A BRAND FROM THE BURNING

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22419, 4 June 1938, Page 24

A BRAND FROM THE BURNING

[By M. A. RUGBY PRATT, F-R.Hist.S.l

The world-wide.celebration of the spiritual rebirth of John Wesley on May 24, 1738, has turned attention mice again to the little market town of Epworth, where Wesley was born in the old thatched rectory on June 17, 1703. Epworth is in the Isle of Axholme, a low, level tract of land situated in the north-west of Lincolnshire. The use of the word “Isle” transports us to bygone days and vanished conditions. The Isle of Axholme lies to the west of the river Trent, and is enclosed between that river and the channels of the Idle and the Don. The records show that in olden days the area of the river-isle was a forest, but in course of time it became a malarial marsh Waterlogged by the overflowings of the swollen rivers. Between the years 1625 and 1634 the swamp was redeemed from uselessness and potential danger through the skill of Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, who, at a cost of about , £ 56,000, drained the marsh into the Trent and transformed the reclaimed land into a region of fruitfulness and fertility. A portion of the reclaimed land was granted to ( Vermuyden, who sold allotments to his counti-y----men and to some French ' Protestants. The intrusion of settlers from Holland and France deeply incensed the Fenmen, who had been opposed to the drainage scheme. Fierce riots took place, followed' by. angry litigation lasting for more than half a century. The ferocity of the native villagers showed itself in Various ways. They burnt the crops of their opponents, killed their cattle, turned the flood waters over their holdings, and at last attempted, not far from Epworth, to burn the house and the entire family of the most obnoxious of their opponents, first locking the doors and blocking the keyholes with clay. This last outrage was perpetrated in 1697. It was among parishioners of this type that Samuel Wesley,. in that year, came to exercise his, ministry. Resolute and faithful, Samuel Wesley did not hesitate to denounce the outrages of theMerocious Fenmen. They bitterly resented his plain dealing, and in their midst he fed a troubled life. They avenged his rebukes by breaking his doors, wounding his cattle, and cutting off the legs of his house dog. The parish was in a constant ferment of sullen ugliness which expressed itself'in open violence. In July, 1702, the rabble attempted to burn down the rectory and the inmates suffered severe loss. It is generally, believed that the total des* ruction of the dwelling several years later was due to the incendiarism of evil-dis-posed parishioners. -The Burning of the Rectory The Epworth rectory was constructed of wood and plaster with a thatched roof. It stood in about three acres of ground. The outbuildings included a thatched bam and a dovecot. The story of their complete destruction by a fire which was discovered at about half past 11 on the night of Wednesday, February-9, 1709, has become one of national interest. The narrative of that night has been pot on record by the three persons whose lives were most profoundly affected by it. _ The earliest account was embodied in a letter written by Mrs Wesley to her eldest son Samuel, then boarding at Westminster School. This was penned only five days later. -Within the week the Rev. Samuel Wesley wrote to his friend, the Duke of (Buckingham a graphic account of the conflagration. Six months later, bn -August 24, Mrs Wesley sent a further account of it to a neighbouring • clergyman named Hoole. Finally John Wesley himself put on record his memories of an event which powerfully influenced all hie after life. ' From these sources can be gathered a detailed account of a fire, which, in less than a quartet of an hour, consumed the vicarage and all its contents, including the furniture and the parish records as well as the rector’s library, his important collection of Hebrew poetry and hymns, all his correspondence, the writings of Mrs Wesley, and valuable papers relating to the Annesley family. Mr Wesley states that every spark of fire had been quenched before 5 o’clock. • The chimney had been but recently swept and no spark from that source could have ignited the thatched roof. The rector had been in his study until after half past 10 o’clock. He had then locked the doors. He neither saw nor smelt any sign of fire. The eight children then at home were asleep. The two servants had retired. Mrs Wesley, who was within' a few weeks of giving birth to her nineteenth, child,_was asleep in an. inner room with her two elder daughters. The rector lay in an adjoining room near the street. A little after 11 he heard the cry .“Fire.”, At the same moment sparks from the roof fell upon the bed of his daughter Hetty. She ran to call her father.- He had flung himself out of bed and seen the reflection of fire, but until now did not realise that it was his -own house ablaze. - Nothing-but a thin, wall and a door was between the flames and the staircase. He got Mrs Wesley and the two elder girls downstairs; The girls escaped through a window. Thr.ee times Mrs Wesley tried -to force, a passage through the street door but as often was driven back by the fury of the flames. At last she made her escape. The thatched roof was burning fiercely. Twice Mr Wesley tried to mount the staircase. A strong north-east . wind was driving sheets of flame upon him Running to the garden door, he opened it. Here the fire was more moderate. He ran and burst open the nursery door and called.to;the maids to bring out the children. Each carried one in her arms. The father carried several to safety. Thinking all had been rescued and anxious to save some books he again scaled the stairs. Flames were breaking through the wall. The staircase was ablaze. The study' was locked Rushing down, he gained the safety of the garden. Jackey. not yet six years old, had been forgotten by the servants. The child was awakened by the ’ brilliant light. He called to the maid but gol no answer. Streaks of fire were creeping across his ceiling Seeking escape by the door, he was baffled by the leaping flames. He then climbed on to a chest which stood by the . window -It was at this instant that his father reached the garden. He heard the child crying “Hein me!” to those in the yard. He rushed back to the blazing stairway, the steps of which would not now: bear his weight. A man was calling for someone to fetch a ladder Another cried: “There’s no time for tnat. I’ll stand against the wall. Lifl a light man on my shoulders.” This was done.. The bed and its hangings were now in flames. The man Jost his balance and fell. The child crushed again to the door, then back 06, ths window. A second time the man wa; helped uo. The child leapedvinto hi: arms and was passed .to Sands outSjretched to receive him. At this inKant the roof fell in and the roon from ; which the child had escaped, a:

The Rescue of Wesley NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATIONS {SPECIALLY WRITTEN TOB THE PBBSS.)

by a miracle, crashed to the earth. A few seconds of delay, and the most influential figure of the eighteenth century would have been lost to the world. Who Were Wesley’s Rescuers? Only one man in a millennium can become a Wesley and restore to his country a pulsing religious life, send the breath of reviyal all over Christendom. and kindle a flame of Christian zeal that sends its warmth and its radiance down the years. But the very life of Wesley was preserved by men who are little known in the pages of history. Who were these rescuers? It is rather remarkable that the names of the men who formed the living ladder of rescue were not recorded by the rector or his wife or by John Wesley himself. ' John Wesley says that "one in the yard” suggested fetching a ladder, but another suggested lifting a light man on to his shoulders. Mrs Wesley writes of “the men in the yard who pulled him out.” The rector, in his letter to the Duke of Buckingham, says: “One who loves mo helped up another to the window. ’ Candidates for the honour of having rescued Wesley can be counted on the fingers of one hand. In May, 1903. the wife of the Rev. A. E. Rowson. a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America, wrote: “I am a descendant of the man who stood on the shoulders of another and took the boy from the window of the burning house. My sainted and honoured father (the late William Kirk, of Retford. Nottinghamshire) was born at a village in the Isle of Axholme, just a few miles from Epworth. and this man. whose name was ‘Clark,’ was his great-great-grandfather.” No documentary or other evidence was submitted to support the claim: and diligent research conducted by correspondence with. England and America has not produced any substantiation. In. the year 1934 Sir Walter Essex, of Streatham Park, London, published a booklet entitled “Faces in the Firelight.” In referring to the rescue of Wesley, he wrote: "The quick-sighted alertneses of the powerful John Brown suggested the living ladder of rescue.” Referring to this statement in the “Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society,” in December, 1934, the Rev. F. F. Bretherton. 8.A., asks where Sir Walter got the name of Brown. He contends that in view of other known facts there is little room for such a suggestion. Sir Walter produced no evidence for the name of Brown; and the present writer, who took up the matter in' correspondence, is satisfied that he should have written the name “John Barnard.” Some years ago the Rev. Edward H. Maggs, an English Methodist minister, published in the “Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society” a statement to the effect that Wesley’s preserver, whether upper or lower is not stated, was named Barnard. The statement was there said to be based upon a reference in a very old letter that had been quoted by the editor of the “Northwich Circuit Magazine” for March, 1928. Mr Maggs recently supplied the reference to the present writer. It appears that the Rev. Samuel Wesley and a few friends had received, generous fare at the home of a man noted for his niggardliness. After the meal, Mr Wesley was asked to return thanks. This he did in an extempore verse. The old letter quotes the verse, and adds: “It, was given on the authority of, the late William Barnard, of Gainsborough, whose father, the preserver of John Wesley from the fire of 1709,' was present at the time it was spoken.” This casual but definite statement that one of Wesley’s, rescuers was named Barnard has abundant confirmation. . There now lies before the writer a letter written to the Wesleyan missionary secretaries . in London by the Rev. John Aldred, ‘the first resident Wesleyan missionary at Port Nicholson. It. is dated January 1, 1841, and contains the following reference: “One .Captain Rhodes, formerly of Epworth, has got a town section on the misison land (at Te Aro) on which he has built a large warehouse. His great-grandfather, he tells me, was the person who rescued“ John Wesley from the flames;” • The person referred to was Captain William Barnard Rhodes, who was bom at Epworth, Lincolnshire, on May 8. 1807, and made his home in Wellington in 1840. ; The genealogical tables of the. Rhodes and Barnard families back to the seventeenth century have been obligingly placed at my disposal by Sir Heaton Rhodes, and Mrs P. R. Woodhduse, a grand-daugh-ter of George Rhodes of the Levels. This George Rhodes, and his brothers, Robert Heaton Rhodes and William Barnard Rhodes, were sons of William Rhodes-of Epworth . and Balby, and great-great-grandsons of John Rhodes, who died at Oulton in the west riding of Yorkshire in 1738. On their mother’s side they traced their descent from one Barnard of Epworth. a contemporary of John Rhodes of Oulton. Their mother was a daughter of Robert Heaton of Epworth, who married Mary Barnard, daughter of Peter Barnard of the same place. This Peter Barnard was a .son of William . Barnard of Gainsborough, whose lather is credited with being one part of the living ladder which rescued Wesley from the flames. The Rev. Edwin Iredale Watkm, D.D., a son of the Rev. James Watkin, who-lived-in Wellington from June 29. 1844. until March 22, "1855, has put on record - in the “Proceedings of the Wesley ; Historical Society ” that when he was a boy in Wellington' his father was told by Captain Rhodes that his grandfather was- the man on whose shoulders ‘another stood' to' rescue 'John Wesley from the burning parsonage. Dr. Watkin does - not state whether the ancestor was on the paternal or maternal side of the family. _ , Another brother of Captain Rhodes was Joseph Rhodes of Hawke’s Bay. In. the “New Zealand Wesleyan” for May 1, 1876 it is reported that, at a church meeting in Napier held on March 14 of that year, he stated that one of his ancestors saved the illustrious Wesley from fire at Epworth. Summing up the foregoing facts, we may dismiss the suggestion that one of the rescuers of Wesley was John Brown, because of the complete lack of supporting evidence. The claim that .one Clark :was the man who stood on the shoulders of the other at present stands not proven. His rival for that post of distinction is John. Rhodes ot Oulton; but there is at- present no conclusive evidence that this man was at Epworth in 1709. It may. however, be regarded as fully established that the man on whose shoulders the other stood- was ■ one ■ Barnard of Enworth This man was' the great-great-great-grandfather of Caotain Rhodes and ol his brothers, George Rhodes of the Levels. Joseph Rhodes of Hawke’s Bay and’Robert Heaton Rhodes’ of Purau and Elmwood. The . son of the last’named is Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, ol Otahuna. The identification of Barnard as the rescuer of Wesley is nol upset by the fact that Dr. Watkin writing from memory 60 years after hearing the story. • used the wore “grandfather.” and the Rev. Johr Aldred in 1841, writes of a “greatgrandfather.” LaXity of expression it regard to’ degrees of remoter relation-ships-is almost. proverbial. So well. authenticated is the tradition cherished by all branches of th« Rhodes family through successive gen orations that the fact merits suitabk commemoration. - It would be singularly fitting.! for example. if. in the Ta Taipu Methodist • Church, adiacent tc the home of Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, s worthy mural tablet were erected, indicating that' the site on which th«

church so picturesquely stands was formerly owned by the brothers William Barnard Rhodes, Robert Heaton Rhodes, and George Rhodes, one of whose ancesrors rescued John Wesley from the flames at Epworth, Lincolnshire, on February 9, 1709.