Stephenson, William H.
fl.1819

A WM local preacher who, in 1819, following the Peterloo massacre, addressed a huge Radical Reform meeting on Newcastle Town Moor and was disciplined by the local circuit. His case was finally resolved by the Committee of Privileges in London, whose decision was not only to suspend him as a local preacher but to expel him from membership unless he promised to refrain from Radical Reform activities in future. Stephenson and others left their societies and within a year had formed fourteen Independent Methodist churches in the North-East.

Sources
  • Hugh Kelly, An Impartial History of Independent Methodism in the counties of Durham and Northumberland (Newcastle, 1824)
  • W.R. Ward, The Early Correspondence of Jabez Bubnting 1820-1829 (1972) pp.21-4

See also

Entry written by: JAD
Category: Person
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