From Ann Loxdale at Brownlow Hill, Liverpool to Mary Fletcher. As Loxdale left Fletcher ‘very much indisposed’ [ie unwell], she is anxious to discover that Fletcher is recovered. They [Loxdale, Sarah Hill and Sarah’s husband Thomas] returned safely to Liverpool. Loxdale’s sister [Sarah Hill] has now recovered her strength and both her and her husband [Thomas] send their regards – Fletcher’s idea would suit them very well and they would be very thankful to receive the offer of it, ‘should you think good to recommend & Mr [John] Eyton should need & approve of him’. [Reference to the possibility of Hill receiving a curacy in Shropshire – Eyton would have had the power to make such an appointment and Fletcher’s recommendation would have counted for a great deal.]
[Thomas] Hill sets out on Wednesday for the island [Isle of Man?], if the wind is favourable. He will probably remain there for about a month. On his return, he will be quite free to take up employment ‘for the best of ministers in the best of causes’. After saying goodbye to Fletcher, Loxdale was travelling sadly home ‘meditating on the gracious words that had dropped from your tongue’. Just as she reached the summit of the hill before Mrs Micklewright’s she was driven by a shower of rain into a little shed and was there overtaken by a woman whom she had met earlier that morning in Fletcher’s class she offered Loxdale her assistance and helped her into her home and then her daughter insisted on accompanying her to the ‘bridge’ [Ironbridge at Coalbrookdale?]. Loxdale was enabled by the Lord to recover her strength sufficiently to talk of spiritual things to her companion whom she found was living to all intents and purposes without God. Loxdale felt that she had been entrusted by the Lord to give a message to the woman as many circumstances had combined to bring them together – if she had left five or ten minutes earlier or later, they would not have met. The woman admitted that she did not attend communion – Loxdale gave her some tracts which she promised to read.
Loxdale arrived home safely and had just finished taking a little refreshment when the ‘gentlemen and my brother’s waited on my sister [Sarah Hill] & self for our signatures to a score or two of books & papers. They expressed satisfaction that I was returned & I, unfeigned gratitude to God that I arrived just at the right moment…’
On Friday they were received by many of their dear Liverpool friends and there was much mutual joy. Mr and Mrs [William and Sarah] Myles returned from Ireland [William Myles was stationed in Liverpool in the connexional years 1807 and 1808] just after the death of [Peter] Haslam – Loxdale has seen Haslam’s wife and she is ‘wonderfully supported’ at this time – she means to live in Liverpool and three of the Methodist ‘sisters’ are making a collection for her to try to establish her in business.
[Valentine] Ward has just called. [Ward was stationed in Liverpool in the connexional years 1807 and 1808. ] He sends his regards and thanks Fletcher for the trouble that she took in writing to him. Ward says that he is feeling very well after a hard days work yesterday, preaching three times and meeting six classes. Loxdale’s classes meet tomorrow.
Loxdale hopes that [Mary] Tooth did not catch a cold from the rain. She is sending this letter to her very obliging friend Mr Kynaston who will pass it on to Fletcher.
Notes
- John Eyton (1779-1823) was the son of Thomas Eyton, gent., of Wellington, Shropshire. He was educated at Rugby School and St John's College Cambridge. Eyton was Vicar of Wellington and Eyton between 1802 and 1823, and was a friend of Mary Fletcher and her companion Mary Tooth. He was appointed a trustee of Madeley Wood Methodist Chapel in 1807. Eyton published a book of sermons. Source: Alumni Cantabrigienses compiled by J. A. Venn (1940) and Fletcher-Tooth collection
- William Myles (1756-1828) was an Irish Methodist who was converted by John Wesley in Limerick in 1773. He itinerated at his own expense from 1777 to 1782 when he became the first Irish preacher to be received into full connexion. Thereafter he served almost entirely in England. Myles was a gifted linguist who can be regarded as the first Methodist historian. His Chronological History was published in 1798 and he also published sermons and an account of William Grimshaw. Source: Encyclopedia of World Methodism (1974)
- Sarah Myles (1762-1847) was born in Dublin, the daughter of Richard Moore Esq. Her mother was a staunch Anglican but also entertained John Wesley during his visits to the city. Sarah’s brother Henry became a well-known Methodist minister and President of Conference. All of the family was converted under Methodist influence, although in Sarah’s case it was by the preaching of John Fletcher during his visit to Ireland in September 1784. She joined the Methodist society in May 1785. Sarah was married to the itinerant William Myles. She died at her home in Liverpool on 27th August 1847 after a long illness. Source: Methodist Magazine 1847, 1039-1040
- Peter Haslam (1774-1808) was converted in early life and entered the Wesleyan itinerancy in 1796. He died after a short illness on May 5th 1808 while stationed in the Liverpool circuit. He had been preaching until just two weeks before his demise. Haslam left a widow and four children, the oldest of whom was aged six at the time of his death. His widow remained in Liverpool where she received financial assistance from local Methodists. Source: Minutes of Conference 1808
- Valentine Ward (1781-1835) was born at Madeley in Shropshire. He was converted at the age of nineteen under the influence of a sermon preached by the Wesleyan minister Samuel Taylor and he entered the ministry himself in 1801. His Circuit ministry was spent in England and Scotland until 1832 when he volunteered for the West Indies mission. He died on March 26 1835 at Montego Bay in Jamaica. Ward is described in his Conference obituary as imprudent in some of his chapel building plans. He was a staunch supporter of overseas missions and Negro emancipation. Source: Hill's Arrangement 1832 and Minutes of Conference 1835