born on the 27th June 1808

The 27th June 2008 is the anniversary of a very significant event in Methodist history.

A decision made by the Burslem Wesleyan Circuit Quarterly Meeting on 27 June 1808 would have implications that would last for the next 124 years.  

That decision was to put Hugh Bourne ‘out of the old Methodist society’. Hugh Bourne was expelled.

One of the main reasons was that Hugh Bourne had organised open air meetings called ‘camp meetings’ The first of these was held at Mow Cop on 31 May 1807, and others had followed. It was clear that he wasn’t going to stop. If people like William Clowes and James Steele also refused to follow the party line then they too would suffer the same fate.

So the first expulsion – that of Hugh Bourne was a most significant event. 124 years would pass before in 1932 Methodism would be united again.

1907 - the Centenary of the first  Mow Cop Camp Meeting

This photograph shows the centenary of that event. The Centenary Camp Meeting was a very popular event and it is thought that around 100,000 people attended.

Photo: Kidsgrove Library, Staffordshire Past Track
 

Primitive Methodist Plate c. 1830

 It has three black printed transfers of Hugh Bourne, Jas.Bourne and William Clowes. 
Above the portrait is the title “Primitive Methodist Preachers”. 
Beneath is the detail “Tunstall Published 4 March 1830 by and for Bourne Nixon and Co”

The rim of the plate is divided into three sections, carrying captions:

“The little cloud increases still”
“Which first arose upon Mow Hill”
“Ye must be born again John III 7”

next: Mow Cop and the Camp Meetings
previous: Hugh Bourne, his birth & move to Bemersley