"The Ecstatic and the Bilious": To be a Methodist in Nineteenth Century Provincial England

Abstract

The history and impact of Methodism during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been debated by academics. Its role in the lives of ordinary people has not, however, been fully explored and comparative studies are few and far between. This thesis sets out, therefore, to examine Methodist significance for those closely associated with it. It teases out similarities and differences for urban and rural dwellers. Simultaneously this allows for comment in relation to the development of Methodism itself and also the wider secularisation debate. The nineteenth century is the focus. The agricultural Wolds of Yorkshire's East Riding and the Black Country of the industrial Midlands are the chosen areas. Both Wesleyan and Primitive Methodism are scrutinized with their distinctive contributions acknowledged. Extensive archival research has made this possible and a spatial approach has been adopted to add fresh insight. Primarily a work of cultural history, much is gleaned from sociologists, theologians and geographers. Particular attention is given to four Victorian novelists. A spatial and Methodist analysis of works by Eliot, Bennett, Hocking and Thorneycroft Fowler contribute to the study. Methodism was ubiquitous and unique: the novels imply and the history confirms. It created communities within communities in both rural and urban settings and the implications for members were profound. Methodist use of space emphasises this. Methodists migrated knowing that something familiar awaited them. Identities were forged and respectability, with both positive and negative connotations, became a possibility for urban Methodists. It is argued that an analysis of how both outdoor and indoor space was used is essential to an understanding of Methodist fortunes over time. Sacralisation, the turning of space into religious place, is important here but so, too, is desacralisation. As chapel usage changed, there were implications, more widely for secularisation.