William Christopher Jackson Papers

Administrative letters and Papers relating to bequests, Methodist property and Methodist education (including some papers relating to Victoria College Manchester).

Former reference: MA 1977/151 (GB 135)

Official papers connected with the ministry of William Christopher Jackson (1874-1944), Born at Lincoln in 1874. He won a scholarship to Lincoln Grammar School and afterwards scholarships that took him to St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge. After training at Victoria College, Manchester, he entered the ministry of the United Methodist Free Church in 1898. He served with distinction as a circuit minister until 1919 when he was appointed Chapel Secretary and Secretary of the Guarantee Fund in the United Methodist Church.

He took a notable part in the negotiations for the larger Union of 1932, and in the Union year he was elected President of the UMC Conference, thus becoming one of the signatories of the Deed of Union. The larger Methodist Church recognised his great administrative gifts by appointing him to the Chapel Office at the time of Union and he became the General Secretary of that department in 1939, holding the office until his retirement in 1942.

He died on April 7, 1944, in his seventieth year, having served in the Methodist ministry for forty-five years.

The archive has been arranged in one series

• WCJ 1/1 Administrative papers concerning the estate of John Henry Warhurst.
• WCJ 1/2 Methodist Union Correspondence
• WCJ 1/3 Committee of Enquiry Correspondence
• WCJ 1/4 Methodist Property Correspondence
• WCJ 1/5 List of administrative papers concerning Victoria Park College sent to Epworth Press.
• WCJ 1/6 Trustee appointments: Administrative papers and correspondence
• WCJ 1/7 Bequest by Misses Stretchley: Administrative papers and correspondence
• WCJ 1/8 UMC Property in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester: Administrative papers
• WCJ 1/9 Will of Abraham Sharman of Sheffield, with associated papers

The collection is open to any accredited reader.

The archive was deposited at the John Rylands Library by the Methodist Conference in 1977 as part of the Methodist Archives and Research Centre collections, accession no. MA 1977/151

None

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

The archive was formerly in the custody of the Methodist Church at City Road, London, prior to its deposit at the John Rylands Library in 1977.

No further accruals are expected.

The Methodist Archives and Research Centre (MARC) holds the archives of the Conference (1744- ), the Division of Education and Youth and the Property Division.

As well as thousands of smaller collections of Methodist Ministers personal and official papers the MARC holds a large number of medium-sized personal collections relating to significant ministers, missionaries, laymen and educators, including the controversial nineteenth century leader of Wesleyan Methodism Jabez Bunting (1779- 1859), the pioneer of Methodist overseas outreach Thomas Coke (1747-1814), the lawyer and anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Allan (1774-1845), the China missionary and President of Conference Harold Burgoyne Rattenbury (1878-1961) and the minister and scholar Alfred Raymond George (1912-98).