The reluctant denomination? The trajectory of the Countess of Huntingdon's connexion in the nineteenth century

Thesis

Historiography has largely focused on the Countess of Huntingdon and her Connexion in the eighteenth century. Through analysis of four Connexion chapels this dissertation extends analysis of the Connexion into the following century. The results revise the understanding of the Connexion as a denomination that failed to carry the banner of Calvinism within Methodism. Unlike the Wesleyan and Welsh Calvinist Methodists, the Connexion is demonstrated to have failed to emerge as a denomination from the Evangelical Movement. Instead, it remained true to the characteristics of that movement and demonstrated a denominational ambiguity that left it susceptible to changes in the local ecclesiastical ecology, to influential ministers and to a centralised trusteeship. The absence of a clear denominational identity provoked internecine court cases, the development of a surrogate denomination and an endeavour to re-integrate with the Church of England before the eventual launch of the Connexion as a denomination in 1899.

Authors: Shotliff, R

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-dop0yoe9e
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: denominational ambiguity
• Subjects: Calvinistic Methodists; Chartism; Ritualism; Evangelicalism; Free Church of England--Relations; Slavery; Keswick Holiness Movement