1850 WESLEYAN METHODIST. 148pp Manuscript - Wesleyan Methodists in Full Panic and Schism.

An excellent mid-19th century Wesleyan Methodist 148pp MSs chairman's copy of the minutes of the District & Circuit meetings for the entire year; fascinating content including on missions, chapels, and most significantly, extensive content regarding ongoing internal strife and ministerial discipline issues related to the schism initiated in 1849 via the Reform Movement. Excellent.   Entitled, Minutes of the Birmingham & Shrewsbury District Committee. 1850-1851. Chairman's Copy.  These minutes were from the critical year in which the "Wesleyan Reformers" were leading people away from the Wesleyan Methodists in droves to join the newly formed Wesleyan Reform Church [which ultimately became the United Methodist Church]. The main agitators were James Everett, William Griffith, and Samuel Dunn. Their primary criticisms of Wesleyan Methodism proper were structural; i.e. that Wesleyanism had become a hierarchy of power and that it ruled from a central organization rather than empoweri