Fordyce Gospel Hall Archive

This collection contains material relating to the Assembly at Fordyce Hall, Insch, Aberdeenshire. These begin with documents regarding the inception of the assembly in 1873 and its dissolution in 2004. There are documents detailing the activities of the group, its governance and history; including accounts books, minutes of meetings and correspondence.

The collection would be of interest to anyone studying the history of the Brethren movement and those tracing the development of the Brethren in Aberdeenshire.

In the early 1870s Donald Ross and the Evangelists associated with him began a series of gospel campaigns throughout the rural areas to the North West of Aberdeenshire. These resulted in many conversions and a number of small assemblies began.

The first Brethren meeting in Insch took place in a house in June 1873 with 8 people. By the end of 1876 the number of people attending the meetings had increased to 40. The Brethren relocated to Fordyce Hall in Insch, Aberdeenshire, and held its first meeting on May 27th 1888.

Fordyce Hall continued to be used by the Brethren until May 2004, when due to lack of membership it was decided to dissolve the fellowship.

The papers have been arranged into the following series: 

• FOR/1 Governance
• FOR/2 Accounts
• FOR/3 History
• FOR/4 Correspondence

The collection is open to any accredited reader.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. Under the Act 2018 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

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.

None expected

The University of Manchester Library also holds material relating to the Assembly at Insch, which can be found in the Neil Dickson Collection (GB 133 NDC).

Neil Dickson, Brethren in Scotland 1832-2000, (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2002)