The baptism of John Wesley, 1703
The baptism of John Wesley, 1703
The illustration is a record of the baptism of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, which took place on 3 July 1703 at Epworth, where his father, the Rev. Samuel Wesley, was rector.
The parish register of Epworth was among the things destroyed when the rectory burned down on the night of 9 February 1709. (All the family escaped from the fire, but five-year-old John was the last to be rescued, being pulled out of his bedroom window just as the burning roof collapsed into the room.)
Fortunately, clergymen were required to send an annual copy of the preceding year’s register entries to the Bishop in Lincoln, which is why this copy of the register entries, in the Rev. Samuel Wesley’s own hand, survives.
John Wesley was ordained as a priest of the Church of England in 1728 and intended Methodism to be a renewal movement within the Church, but by the latter part of the 18th century he had to acknowledge that the movement had in fact become a new denomination.
After a lifetime inspiring the followers of Methodism, John Wesley died at his house in London on 2 March 1791, aged 87.
Document reference number: BTs/Epworth/1703
