From [Bryan Holwell] Reed at Westhill Training College, Selly Oak, Birmingham, to Frederick Leach Buxton at the `Memorial House', Cock Road, Kingswood, near Bristol.
He was very interested to receive Buxton's circular letter and can only wish that he was able to join Buxton at the Book Room on November 3rd. He doubts however whether he would be able to afford the time or the train fare.
Reed has some comments to make on the list of books which are to be presented on November 3rd. He was especially interested to read the assertion that in the set of [Bible Christian Conference] minutes from 1819 to 1907, there is a gap for 1824. This is in fact incorrect as Reed has in his possession a bound volume for 1819 to 1836, which belonged to his great grand-father [William Reed], and this includes the 1824 minutes. Is it possible that Reed's copy is the only one in existence which contains those minutes?.
Another thing which interested him was that included in the collection is a book called A Defence of the Bible Christian Movement by James Thorne, which was published in 1834. The list describes this book as very rare. Is this the same as James Thorne's Vindication of the acting members of the Finance Committee of the Bible Christians published in 1829, of which Reed has a copy? This was an answer on the part of the preachers to a number of charges made against them by William O'Bryan.
He notices that the list includes a biography of James Thorne by [Frederick William] Bourne. Again, he has a copy of this together with a much longer memoir of James Thorne by his son and published in 1875.
Three books which Reed owns and which do not appear in Buxton's list are; A Biography of Samuel Thomas Thorne by Thomas Ruddle (1893), A Memoir of William Reed by James Thorne (1869) and A Life of Grace Reed by James Thorne (1822).
Most of these books were originally the property of William Reed and were passed to his son William Bryan Reed and eventually to Reed himself.
He is unable to make up his mind whether he should preserve them in the family or present them to form part of Buxton's collection.
Notes .
- Bryan Howell Reed (1905-91) was born in Okehampton, Devon, a member of a famous Bible Christian family which included three Presidents of Conference. He was trained at Victoria Park College and entered the United Methodist ministry in 1926. Reed was actively involved in youth work and pioneered the development of "First Methodist Church Clubland" based in Walthamstow, London. In 1946 he was appointed lecturer in youth work at Westhill College, Selly Oak, Birmingham, and was commissioned by the Edward Cadbury Trust to carry out a study of young people in Birmingham. The fruits of that research entitled Eighty Thousand Adolescents was regarded as a classic of its type. Reed was subsequently appointed General Secretary of the Methodist Youth department and did much to place the department on a sound financial basis. Among his achievements was the raising of funds for the building of Chester House, which served as the new departmental headquarters combined with a hostel for young people. After his retirement, Reed spent several years serving American Churches in New England, before returning to settle in Prestatyn and finally London. Source: Beckerlegge and M R 9 January 1992, p.14
- William Reed (1800-58) was one of the greatest preachers of the Bible Christian Connexion. He was born in North Devon and accompanied James Thorne on a preaching tour at the early age of nineteen. He possessed remarkable preaching ability and powers of persuasion. Reed was four times President of Conference. Source: Encyclopedia of World Methodism (1974)
- Samuel Thomas Thorne (1860-91) was born at Norton Bratton, Launcells, Stratton, Cornwall. He was the son of the Bible Christian minister Samuel Ley Thorne and great-grandson of William O'Bryan, founder of the Connexion. Thorne entered the Bible Christian ministry in 1879 and with Thomas Grills Vanstone was appointed in 1884 to be the first Bible Christian missionaries in China. He died at Chao Tong in china on 23rd September 1891. Source: Beckerlegge
- William Bryan Reed (1836-1936) was born at Holwell in Devon, the son of William Reed, one of the early leaders of the Bible Christian Connexion. He entered the Bible Christian ministry in 1860 and spent twenty-four years in circuit work. In 1884 he founded Edgehill College in Bideford and held the office of Governor until his retirement in 1909. Reed served as President of Conference in 1881, one of three members of his family to have occupied that position in the Bible Christian and United Methodist Churches. He was also Connexional Secretary 1878-79 and Missions Secretary 1893-98. He died at Bideford two months short of his hundredth birthday. Source: Beckerlegge and M R 20 February 1936, p.4