Star Hotel - Caughey (1841)
Over the next eleven months, Caughey continued his ministry, preaching and making house to house visits. The Lord blessed his work at this time with a powerful revival. Having received permission from the Conference he set off for Canada on January 17th 1841, where 500 were converted through his ministry in the five months that he was there. He then left for England, arriving at Liverpool on July 20th, 1841.
He first went to Ireland, spending several months in Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Bandon, returning to England on October 29th 1842. Caughey’s work in England was predominately in the north. He would tend to stay several months in each town, ministering usually in two, three or four chapels during his stay. The organisation in the Methodist Church at this time was excellent; the administrators would normally record exactly the numbers giving their lives to the Lord. Caughey’s letters are full of analysis of the conversions; how many were backsliders, how many came from the world, who were from the country, who were from the town etc. The following is a table which shows the success of his mission in England.
Justified Sanctified Total
Liverpool 1300 400 1700
Leeds 1600 1000 2600
Hull 2300 900 3200
Sheffield 3352 1448 4800
Huddersfield 1879 755 2634
York 1314 727 2041
Birmingham 2800 1400 4200
Nottingham 1412 553 1965
Lincoln 368 283 651
Boston 260 140 400
Sunderland 711 227 938
Gateshead 80 46 126
Scarborough134 66 200
Chesterfield 599 137 736
Doncaster 356 170 526
Macclesfield 260 140 400
Wakefield 200 130 330
Various visits: London, Leeds, Hull,
Sheffield, Huddersfield, Manchester,
Belper and places in Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire
etc., at a moderate computation
1500 500 2000
TOTALS 20,425 8,522 28,947
Some of these are estimates, but the author says he has estimated on the low side. Excluding a three month trip to the continent, Caughey spent 41/2 years in England and more than 20,000 were converted. No doubt this number would have been even higher had the Methodist leadership not closed their Chapels to his ministry; therefore forcing him to leave the country in July 1847.
Additional Information
Caughey stayed here after landing in Liverpool.
We thank the Manchester Archives and Local Studies for permission to use this image of a 1908 photo. www.images.manchester.gov.uk