ABOUT US

THE HISTORY OF METHODISM IN NEVIS

By Rev George E. Lawrence

(Extracted From Charlestown Methodist Church’s 150th anniversary commemorative magazine)

 

  Dr. Thomas Coke (who was John Wesley’s personal representative in the West Indies) visited Nevis for the first time on the 19th January 1787.  The object of his visit was: “Would the authorities in Nevis allow the Methodist missionaries to instruct the slaves?” but no permission was granted for this, much to Dr Coke’s disappointment.  However, Rev William Hammet, who Dr. Coke had stationed in St. Kitts became friendly with an important Nevis planter name Brazier, who soon invited him to instruct the slaves.  This invitation was followed by many others from other planters.  The result was that on Dr. Coke’s second visit in 1789, a royal welcome was accorded him, and he was entertained by Mr. Ward, the Judge of the Admiralty and the other two men became firm friends.

  Rev Thomas Owens was stationed in Charlestown and began his work with a class of twenty-one members.  On Dr Coke’s next visit in 1790, the Methodists possessed their own Chapel.  Dr Coke was delighted with the testimonies he heard in this chapel from many of the slaves who had accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour.  On this visit he met Richard and Walter Nisbett and he also made contact with an important planter named Kane at whose home he lodged and preached.  Early in January, 1793, Dr Coke returned to Charlestown and lodged with Walter Nisbett, who had built a Chapel for his slaves.  On this visit the membership had reached 400.

  A bundle of old letters written by the missionaries to D Coke tell of large congregations and widespread interest.  In 1796 Rev John Brownell states that the society is on a more respectable footing in Nevis than in any other island except Antigua.  Then on the 12th May, 1797, Brownell wrote about the first persecution in Nevis.  He had denounced the wealthy slave owners for living sinful and evil lives while making a show of supporting Methodism.  So they sought revenge by breaking up services in the Town Chapel which they also tried to set on fire.  Some Methodist families were driven from the island and Brownell was knocked down in the street.  Legal proceedings were instituted but the missionary forgave them on the premise that they would not molest the Methodists again.

   From this time the work prospered amazingly.  Brownell writes that an additional Chapel had been built (at Gingerland).  Interested planters had covenanted to give the missionary a barrel of rum per year for services to their slaves – an offer which he politely refused.  In 1801, the membership had grown to 883.  Rev Taylor wrote in 1803 telling Rev Braddock and himself who had been appointed the previous year had added 400 members to the society which was now part of the St. Kitts Circuit.

Rev Henry P Britten was the missionary at the time of Emancipation, and the planters who could do nothing with the excited slaves appealed to him to explain to them the provision of the Emancipation Act.  This he did by talking to them on the various estates and by the publication of “An Affectionate Address to the Slave Population of the Island of Nevis.” His work produced the desired result – they all accepted the Apprenticeship System.  The Day of Emancipation on 1st August, 1834 was the most busy day of Britten’s ministry.  Apart from the Watch Night Service and the Thanksgiving services, there was a special Baptism Service.

  Before Emancipation, Sunday was the only day on which the slaves could do their marketing, (the slaves raised provisions for their use and the extra was sold in the Sunday Market to earn a bit to better their lives); but with Emancipation it was no longer necessary to have market on Sunday.

  On the Sunday previous to Emancipation, Britten conducted a service in the Market in which he told the slaves that with their obtaining Freedom the Sunday Market must stop.  He told them he would be at the Market again on the following Sunday with a book in which he would write down the names of those,  “who should come first to the Sunday Market when you are free, and keep them to your shame and disgrace.” On the following Sunday, the first Sunday of Freedom, Britten came to the Market and found the place, “empty and quiet as a grave.”

  Many of the slaves who were emancipated from slavery in Nevis and their descendants became stalwarts of Methodism.  John Podd Bridgewater, a native of Nevis who was 24 at the time of Emancipation, had charge of the Methodist Day School in Charlestown, and after serving the Church in every capacity as a layman, died in 1889, at the age of 79.  Rev John Henry Bridgewater built the Charlestown Manse in 1885.  He died in 1897 after a ministry full of toil and honour.  What he did for Charlestown, George Bridgewater did for Gingerland.  One of his daughters, Helen S Bridgewater (know to everybody as “Miss Lynn”), inaugurated and managed the Excelsior School in Nevis, who for many years maintained a high standard.  She was a devoted Methodist and served the Charlestown Methodist Church for many years as organist and choir mistress.

  Thomas James Williamson who did not have the opportunity of secondary education, possessed remarkable power as a preacher – “his preaching was like the hurricane,” the old folks who remember him say.  Another stalwart was Johannes Jacobs of Craddock Road, who used the ride every Sunday to Clifton Church in Cotton Ground as he considered that this little society was more in need of his services than Charlestown.  Again one must pay tribute to the memory of Samuel Jeffers of Combermere who was Society Steward, Local Preacher, Class Leader, Sunday School Superintendent and Sexton.  He had a most remarkable passing to the Great Beyond, taking ill while preaching at the 5 o’clock Christmas morning service at Combermere in 1933 and passing away the same day.  Another stalwart, Bro Charles Byron gave yeoman service to Nevis Methodism as Sunday School Superintendent, Class Leader, Local Preacher, and Circuit Steward.  His work and example cannot be estimated, and his influence is continued in the service of his family.  Bro James Crosse was also prominent in the service of his Church as Steward, Class Leader and Local Preacher, and his influence is likewise continued in the service of his family.  Each of these two families produced a Methodist Minister, namely the Rev L T Byron and the Rev Winston Churchill Crosse.

  Nevis Methodism also honours the Rev A B Baker who built up two churches in America for Methodists from the West Indies.  On his return he ministered in Anguilla for ten years, then retired and lived in Charlestown where he continued to exert a gracious and holy influence in the Church and the community.  There were many others who lived and worked for Methodism in Nevis including the Taylors, Barretts, Stevens, James, Archibalds, Tysons, Huggins, Hanleys, Parris, Newtons, Drews, Brownes, and Maynards of Charlestown; the Mills, Amorys, Esdailles, Brookes, Hobsons, Ropers, Challengers, and Pinneys of Gingerland;  the Flahertys, Webbes, and Pembertons of New River; the Jeffers, Nisbetts, Brownes, Blakes, Frances, and Queeleys of Combermere and the Braziers, Saunders, Sargeants, Jones, and Williamsons of Clifton.  The love and loyalty of all the people represented by these names and many more are making history in our day and generations;  and are establishing a good tradition of Methodism.