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VI.
A PAIR of silver shoe-buckles, still preserved by the descendants of the Griffiths' family of this town, have a little history which irresistibly compels the notice of the different conditions under which our forefathers exercised their religious opinions, and those which obtain now. These relics of a bygone fashion were once the property of John Wesley, and were given to a woman named Griffiths, who lived in that old house in Church Street, which still stands on a bank opposite the top of Earp's Lane. They were intended as a present, in grateful recognition of the shelter afforded to the famous preacher when threatened by an angry mob ; but the tale of those intolerant times will be best told by himself. It would appear that the great evangelist of the eighteenth century first made his entry into Wednesbury in the early part of 1743, expecting perhaps that he would be as well received by the rough colliers of this district as he had been by those of Newcastle and Gloucestershire. He preached to a large crowd from the Market Cross, and on the following Sunday he conducted a service inside that building (which was called the Town Hall), at five o'clock in the morning ; later in the day two other meetings were held in a "hollow" as Holloway Bank. Twenty-nine converts were made on this occasion, and when this great revivalist again visited the town in April, a sermon was specially directed against the cause by the Vicar, from the pulpit of the Parish Church. The result of this was active and malignant persecution. We learn from John Wesley's Journals that he again arrived in Wednesbury, coming from Birmingham, on Thursday, October 20th, 1743. He rode into the place, and on a ground near the middle of the town (probably the High Bullen) he preached to a fairly large concourse on "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."
There had, as yet, been nothing in the aspect of the crowd to denote hostility to the new cause of revivalism - in those days an unknown method of procedure ; but as Wesley was writing in the house of one Francis Ward, adjoining the present Baptist Chapel, during the afternoon, an angry crowd began to assemble around the door. Nothing more serious happened then, and Wesley was persuaded to remain ; but by five o'clock a large crowd re-assembled in the street and made angry demonstrations, crying out "Bring out the Minister !" One or two of the ringleaders were induced to enter the house, and soon were easily quieted by the calm and unruffled front of Wesley, who then went outside, mounted a chair, and harrangued the excited populace. Although they forebore to indulge in violence, they demanded that he should go before "the Justice," that same night ; and accordingly some two or three hundred marched him off to Mr. Lane, at Bentley Hall, the rest quietly dispersing. Mr. Lane, though apprised of the approach of the crowd, had unconcernedly retired to bed by the time they arrived, and declined to interfere. His son, however, inquired "What was the matter," and the reply was "Why, an't please you, they sing psalms all day ; nay, and make folks rise at five in the morning." With much good sense he advised these virtuously indignant people to go home and be quiet. Such advice was not acceptable, and a sudden proposal to take the culprit before "Justice Persehouse, at Walsal," was eagerly seized upon. "The night had been very wet, and here they did not arrive till seven o'clock, then only to find the Justice in bed. It was then agreed to return home to Wednesbury, whither some fifty undertook to convoy me (Wesley), but they had not gone a hundred yards before the mob of Walsall came, pouring in like a flood, and bore down all before them. The Darlaston mob made what defence they could ; but they were weary as well as out-numbered, so that in a short time, many being knocked down, the rest ran away, and left me in their hands." Wesley fared no better with the Walsall people, and was near losing his life at the hands of one ruffian with a cudgel, but in a wonderful manner "every time the blow was turned aside." Wesley's attempt to escape into a house - the residence of the Mayor, although the fugitive did not know it - was frustrated, and he was carried from one end of Walsall to the other, although he several times succeeded in making himself heard, and indeed gained the sympathies of several of what the writer calls "the captains of the rabble," "the heroes of the town," "one of whom had been a prize-fighter at the bear-garden." These new champions carried him through the crowd, but at the Bridge the mob rallied again. "We therefore went on one side, over the milldam, and thence through the meadows ; till, a little before ten, God brought me safe to Wednesbury ; having lost only one flap of my waistcoat, and a little skin from one of my hands." Among his faithful adherents who kept with him during these trying times, Wesley particularly mentions four members of his Society in Wednesbury ; their names were William Sitch, Edward Slater, John Griffiths, and Joan Parks ; these resolved to live or die with him, but only one, Sitch, received a blow. The woman Parks afterwards declared that she was not afraid, for "God would fight for His children."
Wesley again took up his residence at Francis Ward's but left Wednesbury next day for Nottingham ; at the same time the two magistrates already named, issued a notice to all the constables of the county of Stafford, "particularly the constable of Tipton" commanding a diligent search for the "said Methodist preachers" who "go about raising routs and riots" and to bring "him or them" "to be examined concerning their unlawful doings."
The next entry in the Journals respecting Wednesbury, is dated Saturday, the 18th February, 1744, and is an account of a "kind of invasion of Staffordshire" sent to the great preacher by James Jones. (A French "invasion of England" was expected at that time, the wars of Maria Theresa then raging). This account gives some idea of the popular frenzy excited against the "new sect of Methodists" in this locality. It would appear that the disturbances began at Darlaston, when on Monday, the 23rd January, 1744, the wife of Joshua Constable, on her way to meeting at Wednesbury was shamefully ill-treated ; and so hostile was the feeling excited by this unfortunate member of the society, that on the following Monday his house was destroyed by the mob, his goods scattered, and his family of little ones wandered up and down, no one daring to take them in. The next day a similar mob, which had assembled on Wednesbury Church Hill, quickly dispersed when it was rumoured that the Methodists had organized a plan of resistance ; and when on the Wednesday Mr. Charles Wesley came from Birmingham and preached in the town, it is amusing to note that the demeanour of the congregation is described as "quiet and attentive." But again on the following Monday, a day of the week which even then seemed to have been kept as a Saint's Day, mischief was brewing, and it was openly announced that the next day, being Shrove Tuesday (February 7th), it would be signalised by an attack on the residences of every member of the Society, by a band of righteous enthusiasts who had bound themselves with an oath to do so. The mob gathered all that night, which the Methodists spent in prayer, and early next morning the work of plunder and destruction began. Furniture, apparel, and shop goods were either looted or destroyed, and the houses of the victims were damaged and dismantled. "William Sitch's wife was lying in, but her bed was taken from under her, and cut in pieces," and all this was done in the name of Religion ! Some of the gentlemen (save the mark !) who had instigated the mob, now offered to prevent further outrage, if the new sect would guarantee that no more Methodist preachers should be received in the town. This word "gentleman," used in the Journals, should probably be interpreted as "employers of labour," as we are informed that they forced every miner (on pain of dismissal from work) to take part in these riotous proceedings. But the sturdy Methodists declared that they would accept no compromise ; they had already lost their goods, and would rather sacrifice their lives than their consciences.
Having so thoroughly displayed their skill on home duty, these zealots determined to extend the area of their operations, and accordingly on the morning of Ash Wednesday they split themselves up into several divisions, the largest of which took the direction of Aldridge, and all the villages in that vicinity had soon cause to rue their visit. On their return, however, a party of Walsall gentlemen, with a commendable sense of justice, waylaid these marauders and took from them their plunder, which was stored up in the Town Hall, till claimed by the rightful owners. Similarly a Mr. Wood, of Wednesbury, announced that certain goods which had been recovered from the mob, should be restored to the owners ; but he accompanied this announcement with the proviso that the claimants were first to renounce the Methodist preachers. The rioting still raged till the Friday, and spread further on the other side of the town, to Birmingham and Tipton Green, and reference is made in the Journals to a tract entitled "Modern Christianity exemplified at Wednesbury," a copy of which would perhaps be very interesting if it were only forthcoming, and which contains a fuller and more particular account of these surprising transactions. In striking consonance with the uncharitable spirit of those times, was a maliciously and wilfully false report, which appeared in the Whitehall and London Evening Post of Saturday, February 18th, 1744, and which perverted the truth in the following extraordinary manner : - "By a private letter from Staffordshire, we have advice of an insurrection of the people called Methodists, who upon some pretended insults from the church party, have assembled themselves in a riotous manner. And having committed several outrages they proceeded at last to burn the house of one of their adversaries." Of the two, the report seems more infamous than the persecution.
Yet the cause flourished, and the society erected their first Meeting House in Meeting Street ; hence the name of that thoroughfare. Here Wesley preached in 1760, and the town became the head of a circuit of wide extent, embracing Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Walsall. In 1812 a chapel of astonishing proportions for those times was commenced at Spring Head, the formal ceremony of which was performed by the wife of the Rev. G. Morley. This chapel was supplanted in 1867 by the present large and commodius building, which is capable of seating 1,200 persons. To commemorate this event, medals were struck bearing on the obverse an inscription setting forth the occasion of its issue. There was also published a double picture, showing Wesley's pulpit in 1743, which was the old horse-block in the High Bullen ; and by the side of this was drawn the magnificent new pulpit of the present chapel. The Wesley Chapel, Holyhead Road, was erected in 1849, and now belongs to another circuit. The other chapels of this persuasion in the parish are those at Moxley, King's Hill, and Mesty Croft ; all the five together are capable of seating 3,000 persons. Sunday schools are connected with all, and Spring Head and Holyhead Road chapels have also important day schools accommodating some 800 children. [Other interesting points omitted from this article are : (1) The insults offered to Wesley by a drunken clergyman at Wednesbury ; (2) The description of the natural amphitheatre afforded by the "Holloway" alluded to ; and (3) The extraordinary terms in which the said magisterial notice was couched.]
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