ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Thomas Wride’s complicated relationship with the founder of |Methodism, John Wesley. The primary sources are their letters; they also sometimes met at the annual Methodist Conference or during Wesley’s extensive travels around the British Isles. Wride was not as frequent a correspondent as his brother Charles Wesley, senior preachers such as Joseph Benson and Christopher Hopper, or his friend and financial adviser Ebenezer Blackwell, but 64 letters between them survive. The chapter discusses their form and content; they clearly show a power relationship between the two. Wride’s letters offer frank comments on eighteenth-century Methodism, including his fellow preachers. Wesley often criticised Wride, especially his abrasive manner and lack of seriousness. Such concerns led to Wride’s suspension from the Connexion in 1780. The chapter details the case against Wride, including his dispute with the Church of England clergyman James Metcalfe, whom he accused of excessive drinking, and Wride’s defence. Wesley felt that Wride never realised his potential as a preacher. Wride in turn, though respecting Wesley’s authority, thought that he was sometimes led down by bad advice and felt that Wesley did not always give him his backing, notably during Wride’s troubled ministry in Norwich.
