HUTTON RUDBY’S FIRST-BORN
“A couple of gentlemen, passing down the lane by the side of St. Hilda’s Church, came within sight of the chapel, which was approaching completion. One of them exclaimed: What building is this?’ Before his friend had time to reply, a boy, who was playing among the rubbish, said: ‘Oh, sir, its the Ranters’ Chapel.’ ‘The Ranters’ Chapel,’ echoed the gentleman; ‘why, how in the world have those folk got a building like this?’ ‘If ye gan aroond the other side, ye’ll see,’ quickly responded the lad. The gentlemen, following the advice of the youth, went round to the other side of the building, and read this inscription on the wall: ‘Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.’”
After we have wandered over Hull’s North-Western Mission and its amazing products, we have at last got to the no less fascinating Northern Mission. And South Shields must have the first place. True, the earliest record available of a Primitive Methodist missionary having visited the lower reaches of the Tyne is the scene in Sandgate, Newcastle, on August 1st, 1821, when John Branfoot attempted to speak to a surging rabble from a boat-race. It is true also that Branfoot preached in Gateshead on the following day. But neither Newcastle nor Gateshead was then “taken.” As a matter of fact, the Harbour Boroughs have the honour of being denominationally the parents of Newcastle and Sunderland—North Shields of the one and South Shields of the other. It was at South Shields where Primitive Methodism first got a permanent footing on the Tyne, and where the first meeting of the Northern District was held.
Hutton Rudby Circuit missioned South Shields, opening it on December 17th, 182l. On that day John Branfoot, who was entrusted with the mission, held a service in the Market place, and from that meeting proceed great and far-reaching issues. Other open-air gatherings immediately followed, a society was formed, and two cottages were engaged in Waterloo Vale (now Oyston Street), and made into a meeting-house. When William Clowes was in North Shields, he went across the water on February 5th, 1822, “ to hear Brother Branfoot,” and adds:—“ I think we are likely to spread through the North; but whether or not it will be swift I cannot say.” He was soon able to say, however. John and Thomas Nelson and Joshua Shaw were speedily on the ground assisting Branfoot. Great crowds gathered round them in the open-air, and exciting scenes were witnessed. The preaching room was quickly deserted for a spacious sail-loft in Barker’s Dock, Wapping Street, to accommodate the immense congregations. William Clowes, whose interest in “the good work at South Shields,” frequently led him to “cross over to the south side,” opened the loft in the October, and the congregation “seemed to be all on a move. There was a cry for mercy, and two got liberty. This meeting, I conceive, will never be forgotten.” In this rude resort scores of sinners were converted, including a number who became useful officials, and who served their generation well.
The class-leaders in the loft were Edward Nettleship, John Robinson, and Joshua Hairs, and they and their fellow-worshippers began to build a chapel in the spring of 1823 to seat 900 people, on land belonging to St. Hilda’s Glebe, on the west side of Cornwallis Street. At the foundation-stone laying the collection amounted to £3 14s. 3d. The building of the edifice was not contracted for; it was done by the day, and paid for as the work proceeded. Much of the work, such as preparing the site, etc., was undertaken by the members themselves. The ultimate cost of the chapel and the cottages alongside was £1,600, and none of the poor but enthusiastic members—except, perhaps, the three leaders—seemed to have realised at the start the greatness of the undertaking into which they had launched. The work came to a standstill for want of funds; and when John Robinson witnessed the distress of his brethren—they were having a prayer meeting when he arrived—he advanced £460, and some smaller sums were advanced by others, When the building was a mere shell, the first service in it took place on August 24th, 1823. Until the society was in a position to sustain the responsibility, John Robinson took upon himself the whole financial burden; and his son John, who was so long circuit steward, was a true son of his father in rendering financial help in various directions, in which, and all other good works, he was supported by his excellent wife. The following story has been often told concerning the first Glebe Chapel
Devout men and women toiled in the first Glebe (in which Hugh Bourne preached in 1829) for forty-two years. In 1865 it was pulled down and rebuilt, but in the next quarter of a century the character of the neighbourhood changed, the town developed enormously, another site was obtained, the chapel was sold, and on April 23rd, 1889, the late Mrs. John Robinson, whose husband had at that time been a member sixty-six years and for a great portion of that period arm official, laid the foundation-stone of the present Glebe Church —for the name is still retained—in Westoe Lane. It seats over 650 people, the school and rooms accommodate 600 scholars, and the additional infant school, church parlour, and class-rooms since erected present a church and set of buildings which do credit to the successful and energetic society. They are regarded as the finest Nonconformist premises in South Shields, Other early workers in this famous church include the father of the well-known John Day Thompson. Alexander Thompson, who was son-in-law of the venerable John Day, was a true Borderer in his intellectual grip of, and firm adhesion to, the fundamental truths of evangelical religion, in the strength of his presentation of them in the pulpit, and in the power of his personality. The coincidence has been noted that two generations of Thompsons have been superintendents of the Glebe Sunday School, in which have been trained many men who rose to positions of prominence in the borough and elsewhere, the cultured divine named above being among the number. The school anniversaries fifty years ago were veritable fete days. Another notable South Shields superintendent is John Hunter, who has held the office—first at the Glebe, thereafter at the Alma Street Mission, which subsequently became the Baring Street society—for nearly half-a-century. George Bird, Richard Bulmer, Jennings, William Wake, Peter Robson (followed by his son and talented grandson), William Owen, John W. Owen, W. H. Dunn, James Brack, Richard Goodwin, T. Elstob, T. Spencer, and numbers more, past and present, have their names enshrined in the work connected with the Glebe.
Before the first Glebe was built, a few members from the sail-loft went to the colliery at the west end of the town and began a mission. Seven members were formed into a class in the house of William Hardy, and the first leader was a publican— “a wide contrast,” remarks Mr. G. B. Hodgson, in his “History of South Shields,” “to the present-day attitude of the denomination towards the liquor traffic. Indeed, the early accounts of the local chapels include frequent payments for porter, ale, bread, and cheese, etc., for the visiting preachers.” Week-night services were held in a cottage in Brickgarth Row, and A. Young established a Sunday School. Two cottages were rented in 1825 in Slake Terrace, thence a shift was made to the blacksmith’s shop at Templetown Pit, from which a society of a hundred was ejected during the strike at St. Hilda’s Colliery in 1832. But the members got back again to the shop, and powerful awakenings occurred in the neighbourhood, one of the most remarkable taking place in the summer of 1839, following upon the terrible Hilda explosion, in which fifty-two men and boys lost their lives. A chapel was built on the Ballast Hills in 1840, a leading spirit in which was John Smith, whose son Matthew was so well known to the next generation. It was in this little chapel where Tommy Addy raised his famous choir. A flood-tide of revival power swept hundreds into the kingdom during the autumn and winter of 1856-7, and compelled the erection of a new chapel and schools at Corstorphine Town in 1859. Here a mighty society was raised, and such a band of local preachers and officials as few places anywhere possessed. In the early seventies, when Andrew Latimer and Thomas Brodie were in the circuit, the services there were at times overwhelmingly powerful. Thomas Davison, Mark Moody (his son-in-law), John Brack (father of Mrs. Henry Pratt), Matthew Smith, Matthew Hall, James Kelly, John Faid, Mrs. Parker Sewell, and other godly men and women, with consecrated younger men and maidens in their wake, were used of God in a conspicuous manner. It was this virile company which launched Laygate Lane scheme in 1881, and which built the stately church and premises wherein the Conference of 1883 held its sittings. During the four-score and more years the society has existed there have only been three chapel stewards. Thomas Davison was the first, and was succeeded by his son-in-law (Mark Moody), who in turn has been succeeded by his son-in-law (Edward Coxon). The veterans, Matthew Hall and James Kelly are still hale and hearty. Of those who have gone home, a more Christly soul than John Brack and a more cheery and hospitable woman than his wife, who was a sister of James and John M. Dawson, could scarcely be found; and Mark Moody and his wife partook of their spirit.
Heugh Street society, started in 1858, and where a chapel was built in 1873, did well for a while; but, in spite of the prayers and exertions of the loyal people, with Robert Work, that brave Shetlander, at their head, it had to be given up. Meanwhile, the Alma Street Mission had grown, an iron structure was put up in Baring Street in 1883, and in 1902 a fine church and school were built in the same street, from designs by T. E. Davidson, who has been architect of most of the new connexional property in the borough. In the mission John Hunter, Samuel Waterhouse, John Robinson, the Carrs, T. E. Davidson, and R. McKeith laboured with unflagging zeal, and they were joined in the Baring Street project by James Brack (brother of John), W. Fl. Dunn, J. W. Owen, and others from the Glebe, and Laygate, and John Ashton, the society steward. The devotion of Ralph Shields to this place while he was superintendent of the circuit, is spoken of with enthusiasm.
Over forty years ago Tyne Dock was a rising suburb of South Shields, and it has since been included within the area of the borough. It was missioned in 1863, and John Ramsay Anderson (converted in Newcastle during the visits of William Clowes and John Nelson) was appointed to take the lead of it. Soon there was a strong and active society, and a chapel was erected in 1869. Like many other societies on Tyneside, Tyne Dock owed no little in the days of its power to the Border villages, and the Craik family—Mrs. Brown is one of them—and the late John Johnson contributed much to its prosperity. M. J. Sainty, too, from a southern shire (father of a minister who has made his impress upon the West of Scotland), Michael Wilkinson, Kemp, Clark, Barkes, N. Lee, M. Jackson, T. Clark, and many more deserve well of their brethren. And though the society has suffered long from an inadequate building, the day is not far distant when that will be overcome by the possession of up-to-date premises in a more delightsome quarter.
Good work was done by the Nicholsons, the Scorers, and other faithful Primitives, in the little chapel at Harton Colliery, and the building of a school-chapel in Talbot Road about ten years ago was a distinct advance. So successful have the soul-winners there been that a new church will be put up on land adjoining almost immediately. Here E. Sword, J. W. Coatswith, J. Corner and others are doing a great work. A mission was started in 1890, in what used to be called Harton Green Lane. For a time the services were held in a rented room, but in 1901 a school-chapel was built in Wenlock Road, and there have been times of refreshing experienced. From this little Zion two ministers—J. T. Gallon and A. Bayfleld—have already gone out.
As it is now constituted—Jarrow Circuit having been carved out of it in 1892, and numerous societies having been given to other stations long anterior to that—Boldon Colliery and Marsden are the only country places held by the station. On July 21st, 1822, the first class was formed at West Boldon, with George Hull as leader. He was a farm hind, and was attracted by the preaching of Clowes and the Nelsons at East Boldon. He entertained one of the Nelsons, and got his house licensed as a preaching place. The little society, the “father” of which died at Haswell in 1853, may not have survived until the colliery was opened, for much missionary labour was expended upon the latter place, and there were many ebbs and flows, before the members got “their own vine and fig-tree” in 1876 From the opening of the chapel the society prospered, and a new block of schools was erected in 1904. James Lewins is a faithful steward; Joseph Smailes has Tendered yeoman service, and we are not likely to forget that Tom Chisholm lives at Boldon Colliery. Elderly Primitives have only to think of Peter Clarke or Andrew Latimer leading a camp meeting, and having such men as George Newton, Matthew Hall, Elijah Nicholson, and Tom Chisholm to call upon! Regarding Marsden, George B. Brown, who has been connected with the village society almost since its inception in 1878—the year when Thomas E. Basham entered the colliery—can tell a story of “the upper room” and the building of the first chapel which has in it a touch of the miraculous. The fidelity and devotion of Basham, Lishman, Robinson, Foster, Marsden, Kellett, Tait, Miller, Kirtley, and their wives, amongst others, led to the erection of the neat village church in 1904, and to the present status of the society being possible.
From its dawning days until now some of the most notable men in the Connexion have exercised their ministry in South Shields Circuit, including six Presidents—and more to follow. The first Primitive Methodist missionaries out of England were sent to Jersey and Guernsey by the South Shields and Sunderland Circuits, at their own expense, in 1832. The original radius of South Shields Circuit, which was created in 1823, stretched to Chester-le-Street, Birtley, Pelton, and Galloping Green (Eighton Banks), and there was one society—St. Anthony’s—on the north side of the Tyne. Within these outposts were Whitburn, the Boldons, Waggonman’s Row, Bill Quay, Portobello, Nova Scotia, Chatershaugh, Oxclose, The Mount (near Springwell), New Washington, Usworth, Washington Staithes, Vigo, Hebburn, and Jarrow, the latter at that time one of the least of the flock. Even Sunderland itself was missioned by the South Shields preachers, and Jeremiah Gilbert, in his journal, dated Sunday, July 13th, 1823, tells of a lovefeast being held at Sunderland, “in the South Shields branch of Hull Circuit.” The first quarterly meeting was held on December 9th, 1823, when the membership was found to be 551, an increase of 140 during the three months, and the contributions amounted to £34 3s. 7d. The following quarter showed an increase o( 209 members, and the income reached £41 19s. 4d. The circuit in its circumscribed area now is a mere corner of its original expansiveness; yet in March, 1908, there were 928 members, a quarterly income of £160 3s. 9d., church property of the value of £25,000, and an income for all purposes at the rate of about £60 a week. Since 1902 there have been three ministers in the station, and with its present trio—M. T. Pickering. Walter Duffield, and Fred Hobson—aided by T. Elstob and J. W. Coatswith, the stewards, and the other numerous lieutenants, the future should have in its lap yet greater things for this splendid and strong circuit.
THE HOME OF THE VENERABLE BEDE
Schoolmen associate Jarrow with the Venerable Bede, and commercial men with the great captain of industry, Sir Charles Mark Palmer. It was an insignificant colliery village when the Primitive Methodists first visited it, and formed a society in 1822. In May and June of that year William Clowes was there, but it is certain that somewhat earlier, John Branfoot and the Nelsons would have been there. Hugh Bourne conducted a powerful missionary meeting there in 1829. For a generation almost the society had a keen struggle. Seven Jarrow pitmen, five of whom claimed connection with the Primitives, were transported to Botany Bay for their participation in the strike of 1832. Two years before that the little band had been decimated by the pit explosion, in which forty men and boys were killed, and in subsequent years the heterodox teaching of Joseph Barker threatened to wreck the society. In 1847 a meeting-house was “fettled “ up in the Middle Row, and it became known as the “Bakehouse Chapel.” William and Abigail Tinkler were two of the principal workers at that time, and their son William is one of the truest men and finest thinkers in the ranks of the Connexion’s local preachers. The arrival of John Scott in 1851 was a great gain to the society for a generation, and his children and children’s children have been a source of strength to Jarrow church. George Charlton, who worked at the pit, was another leader, and George Cowell, a trimmer, was society steward.
Dark days again beset the heroic workers, the closing of the pit in 1852 reducing the society to two members—John Scott and another—and the meeting-house had to be given up. But the development of the shipyard and ironworks soon brought about an influx of population, and in 1859 what was called “Neddy Eddy’s Chapel” was secured. Here, in 1861, when Peter Clarke was superintendent of South Shields Circuit, there was a sweeping revival, and in the following year the lusty band built a chapel in Dog Bank Row (now Princess Street). The membership increased in number and influence. A Sunday School was started, and, under the oversight of such men as George Huntley, it flourished. The choir also became famous, George Todd leading it to the height of its popularity. The school anniversaries in the Mechanics’ Hall and afterwards in Ellison Street Church were great occasions. Thomas Nightingale was at his best at these festivals, and his great sermon on “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,” is still remembered. The growth of the town on its western side led the members to attempt a daring project, and in 1877-8 a church, school, and other appurtenances were built at a cost of over £4,000. What workers there have been and are in this powerful society! The Dents, the Todds, the Huntleys, the Smiths, the Harveys, the Armstrongs, the Vartys, the Shepherds, the Waltons, the Reavleys, the Rusts, the Kellys, the Coxs, and a host more. Three have been mayors of the borough. Ald. Robert Reavley (in whose parents’ cottage at Newsham Thomas Burt’s father preached) is the father of Ald. E. Reavley, who is making for himself a name in our ministry.
Eight other places were associated with Jarrow when the new station was made in 1892—Hebburn Colliery, Hebburn New Town, Bill Quay, Wardley Colliery, Heworth Lane (now Pelaw), Washington Row, Usworth Colliery, and Monkton. Emerson Phillipson was the first superintendent, and there are now eleven places, nearly fifty local preachers, 759 members, and a quarterly income of £122. Hebburn Colliery was the great place when the countryside was first opened by the pioneers, a society of a hundred members being raised in one year. John Branfoot records the conversion of twenty-four persons on one day. This was the birthplace of James and John M. Dawson, travelling preachers. Here also John Brack and his wife, and James and Thomas Brack, too, were nurtured; and two families of Johnsons were efficient supporters, Thomas, of Gateshead, the well-known District Committee member, and Jacob, of the Jarrow choir, being the present representatives of each. George Newton was a great figure at the colliery, and Thomas Bates, who used to have hand-to-hand encounters with the devil. But there were also saintly and mighty women at Hebburn. Jane Laverick, a fragrant soul, is held in reverent remembrance. All accorded to Jane Richardson, however, the highest place as a “mother in Israel.” Her brother John, one of the first-fruits of the notable Collierley Dykes mission, became a conspicuous official of the Connexion in Australia, and his son rose to take a prominent place in the Legislative Assembly at Victoria. By the flooding of the pit in 1858, the society was in a languishing condition for several years; but the subsequent enterprise of the company and the growth of the shipbuilding industry on either side of the village brought again a measure of prosperity, and the building of the chapel in 1875 meant the establishment of a new regime in the life of this historic church.
Hebburn New Town may be said to have been created, in the first instance, by Tennant’s Chemical Works, as Hebburn Quay was called into existence by Leslie’s shipyard. The new village was missioned in 1866 by John Faid and J. W. Owen, of South Shields, and William Looney, of Jarrow. They had rough work at the start, but with the assistance of the Riddles and Joshua Bewick the society got firmly established, and in due course a chapel was built. William P. Huntley gave worthy service in this sanctuary, which was continued until he, M. Potts, and others in 1892 started the Argyle Street cause. During recent years Jacob Bamborough and other ardent spirits have been leading the New Town society to enlarged success. From Hebburn New Town George Featonby passed into the ministry. Mrs. H. Glenney, of Jarrow, whose mother was connected with the Colliery society in the early days, laid one of the foundation-stones of Argyle Street Church, in the same year in which the mission was commenced, and the enterprise has been justified.
Heworth Lane, at one time the best society in South Shields Circuit outside the town, had in its high days such members and leaders as William Parkin, Anthony Brown, T. Charlton and his daughters, Wears, Taylor, and others, men and women distinguished for their enthusiasm and liberality. A small class appears to have been formed in the time of John Branfoot, but it did not last long; nevertheless, a few Primitives got work at Bill Quay glass-works, and they organised a society in 1833, which prospered, and a chapel was built in the following year. Here a great work of grace took place in 1837, William Parkin being among the converts. Through the decline of the chemical trade, people left the village, the cause declined, and it was decided to remove the services to Pelaw, where a new town was springing up. An iron chapel was put up at the latter place in 1900, and good progress has been made. In 1888 some of the Heworth Lane members started services in a hired room at Bill Quay, and built a chapel in 1892, so that the old society is actually two bands in the dispersion.
Usworth Colliery and Washington are two of the places opened by the pioneers. Up to the seventies the former was a weakling. For twenty years or more the members worshipped in the colliery school-room; but the loyal people, with Ralph Elliott at their head, succeeded in putting up a chapel at Usworth in 1885 which was a surprise to many, and a fine suite of school premises were added in 1907. In fair weather and in foul Ralph Elliott and his devoted wife “stuck to the ship”; and their fidelity and business prosperity have meant more to Usworth and New Washington than will ever be known. Mr. Elliott celebrated his jubilee as a member in March, 1908. One of the first—if not the first—cottages in which services were held at New Washington was No. 37, New Rows, occupied by a man known as “Happy Jack.” James Kelly, Matthew Hall, William Owen, John Brack, John W. Owen, and James Brack, all from South Shields, were the men who never ceased to take a special interest in the two villages until the societies got a stable footing. W. Meldrum Ellison, Peter Horn, John Deans, George Hunter, and others were the chief actors in securing a chapel in 1861, in which numbers were saved. Members also arrived from other places, notably W. Hardy, George Robinson, M. Swaddle, the three brothers Whittle, the Mackeys, Archer, Ward, Greenwell, Bence, Sallows, Famish, Knox, Hodgson, and so on; and in 1896 a large church, with schools attached, was opened. In five years the church was extended, the schools enlarged, and other improvements effected. Again and again there have been mighty manifestations of power in the expanding village through the agency of this vigorous church.
The opening of a new colliery at Washington Station quickly attracted energetic Primitives to it, and as quickly a society was established. Its growth was extraordinarily rapid, and the erection of a building for worship was as speedily accomplished. With half-a-dozen local preachers and over sixty members in 1907 in a rising place, the best is possible. Unhappily, the toll of death in the mine claimed one of its useful officials—Robert Cowen—in the explosion of February 20th, 1908.
James Kelly formed a class at Wardley in 1871, and he has lived to see a permanent church in appropriate premises doing useful service in the village. Short, the veteran, and Thompson, were faithful souls, and John Simpson, too. And now we have reached Monkton. It is not generally known that Thomas Nelson, if not others also of the pioneers, preached in the rural hamlet in 1823; but it is doubtful whether ever a society was gathered until the Jarrow Circuit bought the Free Methodist Church there in 1892.