Churches – Methodists in Scotland
Methodists in Scotland have always been a very small denomination, with a peak membership of 13,300 in the 1960, dropping to about 2,000 in 2022.[1] Their history, structure and governance is part of the wider Methodist Church in Britain and the records, and their locations reflect this.
The Methodist Church emerged out of an evangelical revival in the early eighteenth century. John Wesley, an ordained Anglican clergyman, set up religious societies to support people in their faith, initially describing them as being ‘in connexion’ with himself, to avoid breaching the Conventicles Act, 1670, which, in England, could result in fines for attending or holding non-Anglican religious meetings.[2] Members attended weekly class meetings but were encouraged to continue to attend their local parish church. Laymen were employed by John Wesley as itinerant preachers, who travelled round their circuit regularly and who were moved from one area to another every few years, and volunteers were appointed as local preachers who were limited to their local area. Itinerant preachers were given more training and from the 1830s were ordained as presbyters.[3]
Methodists were organised into societies (congregations) which were grouped together to form a circuit. Circuits in turn were grouped into geographical areas called Districts, all of which were part of the Connexion (the term used for the church’s central leadership and administration). The first society in Scotland was formed in Musselburgh in 1751.[4]
Methodist governance was based on meetings: the class meeting, the society meeting, the leaders’ meeting, the quarterly meeting, the district meeting (known as synod from the 1890s onwards) and conference. There were also trustees who were separately responsible for the buildings, property and assets. In the 1970s, society meetings were replaced by General Church Meetings, and the leaders’ meetings and trustees’ responsibilities were combined into the Church Council; and the quarterly meeting was re-named the circuit meeting and given the responsibilities of managing trustees of circuit property. The connexion was re-organised into new committees and divisions in the 1990s.[5]
After John Wesley died in March 1791, Methodists split several times over theological, doctrinal and practice differences. Most Scottish Methodists remained Wesleyan Methodists (the original Methodist church) but the Society of Primitive Methodists (1811-1932) attracted a significant minority, particularly in the west of Scotland.[6] A few joined the New Methodist Connexion (1797-1907) or the Bible Christian Church (1815-1907), who welcomed women preachers as well as men, and some set up independent Methodist churches, notably the well-attended Charlotte Street church in Glasgow.[7] In 1907 the United Methodist Church was formed by a union of the New Methodist Connexion, Bible Christians and the United Methodist Free Church (which did not have congregations in Scotland). The Primitive Methodists and the United Methodists then united as the Methodist Church in Britain in 1932
Methodist society, circuit and district archives are placed in local archives services designated by the relevant District Archivist. Scottish records can be found in the National Records of Scotland (ref. CH11), Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, Dumfries & Galloway Council Archives, Dundee City Archives, Glasgow City Archives, Highland Council Archives, Scottish Borders Archives, Shetland Museums & Archives, Stirling Council Archives and the University of Dundee Archives.
The Methodist Archives and Research Centre, University of Manchester, holds copies of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Shetland District minutes along with some circuit plans and other miscellaneous records relating to Scotland. <https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/special-collections/subject-areas/methodist-archives-and-research-collections/methodist-archives-collection-catalogue/catalogue-viewer/> [accessed 24 April 2024]
Further details about methodist records can be found on the Methodist Heritage website. <http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/archives-libraries-methodist.htm> [accessed 24 April 2024]
Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2024)
Related Knowledge Base entries
Bibliography
Batty, Margaret, Scotland’s Methodists, 1750-2000 (John Donald, 2010)
Bebbington, David W., ‘Methodism in Victorian Shetland’ Scottish Church History 50.2 (2021), pp. 75-97
Thornborow, Philip, A Methodist in the family? Answers to ten frequently asked family history questions (Methodist Publishing, 2014)
Vickers, John A., A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland (Epworth Press, 2000) expanded website version <https://dmbi.online/> [accessed 24 April 2024]
References
[1]Margaret Batty, Scotland’s Methodists, 1750-2000 (John Donald, 2010), p.258; Methodist Church Statistics for Mission; Scotland District and Shetland District <https://www.methodist.org.uk/for-churches/statistics-for-mission/2022-statistics-reports/ > [accessed 27 Jan 2024].
[2] Acts of the Parliament of England, Conventicles Act, 1670 (22 Cha. II, c.1).
[3] Entries for ‘Ordination’ and ‘Preachers’ in John A. Vickers, A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland [hereafter DMBI] <https://dmbi.online/> [accessed 27 Jan 2024].
[4] Batty, Scotland’s Methodists, p.7.
[5] Entries for ‘Conference’, ‘Church Council’ ‘Society Meeting’ ‘Circuit Meeting’ District Synod’ in DMBI <https://dmbi.online/> [accessed 27 Jan 2024].
[6] Batty, Scotland’s Methodists, pp.147, 258.
[7] Batty, Scotland’s Methodists, pp. 51-58.