I sat down virtually with Ruth (Project Director) and Amy (Heritage Officer) from Englesea Brook Museum in Cheshire to talk about the intersection of heritage and justice, through the lens of Primitive Methodism. As a former history student, I have a firm belief that the past can teach us about the roots of systemic injustice, while inspiring us with strategies for change-making. The JPIT denominations frequently spoke out against both church and state injustice in their campaigns for a better world. By getting to know this history, we can rediscover the clear activist roots of our churches, empowering us to continue the work for peace and justice in the 21st Century.
Q. Can you introduce the museum and Primitive Methodism?
Ruth: “So we are the only Museum of the four Methodist museums to tell the Primitive Methodist story. The two co-founders [Hugh Bourne and William Clowes] were questioning why the Wesleyan Methodist Church was no longer preaching in the open air and going out to where people were, particularly those on the margins of society and the working classes. Part of the reason for that was because this was just a few years after the French Revolution and the Methodist Church was a non-conformist church, and the government of the time was very repressive and nervous of large gatherings.
And that’s not “primitive”, as in backward-looking, as we might define primitive – it’s primitive because they wanted to get back to the original vision of John Wesley. So, we tell that story and some of its key aspects are about the inclusion, certainly in the early primitive Methodist Church.
[For example] Children and women and men were all encouraged to share their experiences of God in through love feasts, which were people gathering around. It’s not a communion service, but it’s a sharing of a simple cake and a mug of water. We’ve got a number of lovefeast cups in our collection. They’re two-handled cups that could be passed around and in those love feasts. Women, children and men were all encouraged to share their testimony, so it was a very inclusive church where women were able to preach. Everyone referred to themselves as brother and sister. They just wanted everybody to feel welcome. Everybody was equal.
It just fascinates me that [Primitive Methodism] was born out of what they read in their Bibles, and education was really key, because children obviously didn’t get an education. Our chapel here is quite an interesting example – they had mahogany box pews upstairs, but downstairs they would have originally had rough-hewn benches so they could convert it in the afternoons as a Sunday school to teach children. And because of their very egalitarian view, [the children] were encouraged to take on leadership roles and become itinerant preachers, and so they learnt public speaking. The first working-class MPs were Primitive Methodists, and the first leaders of trade unions were Primitive Methodists. This suggested that how they included people in the life of the church and gave them responsibility – which isn’t something they’d necessarily have in their working life – gave them the confidence to take up these positions.
Q. Are there any objects or stories which stand out to you in revealing the Methodist history of social justice and can you tell me a bit about them?
Ruth: [The Primitive Methodists] took their faith seriously and lived it out in the world. Those traveling preachers traveled around preaching in various towns and villages, and they heard the stories of people’s housing conditions, living conditions, working conditions, and they kind of joined the dots. Learning to read the Bible, reading that Jesus was pro the poor, helped them to be empowered to do something about it. And we don’t always have many artifacts to kind of reflect that story sadly.
One of the things we have to tell the story is a bird scarer rattle. This was to represent the story of George Edwards. When he was five, his father was blacklisted because he agitated and spoke out about the conditions in Norfolk, for agricultural workers.
He made a lot of enemies with the landowners, and so he was blacklisted and couldn’t get any work. He stole some turnips from a field in order to feed his family and was thrown into jail. So George Edwards, at the age of five, had to go out and earn a living as a crow scarer, and so we have this as to represent him and what he had to do to scare the crows in the field. Those experiences were seared into his memory of injustice for his family, and because of what his father was trying to do he was converted in a Primitive Methodist church.
He couldn’t read or write, so he would learn his Bible passage by wrote and when he married his wife Charlotte, she taught him to read and he became a local preacher. He went on to start one of the agricultural trade unions and then became an MP.
I’ve got a lovely quote about how he realised the disconnect between what he was reading in his Bible, and what was happening on the ground. And how, as a Christian, could you stand by and not get involved with those mechanisms within society that could make a difference and could make that change? Which I think is what JPIT is trying to do.
“I soon began to realize that the social conditions of the people were not as God intended they should be. The gross injustices meted out to my parents and the terrible sufferings I had undergone in my boyhood burnt themselves into my soul like a hot iron. I determined to do something to change the condition of the people.”
Amy and Ruth highlighted some of the tensions at play in Primitive Methodism, despite its emphasis on justice, peace and equality for the working classes.
Ruth: Another interesting story is around conscientious objectors. The Primitive Methodist Church, up until the start of the First World War was known as a peace church, very closely aligned with the Quakers and objected to the Boer War. Only two or three days before the outbreak of the war, the President [Rev Dr. Arthur Thomas] Guttery gave this very anti-war speech, and five days after the war was declared, he gave a speech with a complete about turn. He called on men in the chapels to do their duty and to sign up, and there’s nothing in our records to say why. So it’s quite shocking when you read these two documented speeches.
Q. Recently, we visited the People’s History Museum in Manchester as part of our team residential. Why do you think your museum matters for Methodist heritage? And why is it important for churches to conserve their contributions to political and social movements?
Amy: I feel like [the museum] shows to those who are not involved in the church – who may just pop in for a community event – that it’s not just this isolated community that is unrelatable. They developed out of this tradition that was about helping people and providing for people.
Ruth: To me, it’s about making our faith relevant and it’s so important we don’t just see ourselves in isolation. When you look at who [Jesus] talked to, who he engaged with, it was very much about reaching out to those who were ignored and considered worthless by society, and encouraging them to know the love of God. And I think that is what the Primitive Methodists modelled so well.
Q. JPIT’s denominations work ecumenically on issues of peace and justice today – what links did the Primitive Methodists have with other radical Christians or other social movements?
Amy: We did a project with the Probation Service of England and Wales a few years ago. Just by chance, the then Chief Probation Officer visited Englesea Brook, looked at our Temperance Movement timeline and said that the Probation Service is missing (that developed out of the movement). So, we then worked with the Probation Service to put together a travelling exhibition that told this story, which wasn’t just about Methodists but all the denominations.
The Primitive Methodists had a mission in the East End of London in Whitechapel, which employed police court missionaries who were the precursor to probation officers. They supported people going before the courts, who would have no representation and were often arrested because of drunkenness. This Mission also set up a Working Lad’s Institute to support the working class, set up a home for lads on probation out in the countryside, essentially for rehabilitation. And just last week, we got a box full of annual reports from the Whitechapel Mission and the Working Lad’s Institute, which just shows the social work done by Primitive Methodists in urban centres.
Q. How do you see the role of the museum relating to today’s Methodists and the politics and protests of the 21st Century?
Ruth: There’s a really interesting story from Oxfordshire of the Ascott Martyrs. There were 16 women whose husbands were stopped from going to work on the farm because they joined a union, so their wives blockaded the entrance to the farms and stopped workers from other villages coming and working. They were arrested, they went to court and they were sentenced to hard labour, including a pregnant woman and a woman with a baby. There was an absolute outcry, and it went to Parliament. They were pardoned in the end and released, and Queen Victoria heard about it and gave them each some blue fabric to make a dress as a recompense for what they went through, but as a result, the law was changed to allow for peaceful protest. And again, there were Baptist women and Anglican women, and they think one was a Wesleyan, and they think one was a Primitive.
And then, when you look at the whole conversation around protest now – we arrest 80-year-old women or priests for holding a cardboard banner. I mean, if that story isn’t relevant today, I don’t know what is, which is why I’m passionate about telling the story!
One of the things we think is very significant about the Prims is their recognition of those on the margins of society and taking the love of God to them, helping them to feel included. So, we’re trying to focus a lot of our programming and work with those on the margins. One of the things our learning officer Elizabeth is doing, is working with children who [are neurodivergent], so those with autism and ADHD particularly. And we work with Cheshire Buddies who give opportunities to young adults with physical and mental and learning disabilities.
Amy and Ruth’s stories of the Primitive Methodists struck me as closely relating to JPIT’s efforts to bring politics into the pulpit…
Ruth: There are those who say that church and politics shouldn’t mix, and feel very threatened by if they hold a particular political view, that they don’t feel that churches are a welcoming place, or if they feel particularly challenged by the words of Jesus. These are some of the realities that we struggle with in our churches, but we are passionate that the Prims somehow got it right.’
Questions for your church or denomination:
- Where could you go to find out more about the history of social justice in your denomination?
- What parts of your denomination’s history inspires you to seek justice?
- How much do you know about the political history of your local church?
For more from Englesea Brook Museum:
Sunday 23rd August. 3pm. A service of celebration marking 40 years since the reopening of the chapel and the beginning of the museum. All welcome Cream tea to follow
Friday 11th September. 7-8.30pm. Friday Forum Theatre, when Elizabeth, a professional storyteller, tells the story of Elizabeth Evans. Aunt to Mary-Ann Evans who’s pen name was Goerge Eliott, she was her inspiration for the character Dinah Morris in Adam Bede. Tickets £8.
Sunday 13th September. 3pm. Jazz Chapel. Following the success of last year’s Jazz Chapel, Rev Rob Hilton together with Chris Hill Jazz group are returning to lead us in extempore and improvised worship, which we think the Prims would approve of!
General opening times: April – October: Thursday – Saturday 11am-4pm. August only: Tuesday – Saturday 11am-4pm.
For further information on any of the above events, email admin@engleseabrook.org.uk