In 1886 the Centenary of Wesleyanism was celebrated and the occasion was marked by a strenuous effort to clear off the debt from the Horncastle Circuit. This effort was supplemented by "Ye olde Englyshe Fayre, houlden in ye Exchange Hall, Nov. 20, 21 and 22, MDCCCLXXXVIII;" and at a tea gathering on March 12, 1889, it was stated that the original debt had, in the previous two years, been reduced to £60, and since then the whole had been cleared off, the exact sum raised being £1,526 2s. 4d.; while, as an evidence of the general prosperity of the Society, the Chairman stated that in the last 24 years debts had, throughout the country, been paid to the total amount of no less than £1,226,245.[1]
In 1860 a former foundry show room, in Foundry Street, built by the late Mr. Tupholme, was acquired through the generosity of Mr. J. Rivett, to be used as a mixed day school; it had one large general room, four classrooms, and two large yards, and afforded accommodation for more than 400 scholars. The premises cost £450, but before the school was opened some £1,300 had been spent in adapting them to educational purposes. This has now been superceded by an even more commodious building in Cagthorpe, on the south branch of the canal, at the corner near the Bow Bridge, opposite St. Mary's Square, at a cost of £2,500. It has a very large room for a mixed school, another for an infant school, with classrooms and everything required, in accordance with the latest conditions by Act of Parliament. The foundation stone was laid June 22, 1904, and the school was formally opened Jan. 4, 1905.
A Young Men's Institute was established in the beginning of 1889, by the Rev. G. White, then Superintendent Minister, for which the classroom of the Sunday School was to be available for their use, every evening except Sunday, supplied with daily papers, magazines, &c.; classes also being held for the consideration of important subjects and for mutual improvement; these are still continued. There is also a Wesley Guild, which meets every Friday evening, in the band room, Queen Street, at 8 o'clock, during the winter months, and on the first Friday evening in the month during the summer. Marriages are celebrated in this chapel.[2]
THE PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.
We have given an account of the rise and progress of Wesleyanism, but, as that society eventually made a complete separation from the Church of England, of which its founder remained through life an ordained minister and communicant, so the seeds of disruption spread in itself. At different periods it threw out off-shoots, amounting in all to some eight different daughter societies; such as those which are named "The Original Connection," "The New Connection," "The Primitive Methodists," &c. Of these the last alone is represented in Horncastle. More than 50 years ago[3] the Primitives had, in this country, 2,871 places of worship, with 369,216 sittings; with the exception of the "Original Connection," none of the other off-shoots had then as many as 100,000 sittings.
- ↑ We may add that at the time of writing (1905) a Wesleyan Church House is about to be erected in Westminster, a fine building in the Renaissance style of architecture, which is to cost £140,000, the firm of Lanchester & Richards being contractors for the work.
- ↑ In addition to the authorities already named, we are indebted for much of the information here given to an account by Mr. Watson Joll, in the Methodist Recorder of Aug. 27, 1903, and to an article by the late Mr. W. Pacy, in the Lincoln Gazette of Aug. 20, 1898.
- ↑ Religious Worship in England and Wales, by H. Mann, from the census of 1851.
