This thesis is concerned to investigate the impact of Methodism on the developing industrial region of South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire which during the course of the nineteenth century became commonly known as 'the Black Country'. The period under consideration extends from the first visit of John Wesley to Wednesbury in 1743 to the year 1860 by which time Methodism had experienced the last of its s ec ess ionary upheavals, Attention is given in the first instance to the changing character of economic life and to the new units of society which came into being with the spread of industrialisation. After an examination of Methodism's initial impact and. of the difficulties which it encountered during the early stages of its establishment in the district, the fortunes of the individual Methodist bodies, namely, the parent Wesleyanism, the Methodist New Connexion, Primitive Methodism and the United Methodist Free Churches, are studied in turn. Special reference is made to the social composition of their membership, the distinctiveness of their appeal, the scope of their chapel building programme and the secession of Wesleyans in Dudley and Stourbridge which proved so advantageous to the hew Connexion. In the final chapter, the analysis is widened and some assessment is attempted of Methodism's involvement in political and working-class movements, its contribution to Sunday and Day School educational provision, its charitable undertakings and its moral influence in the area at large. It is 'concluded that Methodism exercised a many-sided if not wholly pervasive impact and that it was one of the dominant elements in shaping the ethos of the new industrialised society.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:533362 |
| Date | January 1972 |
| Creators | Leese, R. |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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