ABSTRACT

Methodist obituaries often linger over deathbed scenes. Rebecca Clemenson was a well-to-do widow and long-standing Wesleyan member who died in old age after being blind for twenty years. Quakers had always taken particular pains to record their members' spiritual experience down to death. Mary Dudley was a Methodist turned Quaker who travelled as a minister. The account of her last days has particular pathos through having been written by one of her children. Obituaries which appeared amongst the Independents tended to praise those who had seen the light some years ago, been a devoted servant of their chapel. Baptist obituaries at this period tended to dwell on consciousness of the saving nature of the blood of Christ, and the nearness of glory. They also included some of the most detailed descriptions of the last hours of the deceased to be found amongst Dissenters. Thomas Paget was certainly in that category, for he was that uncommon phenomenon, a Nonconformist country gentleman.