The local preachers, backbone of Methodist Circuits, have received much less attention than the travelling preachers appointed by Conference, and are in many ways much more difficult to identify and analyse. One excellent source, somewhat daunting and at the first glance rather humdrum, is the record of their quarterly meetings held under the presidency of the superintendent minister.
Methodism in Victorian Oxford, a volume of the local Records Society, is an outstanding example of how historians can address the issue. The editor delivers an accurate copy of the minutes of meetings in nineteenth-century Oxfordshire, which he extends into an analysis of the interaction between the preachers. Further, he steers the reader into the realms of the local historian by providing in the footnotes whatever personal details he can glean from the census and other sources; quite an arduous task considering the numbers involved.
The introduction, of some sixty pages, provides a succinct account of the national growth of Methodism, followed by the history of the Church in the Oxford region, paying attention not only to the growth of the Wesleyan Society but the disharmony which occurred during the disruptions in the mid-nineteenth century following the Fly-Leaf Controversy. With the broader history covered, Wellings describes the roles of preaching generally, and the local preachers in particular, their appointment and deployment using the Plan drawn up by the Superintendent, their disagreements and departures especially during the rise of the Reform Movement. Finally, he fits the pieces together by analysing the quarterly minutes, their transcription being the subject of the main body of the book.
The Minutes of Meeting were recorded consecutively in two handwritten books, the earlier dating from 1830, and the later from 1867. Previous books have been lost. Each meeting followed a set agenda: any objections to the brethren? Any to be received onto the full Plan? Any to be received on trial? Any moving to or leaving the circuit? Any alterations to places or timing of services? The answers to these basic questions, especially the first, reveal the tensions and the relationship of local preachers to each other and to the stipendiary ministers appointed to the circuit by Conference. Local preachers were admonished for neglecting their duties, often for failing to attend their appointments, and for misdemeanours of varying description, for the meeting was very keen on discipline. Much of the discussion of course was left unrecorded and is left very much to the imagination of the reader, though on one rare occasion the dispute over the Reform Movement swelled over and reached the columns of the press, duly presented in the footnotes.
As a study of Methodist history, the author provides a springboard for comparative research and also a format for analysis both of other churches and groupings, say Sunday School teachers, which in many ways are becoming the focus of future activity.
