ABSTRACT

Thomas Wride is not well-known amongst John Wesley’s preachers; neither Charles Atmore nor Thomas Jackson memorialised his life. But this chapter explains why his life and career repay study. He was widely dismissed as eccentric, and both his preaching and writing style were certainly unusual. But when data including Methodist Conference membership records are examined, it is clear that compared to other better-known Wesleyan preachers, such as Christopher Hopper and Alexander Mather, Wride was capable of being an effective evangelist and pastor. And his papers offer rare first-hand accounts of the lived religion of eighteenth-century Methodists, illuminating the tensions and conflicts within Methodism, unedited by the leadership.