forg’d, and he that threw the dart,
Had each a brother’s interest in his heart !
Paul’s love of Christ, and steadiness imbibed,
Were copied close by him and well transcribed.
He followed Paul, his zeal a kindred flame,
His yearnings o’er immortal souls the same ;
Like him he laboured , and like him unmov’d,
He meekly suffered for the God he lov’d.
In Mr. Venn’s life, page 513, is a letter dated Sep. 6, 1792, wherein he says, “ Since I began this letter Mr. Powley is come to see me, and tears filled his eyes on seeing me so much reduced. We have had much sweet intercourse together.” There are also two letters to Mr. Powley from Mr. Venn, in the same publication.
90
SLAITHWAITE CHUKCH ANNALS.
To the above memoranda, I am enabled to add the ' following extract from the Life of the Conntesa of Huntingdon, under the date 1768 : —
“ Her Ladyship’s Chapel (at Bath), was supplied at the commencement of the year by the Bev. Matthew Powley, a man of superior talents and distinguished piety. He had been mentioned to her Ladyship in terms of approbation by Mr. Venn and Mr. Berridge, both of whom esteemed him very highly for his inde¬ fatigable diligence and zeal in the service of the Church of Christ. This was Mr. Powley’ s first introduction to the congregation at Bath, and it was highly encou¬ raging to him to learn, on his return to Yorkshire, that the Lord of the Harvest had crowned his labours with success.”
In a letter from her Ladyship to Mr. Venn, acknow¬ ledging her obligations to him for having recommended one so able and faithful, she adds, “ Mr. Powley took his leave on Sunday, in the words of the Apostle,
4 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ &c. It was one of the most solemn and affecting meetings which I ever remember to have attended. The Lord was remarkably present, and the whole congregation seemed to bow beneath the power of the Spirit. The unction of the Holy One in a peculiar manner rested upon his labours here. I have heard of two persons awakened by his majestic appeals to the conscience, and trust very many spiritual children from this place will be his joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord.”
REV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
91
In another part of the same work we read, “ One of the benefits which resulted to Mr. Unwin by the removal of Mrs. Unwin and the Poet Cowper to Olney, was his acquaintance and intimacy with the Rev. M. Powley. This gentleman had graduated at Oxford, and was ordained about the same time with Mr. Newton, in 1764, and settled within a mile of Dr. Haweis, in Northamptonshire. He was extremely intimate with him, and frequently supplied his church during his absence. “ I trust,” says Mr. Newton, “ I have provided well for Olney in my absence, by Mr. Powley ; he is a very valuable young man, he loves the people and they him, may the Lord bless them together.” Mr. Powley’s occasional visits to Olney brought him acquainted with the Unwins, and he soon learned to indulge an attachment for Miss Unwin, a young lady of distinguished excellence and piety, which ended in their union. This amiable woman survived her excellent husband, and all those interest¬ ing characters with whom she was so intimately associated in early life, and closed her lengthened career in Yorkshire, near the scene of her partner’s labours, in the month of November, 1835, having attained the advanced age of 89. (See appendix.)
The following account of Mr. Powley, and of his last moments, extracted from a periodical of the day, appears in the memoir of his successor, the Rev. John Buckworth, written by Mr. Stammers, his brother-in- law : —
“ This truly pious and valuable clergyman was born at Whale-moor, in the parish of Louther, and county
92
SLAITHWAITE CHUECH ANNALS.
of Westmorland, Sep. 21, 1740; and, after having been well grounded in classic literature, at the Gram¬ mar School at Appleby, was admitted of Queen’s College, Oxford, where he proceeded regularly to the degree of M.A. Nothing particularly interesting to the Christian reader can be recorded of him previously to the commencement of his residence at Oxford. There it was that he became, for the first time, experi¬ mentally acquainted with religion, and began to bow the knee of prayer before God, as a sincere and humble petitioner for mercy through the merits of Christ. The exceeding sinfulness of sin, the unsatisfying nature of all sublunary acquisitions and enjoyments, and the unspeakable importance of an interest in the redemption of the Son of God, became, not long after his admission, the subjects of his most serious medita¬ tion ; and the topics on which, from that time, he chiefly dwelt, in all his communications with God and man. His attendance on the ministry of a clergyman, who preached at that time in Oxford with fidelity and success, must be regarded as the means by which, under the divine blessing, he was first awakened to a sense of his spiritual dangers, and brought to the knowledge of his Saviour, and to the experience of ‘joy and peace in believing.’ But zeal for the distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel being a much more rare qualification half a century ago than it is at present, the opposition to which it was exposed was, of course, more consider¬ able ; and Mr. Powley was informed by the ruling members of his college, as soon as his religious senti-
REV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
93
ments and attachments were ascertained, that he must either determine never more to exchange visits with the clergyman whose ministry had proved so great a blessing to him, or renounce all hope of academical preferments, which might otherwise be easily obtained. He hesi¬ tated for a considerable time to make the sacrifice required of him ; but was at length induced by the advice of his friends in general, and of the obnoxious individual himself in particular, to yield in that instance. He did so. Still, however, his superiors were dissatisfied; for it was found, that though he strictly and literally fulfilled his engagements with the college, he nevertheless persevered in attending upon the public ministry of his friend. This , therefore, he was now called upon to renounce, as well as every other species of intercourse with him — but in vain. Conscience would admit of no farther compromise with those who would have substituted gain for godli¬ ness, as the object of his pursuit. The exclusion of Mr. Powley from such advancement as his college could bestow, was the consequence of his unshaken firmness.
“ His conduct on this occasion secured to him the favourable opinion and good wishes of all pious and respectable persons who became acquainted with it ; and it gained him the patronage of a man whose praise is in the church, and with whom it 'was indeed an honour to be in any way connected. No sooner did a late venerable and excellent divine (at that time vicar of Huddersfield) hear of it, than, with that
94
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
generosity which ever distinguished him, he instantly resolved to present Mr. Powley to the first vacant chapelry which was in the gift of his church. About three years elapsed from the time of Mr. Powley’s entering into holy orders, before an opportunity occurred for the fulfilment of this gentleman’s kind intentions ; during which period he was employed by the late Bev. Brook Bridges, as his curate, at Waden- hoe, in Northamptonshire. But at length the perpetual curacy of Slaithwaite, in the parish of Huddersfield, becoming vacant, he was licensed to it, on the nomination of the vicar, in 1767.
The time of his residence at Slaithwaite he was always accustomed to consider as the happiest portion of his life. He was stationed among people who knew how to estimate his worth ; and his labours were abundantly blessed to the conversion and edifica¬ tion of his hearers. Soon after this, he was united to Miss Unwin, daughter of the late Bev. Mr. Unwin, of Huntingdon, in whose family the poet Cowper was so kindly sheltered during the years of his adversity.
“ In 1777 Mr. Powley was presented by the King to the vicarage of Dewsbury, which had been procured for him by the interest of the late Earl of Dartmouth. He derived much comfort from the recollection, that his presentation to Dewsbury came to him perfectly unsolicited, and without any kind of interference on his part.”
“ Eor meekness and humbleness of mind, for sincerity and integrity of heart and life, for love to
REV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
95
God and to the souls of men, and for a faithful and laborious discharge of professional duties, the subject of this memoir was eminently distinguished. His latter years, however, notwithstanding the amiable qualities of his mind, and the Unblameableness of his life, were rendered extremely painful and distressing to him, by the perverseness and ingratitude of many of the people among whom he dwelt and laboured, and whose welfare was the object, of all others, nearest to his heart. But it is hoped, that those who opposed and persecuted him while living , may learn to reverence his character, and to value the truths which he taught and exemplified, now that he is no more. Some appearances of a promising nature are already discoverable ; and, in compliance with his dying wish, a petition, drawn up on behalf of his curate, was signed by upwards of a thousand resident house keepers, and presented by Mr. Fawkes, one of the county members, to Lord Grenville, in whom, as Prime Minister, the right of nomination to the living on Mr. Powley’s death was vested, who no sooner understood the object of the petition, than he cheer¬ fully granted it. Mr. Powley therefore had the heartfelt satisfaction to learn, before he breathed his last, that at the reguest of his parishioners themselves , his living was assured to the very person whom he had desired to succeed him. "When the tidings reached him, he had yet strength to exclaim, ‘ Bless God ! Praise God !’ Shortly afterwards he entered into his rest.”
96
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
Mr. Buckworth, Mr. J ackson, Incumbent of Slaith¬ waite, and Mr. Stammers, all married daughters of John Halliley, Esq., of Dewsbury; and Mr. Buck- worth, in consequence, became afterwards connected with Slaithwaite, and occasionally occupied the pulpit. His name is well known, as having been the tutor of Bishop Corrie and many other clergymen eminent in the missionary field ; and he conducted, for many years, the Cottage Magazine, one of the earliest and most successful of the cheap religious periodicals. He was for a short time curate of St. Chad’s, Shrewsbury, where I, as a boy, recollect to have seen and heard him. He was a friend of my parents, and after forty years had elapsed, on paying a visit to his widow, at Dewsbury, I was delighted to find on her table a book on the Pastoral Care, presented in 1813 to Mr. Buckworth, by my revered father.
You, my dear friends, will excuse these personal recollections in a lecture, which must derive its chief interest from similar associations in your own minds with those who were dear to you, but are now gone to ** the house appointed for all living.”
In closing this lecture we must gratefully remark that for an unbroken period of seventeen years, as we have seen, Slaithwaite was favoured with a full and clear exposition of the Gospel, under two very eminently gifted ministers ; scholars and gentlemen, as well as Christians ; and while mainly anxious for the conversion of souls, they were sincerely attached to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. The con-
REV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
97
gregations had become very large, and the chapel very insufficient, and owing to frequent floods, very ruinous.
Mr. Powley on his appointment to Dewsbury, had made excellent provision for his Cure at Slaith waite, by engaging the services of the Eev. Thomas Wilson as his Curate, until Mr. Wilson was able to take the living, which in process of time was the case. The history of Slaithwaite for thirty-two years under the ministry of this apostolic man, will form the subject of our next lecture.
In the meanwhile, in the language of the prayer for the church militant, “ let us bless God’s holy name for all these his servants departed this life in his faith and fear, beseeching him to give us grace, so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of his heavenly kingdom.”
Slaithwaite, April 16th, 1863.
August 20th, 1863, I copied the following inscription from the Monument in Trinity Church, Ripon : —
“ This Tablet is inscribed to the Memory of
SUSANNAH POWLEY, only daughter
Of Mrs. Unwin, the friend of Cowper,
and relict of *
The Rev. Matthew Powley, M.A.,
Vicar of Dewsbury.
Her hope had long been fixed on him who is the Resurrection and the Life,
And she died in peace 9th Nov., 1835,
Aged 89 years.
I
APPENDIX No. III.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OE LECTURE III.
WILLIAM, SECOND EARL OE DARTMOUTH.
The following are Cowper’s lines in his poem, entitled “ Truth;” referring to the state of religion among the higher classes in his day ; happily the number of those among the nobility at the pre¬ sent time, who evince a serious regard for it» interests, is much greater : —
“ Envy, ye great, the dull unlettered small ;
Ye have much cause for envy — but not all ;
We boast some rich ones whom the gospel sways ;
And one who wears a coronet, and prays ;
Like gleanings of an olive tree, they show
Here and there one upon the topmost bough.”
The allusion in the last line is to Isaiah XVII. 6.
ELLAND SOCIETY.
Several of the students benefitted by this society have returned the amount in after periods of life. Thus Mr. Marsden’s name appears in the list of donors for £200.
In the report issued last year is a summary of the history of the society since its commencement.
Among the lay contributors are, from 1778 to 1798, The Earl of Dartmouth, £241 10s. ; Sir Richard Hill, £175 ; William Wilberforce, Esq., £2565 ; Henry Thornton, Esq., £3880 ; among the Clerical, Rev. Charles Simeon £275 ; &c., ko. These illustrate Cowper’s gleanings “ on the topmost bough.”
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
99
.
REY. HENRY VENN.
The following is a copy of the Monument to this eminent Divine in Huddersfield Parish Church : —
Sacred to the Memory of the REV. HENRY VENN,
From 1759 to 1771, Vicar of Huddersfield,
In a dark age of the Church,
He was a burning and a shining light ;
And the people of this place rejoiced in his light.
In affectionate and unwearied labours among them he spent the vigour of his days ;
Nor resigned the charge
Till compelled by broken health and an enfeebled constitution. The years of declining life He passed in comparative retirement,
As Rector of Yelling, Hunts.,
And died June 24th, 1797, at Clapham, Surrey,
Where his mortal remains lie interred, in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection.
On occasion of the re-building of this Church, Sixty-six years from the close of his Ministrations in it, His surviving children and grand-children,
Finding his memory still embalmed in the hearts of many at Huddersfield,
And conscious themselves from an experience,
That has each successive year accumulated,
Of the privilege of such a parentage,
Unite in erecting this tablet As their testimony to the truth of the promises, that 11 The kindness of the Lord is from generation to generation upon such as fear him.”
And that
“ The Memory of the just is blessed.”
ioo
SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS-
EV. MATTHEW POWLEY.
The following are the entries in Slaithwaite Chapelwardeti’* accounts referred to : —
£ s. d.
1775, June 9. Cleaning Chapel after flood . 0 4 0
,, ,, 11, A rest to preach on in the burial
croft, after flood . 0 0 4
Again : — <
1777, Aug. 7. Expenses when Mr. Powley pcht. (preacht) in yc burying ground after the flood . 0 1 6
It is amusing that about the same time we find the following entries : —
Wood for Cuck Stool . 0 7 0
Ditto for Whipping Post . 0 3 0
The following is extracted from the Gentleman’s Magazine for April, 1777
‘ Dispensation. Rev. Matthew Powley, M.A., to hold Dews¬ bury V. with the perpetual Curacy of Slaithwaite, York¬ shire.”
Mr. Murgatroyd’s M.S. contains the following memoranda : — “At Slaighw1, 26 April, 1767. New Parson’s text, M. 1 Cor. ii. ch , 2nd verse. V. Heb. vii. ch. 25 v. Sep. 27, M. Articles 9th, 11th, and a Homily, a text was taken, Jeremiah, vi. 15. Nov. ye 8th, All the Articles of the Church read, and observations made of them in the morning.”
“Aug. 22nd, 1779, at Slaithwaite Chapel, Mr. Powley’s morning text, 1 John, iv. 9 and 10, which is the first time of my going to Chapel since Dec. 22nd, 1776.” This was the time of Mr. Murgatroyd’s trouble at Marsden. “ Aug. 29, at Slaighwaite.”
The Evening Mail of August 24th, 1863, contained the follow¬ ing announcement : —
Died, on the 19tli inst., near Southampton; Mary Anne, wife of the Rev. Matthew Powley, British Chaplain at Malaga.
LECTURE IV.
Tiie Ret. Thomas Wilson, Cerate and Incum¬ bent, 1777 to 1809. — Ret. Walter Smith, Curate, 1789 and 1790 — Ret. William Roberts, Curate, 1805 to 1810.
We have already heard that the excellent and Apos¬ tolic Thomas Wilson, came first to Slaitliwaite in the character of curate to the Rev. Matthew Powley, in the year 1777. He was then a poor man, and his first appearance in the village created some prejudice ; but he soon proved, that if he was not clothed in purple and fine linen, he was endued with eloquence of a remark¬ able kind, and such evident sincerity, plain sense, and spirituality of mind that the confidence he at once gained, he never lost during the thirty two years of his Ministry.
Eor ten years he laboured with difficulties of a legal and local kind, in endeavouring to build the Chapel, or rather, as it proved, to construct a new one on a much larger scale, and on a different site. The inhabitants of Linthwaite and Golcar, were then anxious to claim an interest in the Chapel ; whilst those of Slaith waite and Lingards maintained that since the rebuilding of the Chapel in 1719, they alone had borne the expenses, and had always maintained it in repair by assessment, although the other townships had contributed occa¬ sionally by cartage and free labour.
The great success of Mr. Wilson and his immediate predecessors had been proved by the erection of several
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galleries at different times, which were found insuffi¬ cient, and the Chapel had become prematurely ruinous, in consequence of the floods, already alluded to, which inundated the floor and seats ; before the course of the river was diverted by the construction of the canal some years after the Chapel was taken down. The number of communicants was also very great, three hundred partook : and I find in 1779, an additional communion cup provided.
Mr. Wilson provided for the better instruction of the young, by the commencement of Sunday Schools in the year 1.783, — and they must have been among the earliest in England ; — and were held in several places, at private houses, by zealous and pious persons of his con¬ gregation. One especially at Brook Side, in Crimble Clough (valley) at the house of Benjamin Sykes ; where a venerable man, named Joseph Mellor, who went on two crutches, and was carried sometimes on the back of another person (John Mayall of Vineyard and who died in 1843) superintended aSunday School on the principles of the Church. The Psalms and Lessons were read aloud, prayers and catechism said, accompanied with sound and earnest religious instruction ; and sometimes the crutch was used by Mellor, to enforce his argu¬ ments upon the refractory. Another School was held at Lower Wood in Lingards. These Schools were, in 1800, collected into a large chamber or “ Warehouse,” near the Bridge, under Joseph Lunn, (recently deceased) where they continued until 1813, when they were removed to the large Vestry under the Church,
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and so remained until 1841, (when this National School was erected,) under the direct superintendence of the successive Ministers.
At length, owing to the exertions of Mr* "Wilson, the difficulties were removed, and the site for a new Church and Churchyard was freely granted by The Eight Honorable William, Second Earl of Dartmouth, (before-named as the friend of Venn, Eurly, and Powley,) at Mallingfield, in Slaithwaite, and conveyed to Mr. Wilson, and Messrs. Samuel Wood, and Joseph Eastwood, of Slaithwaite ; John Lawson Yarley, James Shaw, John and Benjamin Sykes, of Lingards ; and the Church was finally consecrated, by Archbishop Markham, August 4th, 1789, while yet unfinished.
The New Structure, plain and substantial in its character, was very capacious compared with its prede¬ cessor. It was calculated to hold 1360 persons in pews : all of which were immediately filled with atten¬ tive hearers : even before the building was completed. Additional accommodation was afterwards provided for the Sunday Scholars, making the whole about 1500 sittings. The congregations gathered from all the surrounding country were immense : many came from Huddersfield ; they stood, it is said, like corn in a field : sometimes double rows in a seat. There was no Dissent in the Valley; and no other Evangelical Preacher. Then were to a great extent realised the expressions of my familiar poem :
“ They lived in unity and peace No party discord knew,
Like angel bands in holiness And ready service too.”
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SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
The families all attended Church who could get accommodation, and it was a very pleasing sight to observe them winding down the hills^ (as it still continues to be) from the remotest habitations of this scattered district.
The pews in the Old Chapel were removed to the new one and additional seats constructed. The increased accommodation, amounting to about 730 sittings, was disposed of by lot, as freehold by purchase, to form a fund for the buildiug ; as there were in those days no Government Grants, no Diocesan or Incorporated Church Building Societies, or other modern aids to Church erection ; and as the use of the Church was not confined to the Ratepayers, it could not be done equitably by assessment. Occupants of old sittings continued to pay as before, unless they were also pre¬ viously freehold by custom. This arrangement was certainly illegal, and unjust to the Minister, who derived no increase of income from the immense enlargement of the area of the Church, and consequent labour in public services and pastoral visitation ; but in this, as in every thing, Mr. "Wilson shewed his disinterestedness, aud there was probably no other way of accomplishing the object of providing for the people who thronged to his Ministry. The same num¬ ber of sittings were still, and are to this day paid for ; amounting, at eighteenpence or two shillings (for a few) per sitting, to about £45 per annum. All the rest were and continue free from any payment to the Minister. Mr. Wilson was a man of strong health, of
REV. THOMAS WILSON.
105
plain and frugal habits ; he married a respectable jyidow, who had some fortune, and whose father, Mr. Schofield, of Delph in Saddleworth, (called familiarly Mr. Goodman) assisted Mr. Wilson in building the convenient house adjoining the Churchyard, in which the successive Ministers have resided, on a lease granted by the Earl of Dartmouth, for fifty years, which expired in 1839, and the house is now the property of that noble Earl’s descendant.
Mr. Wilson, however, received in 1776 and 1792, two donations of £200 each, (by lot,) from Queen Anne’s Bounty ; and with which the farm at Crofthouse in Scammonden was purchased in 1796 ; but the con¬ veyance was not completed until 1799; and which added about £20 per annum to the living. This matter also cost Mr. W. much labour and anxiety, including a journey to London, in 1799 or 1800 ; and I find from a memorandum on the back of a document, in Mr. Wilson’s hand, “ Texts preached at Mr. S. Chapel “We preach Wisdom to them who are perfect — Aftern. Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.’* Which I presume refers to the Lock Chapel, of which the Bev. Thomas Scott, the Commentator, was Minister.
In all these labours Mr. Wilson was well supported by the venerable men, who were Trustees with him of the Church — especially Mr. Wood and Mr. Yarley. The former laid down all the money for the building, and received it as it arose from the sale of sittings ; and in 1791, an organ was added* procured from York, by those gentlemen, at a cost of one hundred aud forty
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guineas and freight. It was played on by Mr. John Schofield, a native amateur ' musical genius, from^ that time to his death, May 24th, 1843. He played previously on a smaller one, making the whole period of his gratuitous service, fifty-four years — as recorded on the monument erected to his memory — and whose noble, original, and effective performances, will be fresh in the recollection of most of my hearers.
About the year 1799, great distress prevailed in consequence of bad harvests ; when Mr. Wilson expended far more than he could spare in the relief of the sufferers. It is still recollected as “ Barley time,” and interesting records are found in the “ Town Books.” (See Appendix.)
Mr. Wilson laboured singly for above twelve years ; but in 1789 and 1790, was assisted by theEev. Walter Smith, afterwards Curate of Almondbury ; of whom I have a brief account in a note on the Funeral Ser¬ mon, preached in 1825, on the death of the Eev. John Coates, Vicar of Huddersfield, by the Eev. Henry John Maddock, Incumbent of Trinity Church in that town. — (See Appendix.) His handwriting appears in the Eegister from April 1789 to Oct. 31, 1790: and in Mr. Murgatroyd’s Journal there is also a curious entry on the subject of his appointment as Classical Master of Slaithwaite Free School. I have no tradi¬ tional account of Mr. Smith’s Ministry, but the testimony of the late Eev. James Quarmby, who was his Scholar, that he discharged his duty in a conscien¬ tious manner. Mr. Smith’s after-life deserves a
REV. THOMAS WILSON.
107
separate notice. His last words were, “ Pardon and ;Peace.”
As before observed, for many years after Mr. Wilson came, there was no dissent. But about the year 1790, a Schism was first made in the seamless robe of the Church, (as Cyprian the Martyred Bishop of Carthage, in his treatise on the Unity of the Church expresses it, of the Novatian Heresy) and the history is very curious. Mr. Wilson had refused to sanction, (as was then necessary) the renewal of the license of an Inn¬ keeper, on account of some irregularity, and the Magistrates accordingly would not grant it. At the same time it happened that Mr. Wilson, who was a peace-maker, had been called on to settle a dispute between two neighbours at Clough-house in Slaithwaite, respecting some hens, which had “ layed away” in another person’s barn, and who claimed the eggs. Mr. Wilson decided against this claim, and in favour of the owner of the hens. The disappointed party, being offended, united with the publican ; and when the justices refused the license for the public-house, the landlord said, “ Then I will thank you to give me a license for a Dissenting Meeting-house.” To this purpose his principal room was devoted, fetching the Baptists from Salendine Nook ; and thus, it has been facetiously observed, “ Schism was literally hatched in Slaithwaite : they layed away then, and have layed away ever since.”
Now, however, Mr. Wilson’s real troubles began. His soul was much grieved, when several of his most
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respectable followers forsook Lira, and walked no more with him ; and be said to others “ will ye go away also ?” It is probable that the cause was partly that, while Mr. Wilson was sound and Evangelical in all his views, he was most practical also in his applications. But he did not make the doctrine of Election so prominent as some of these persons desired ; and with “high doctrine,” were also imbibed objections to Infant Baptism, and other ordinances of the Church, which Mr. Wilson met in his plain and effective manner. The rite of circumcision was shewn to be analogous to Baptism ; and he asked, if Isaac and the Children of the Jews were fitter for admission into the Church of God at eight days old, upon the faith of their parents, than Christian children now.
Thus, however, commenced the first separation, and it resulted in the erection of a Meeting-house of the Particular Baptists at Powle Moor, in Scammonden, in 1790; and from which a still more extreme and exclusive party, denying the Law as a Pule of Life, seceded in 1816, and raised Providence Chapel, at Ingnook in Linthwaite; both adjoining the boundaries of Slaithwaite as near as possible, though in opposite directions, as no site, could be obtained within the Chapelry. Previous to this dissent the families all attended Church, morning and afternoon, and I believe were collected frequently at home in the Sunday Evenings ; and around the hearth were questioned as to the lessons, texts, and sermons, and catechized by their parents; —a very wholesome custom, which, if
REV. THOMAS WILSON.
109
general, would render Evening Services unnecessary in a great degree, as they are in many cases of doubtful advantage to the young. Mr. "Wilson also catechized frequently after the second lesson in Afternoon Service, and weekly in the Eree School.
Mr. Wilson lost his excellent wife October 2nd, 1792, in the 46th year of her age. He had no Curate of whom we have any record from 1790 until 1805 ; but the late Miss Armitage, of Honley, (foundress of the Churches at Milnsbridge and Brockholes) informed me that the Eev. Mr. Westerman was Curate of Slaithwaite and Master of the School for one or two years ; and I find in the Eegister a strange hand from May 7th, 1791, to September in the same year. In 1805 the Eev. William Eoberts became Mr. Wilson’s assistant, and resided with him, as Timothy to Paul, a Sonin the Gospel. He obtained the very general love and attachment of the people, and is still remembered by many. I rejoice to say that he is still living as Eector of Eadwell, Herts, and I have the pleasure of his correspondence. He remained with Mr. Wilson until his death ; when there was considerable disap¬ pointment that he was not chosen as his successor. Mr. Wilson continued his labours until about six months before he dropped the mantle of mortality. His last Sermon was from Isaiah XLV. 22 — “ Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth,” and I am told that he climbed the pulpit steps on his hands and knees to deliver his parting message.
Mr. Wilson was very active for many years, he rode great distances, and nothing daunted by wet weather,
K
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SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
was in the habit of walking about in a cloak and a pair of pattens. His presence created respect in the most ungodly : the drunken and profane would hide them¬ selves when he came in sight. He visited every “ fold” frequently, and would collect the inhabitants into some house, when he would read the Scriptures and pray ; and that with such earnestness that he could be heard a long distance. I have been told this, not only by old inhabitants, but also by our good Archdeacon, Dr. Musgrave, and his late most Reverend Brother the Archbishop of York ; both of whom, being Scholars at Birstall, were in the habit of attending Slaithwaite Church whilst spending their holidays at Marsden, with Mr. Horsfall, the gentleman who was shot by the Luddites in 1812. They were deeply impressed by Mr. Wilson’s solemnity in private prayer, and have ever shewn great interest in Slaithwaite and its spiritual good.
Mr. Wilson was plain and earnest in his style, and very energetic and loud in his pulpit ministrations, and would stamp and thunder, as well as sometimes weep, and use the most tender persuasions. He was probably an instance of what Dr. Johnson gives as the cause of the success of the early Methodists. “ Sir, it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do good to the common people, and which Clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their Congregations.
He was very graphic, and full of illustrations in his preaching ; idiomatic and well understood in his
REV. THOMAS WILSON.
Ill
language, being an indigenous Yorkshireman, a stone mason by original trade.
He was most faithful in dealing with his parish¬ ioners in his pastoral visitations.
A late well-known tradesman in Huddersfield, who married Mr. Wilson’s niece, and was descended from the ancient family of Dyson, of High Westwood, in Golcar, told me in 1840, that he was converted through Mr. Wilson’s Ministry ; and that the first impression was made by a conversation with him. He then resided at Crimble, and was found at the loom, where Mr. Wilson having, according to his custom, called for a suspension of the “din” of business; addressed him, “ John, when you have done that piece, and cut it off, what will there be left ? Why Thrums, Sir ! (I need not explain to you my friends, that these are the rough ends of the Cloth, by which it is attached to the loom ; but which are alluded to Isaiah XXXVIII. 12. Thou hast cut off as a weaver my life, or in the margin “ From the Thrum.”) “ Well! and when you have run through your present wild life, John, what will there be left but thrums, ? A ruined body and a damned soul !” The impression never left him — and he told me that he removed to Huddersfield, where he prospered in business, and had originally become a Wesleyan, because he could not obtain accommodation in the Parish Church. He ultimately, in 1839, pro¬ moted the building of the “ Wesleyan Centenary Chapel,” in the part of Linth waite which adjoins Slaithwaite ; in which former township we shall find
112
SLAITH WAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
that Wesleyan Methodism made an entrance at Hoyle- house Clough some years after Mr. Wilson’s death, in the time of Mr. Walter.
It is a curious illustration of the history of dissent that the Baptist Meeting, at Powle Moor, was partly constructed out of the old timber of Slaithwaite Chapel, which was taken down about two years before, having been purchased by a builder, who afterwards became one of the seceders. Truly the ancient and sound parts of their system have been borrowed from “ the Church of our Fathers !”
Mr. Wilson’s doctrine may be judged of from the fact that he was the means of several copies of Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Bible being purchased by the people ; he much promoted family worship, and the devout keeping of the Lord’s day. Mr. Wilson died on the 2nd of July, 1809, in his 65th year,
The Register of his burial, in the handwriting of Mr. Roberts, is as follows : —
“ 1809. July 5th. The Revd. Thos. Wilson, 32 years a labori¬ ous and successful Minister of the Gospel in Slaithwaite. He was greatly beloved by the flock over which he presided, and much respected by all true lovers of godliness, who had the happiness of his acquaintance.”
His character is also very briefly, but expressively summed up in the Inscription on a Marble Tablet in our Chancel.
<( An Israelite indeed.”
REV. THOMAS WILSON.
113
It is more elaborately set forth in the poetical Inscription on the Tombstone in the Old Burial Croft, probably composed by the Rev. W. Smith.
“Go feed my Lambs,” the heavenly Shepherd cried,
“ Go feed my Lambs ” again that voice replied ;
Firm to his trust, a servant here is laid,
Who heard the tender precept and obeyed ;
Back to green pastures, he the wanderers led,
The weakly foster’d and the hungry fed,
Rebuk’d the bold, but bid the timid rise,
And gave new strength and wisdom to the wise.
Farewell, blest Spirit ; for a toil like this Thy Lord shall lead thee by the streams of bliss,
And give thee, guided by his staff and rod,
To join thy flock again, and see thy God.
As Mr. Wilson was very early in adopting the great institution of Sunday Schools, which has taught the whole population in this Riding to read the Bible ; so that one who is “ not a scholar,” is now a rare exception, so he embraced the cause of Missions in its revival, at the opening of the present century. I learn from a statement recently published, that in 1803, a Sermon was preached in Slaith waite Church, on behalf of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East, then in the fourth year of its existence; and ten pounds were collected. It will be seen in my next Lecture, that an Association was formed in 1813 ; which has therefore existed fifty years ; and the interest in the cause, which is still felt, is of above sixty years growth.
Mr. Wilson had no family ; but his sister Elizabeth married Mr. William Yarley, Schoolmaster, and they were the parents of Mrs. Jane Dyson, of Hudders¬ field ; and who has lately deceased, leaving a large
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SLAITHWAITE CHURCH ANNALS.
family of children and grandchildren. One of her daughters married Thomas Mallinson, Esq., Justice of the Peace for Huddersfield ; who died at Dublin, and received a public burial at Huddersfield, in the present month of April, 1863. To Mrs. Dyson I was indebted for the loan of the black profile of Mr. Wilson, with which I illustrate this Lecture : she was a pious and venerable Christian : and she rests with her husband within the site of the Ancient Chapel.
Mr. Wilson resided for several years in the Old House in Backlane, and built an additional chamber, looking into the Churchyard ; which was his study : and where the late beloved Mr. Eichard Yarley, then a boy, was his companion, after he lost his wife.
I have thus, according to my custom in these Lectures, given you all that I have been able to collect from personal search : and I shall now close with the testi¬ monies which I have gathered from other sources.
Like his gracious Saviour Mr. Wilson has had (in the language of Dr. Ellicott) four “ loving pictures limned by four loving hands”
In Nov. 1862, I received the following message from the Eev. William Eoberts, through Frederick Eobert Jones, Junior, Esq., of Huddersfield: — “If ever you see Mr. Hulbert, of Slaithwaite, give my love to him, and tell him the Old Curate of Slaithwaite is well and often prays for him and his flock, that he looks back with pleasure upon the five years he spent there.” I sent him a letter and several reports and other papers, and received a most interesting reply
REV. THOMAS WILSON,
Minifter of Slaithzvaite, 1777 to 1809,
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115
(see Appendix) in which he refers me to the account of Mr. Wilson, which he furnished to the Cottage Magazine, dated Market Bosworth, January 10th, 1812. It is as follows : —
“ The Bev. T. Wilson was born of respectable parents in the North- Biding of Yorkshire, and having felt the power of religion at an early period of life, he became very desirous of devoting himself to God in the work of the ministry. Accordingly he was placed under the care of the late Bev. Mr. Milner, at the grammar-school, in Hull ; where through close applica¬ tion to his studies, he prepared for holy orders. These he obtained at the hands of Dr. Drummond, the then Archbishop of York. The first place of his labours was (as I have heard him with pleasure relate) at Collingham, a small parish near the place of his nativity. Here it pleased God to bless his labours to the conversion of many souls, and to make him an instrument of much good to the congregation at large. His residence at this village, however, did not continue many years, Providence having designed him for a much more extensive field of action. The perpetual curacy of Slaithwaite, in the West-Biding of York¬ shire, becoming vacant in the year 1777, through the resignation of the Bev. Matthew Powley, the late vicar of Dewsbury, Mr. Wilson was then presented to it. He entered upon this his new charge, with a mind deeply impressed with its awful responsibility. Here, as in his former situation, he was “ instant in season and out of season/’ bearing in mind the high commission
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with which he was entrusted ; namely, “ to seek for Christ’s sheep, which are scattered abroad through¬ out this naughty world, and to labour to bring them to a state of perfection in him, who is the head of his body, the church.” The salvation of his flock was, indeed, ever uppermost in his thoughts, and to promote their good he left no means untried. Not only did he regularly preach twice every Sabbath, in the most earnest and affectionate manner, but he also made it his constant practice to visit his people from house to house, in order to administer admonition and consola¬ tion, as occasion required. This he considered so necessary a part of a minister’s duty, that he was used to say, Where it was neglected, the ministry could not be properly fulfilled.
In addition to his daily visits, and public preaching, he was accustomed to meet a select party of his people every Wednesday evening at his own house, for the purpose of instructing them in the concerns of their souls. His usual method on these occasions, was either expounding the Scriptures in the plainest and most familiar manner, or reading in some good book, which was generally preceded by, and accompanied with, singing and prayer. These were often delightful seasons both to himself and his people. They were the means of keeping up the life of religion in the soul, and of often fanning the feeble spark (which before the next Sabbath might have been almost extinguished) into a flame. So precious were those seasons to my own soul, that I frequently look back
REV. THOMAS WILSON.
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upon them with the most heartfelt pleasure ; and I cannot but wish that a similar method of instructing their flocks was more generally adopted by good men than it is. "Were this the case, no doubt, very happy consequences would ensue, and it would certainly be strictly conformable to the apostle’s advice, “ not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but to exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of us should be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
While speaking of my dear friend as a minister, I cannot forget to mention his attention to the younger branches of society. No man was perhaps fonder of young people, nor took more pains than himself, both in instructing them, and in exhorting their parents to “ train them up in the way they should go.” When¬ ever he had an opportunity, whether at home or abroad, it was his constant endeavour to say something to impress their minds with the value of their souls, and the importance of eternity. Often have I heard him make use of such like expressions as these, when addressing himself to young persons. Now give Grod your heart, and devote to him your life. Remember your sun may go down at noon. Take, therefore, my advice, “ Choose with Mary that good part which shall never be taken away.”
With respect to his religious sentiments , they were purely evangelical. The guilty and ruined state of man by nature — the grand method of his recovery through the atoning blood and righteousness of Christ,
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and the happy consequences of such recovery, both in this world, and in that which is to come, where the principal subjects of his preaching, subjects on which he expatiated with a zeal and ardour rarely equalled. If there be one thing which he enforced more than another, it was the necessity of holiness of heart and life. This, however, he always did in a scriptural manner. Man, as separated from Christ, the true vine, he constantly maintained, “can do nothing.” His first aim therefore was to lead the sinner to Christ, that he might be justified by faith in his sacrifice ; and then to build him up in every Christian grace, by exhorting him to live out of himself upon the fulness of his Redeemer, as the only way of becoming faithful in every good word and work, and of growing in a meetness for heaven. In short, he strongly and con¬ stantly insisted on the necessity of receiving the Lord Jesus equally in all his offices; as our prophet to teach us, as our priest to atone for us, and as our king to govern us, swaying the sceptre of his grace in our hearts, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of himself.
Of the great success which attended his labours at Slaithwaite and in the neighbourhood, numbers who yet survive him can, from their own experience, stand forth and gratefully testify ; and there is every reason to hope, that very many who died in the Lord before him, will at the last day be the joy and crown of his rejoicing.
Respecting his conduct as a Christian, he was most exemplary. Never, perhaps, did any man exemplify in
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119
his own life what he preached to others, more than he did. With the greatest propriety could he adopt St. Paul’s address to the Corinthians, in reference to the people of his charge, “ Brethren, be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” That he had drunk deep into the spirit of his Divine Master, was evident from the heavenly dispositions which discovered them¬ selves in him. Humility, meekness, modesty, and a train of other lovely virtues, shone forth in him in their brightest lustre. Of these I am perhaps better capable of speaking than most persons, having had the happiness of residing in the house with him as his assis¬ tant, during the four last years of his life. Towards me he always behaved with the kindness of a father, and would frequently express his fervent wish, that we might both obtain mercy of the Lord, to be faithful to our important trust. Towards the poor of his flock, his benevolent heart was frequently and largely extended. Many of these will have cause to remember him as long as they live ; for when in a time of scarcity a few years ago, they were almost in a state of starva¬ tion, he exerted himself to the utmost to relieve their wants, and to keep them from perishing. The many acts of kindness indeed which they experienced from him were really astonishing, considering the smallness of his income ; and must in a great degree be attri¬ buted to the economy of a faithful female servant, who had many years lived with him, as well as to his own frugality and temperance. To conclude this part of his character, be it observed, that, like his Lord and
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Master, he went about doing good both to the bodies and souls of men, or to use the language of Goldsmith :
“He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allur’d to brighter worlds, and led the way.”
I now proceed to notice his last illness and death. For some time before his public work was ended, he had been gradually declining in health. He was unwilling, however to discontinue his favourite employ, so long as he possibly could ascend the pulpit. The last time he publicly addressed his flock, was on the third Sunday in Advent, 1808, from “ Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.” A fitter subject than which he could not perhaps have chosen, had he known it to have been his last. He left the pulpit as well as usual, and continued in that state till the Tuesday morning following, when he was disabled from coming down stairs by a paralytic stroke. He had often wished that, if it pleased God, he might end his labours and his life together, and seemed to have a dread upon his mind of becoming, as he termed it, a trouble