Wesleyan Theological Institution Archive

The archive comprises committee minutes and financial records of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, which oversaw the training of ministers within the Wesley Methodist Church. The archive is an essential source for the history of ministerial training within the Wesleyan Methodist Church, notably at Didsbury College near Manchester, Richmond College, Surrey, and Handsworth College in Birmingham. The minute books and financial records describe in detail many aspects of the running of the Institution and its constituent colleges, including information on student admissions, the appointment and conduct of tutors, tutors' salaries, curricular matters, disciplinary and health issues, the leasing of the properties at Hoxton and Stoke Newington, the construction and maintenance of the colleges at Didsbury and Richmond, and general financial matters.

Wesleyan Methodists were slow to establish formal training for their ministers, and it was not until the 1830s that a national system of residential training was adopted. In 1833 Conference appointed a committee to devise a plan for the better education of ministerial candidates. Members included Jabez Bunting, Joseph Entwisle, John Hannah, Thomas Jackson and Richard Treffry. The committee reported in the following year under the title Proposals for the Formation of a Literary and Theological Institution: with a Design to Promote the Improvement of the Junior Preachers in the Methodist Connexion. The Conference of 1834 adopted the committee's recommendations, but with significant revisions. It agreed to establish the Wesleyan Theological Institution for the Improvement of the Junior Preachers. Initially the management committee rented premises at Hoxton, but these proved inadequate and in 1839 additional accommodation was rented at Abney House in Stoke Newington.

The leasehold premises at Hoxton and Abney House were unsatisfactory, and therefore in 1839 the Centenary Fund, established to commemorate the centenary of John Wesley’s establishment of the first Methodist society, made a grant of £40,000 to construct two new ministerial training colleges, one in the vicinity of London and a second near Manchester, with an additional £15,000 allocated for general purposes. Didsbury College opened to students in 1842 as the Northern Branch of the Wesleyan Theological Institution; Richmond College opened in the following year as the Southern Branch. The Richmond College estate was sold to the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in 1863, and its ministerial training function transferred to Wesley College, Headingley (Leeds), which opened in 1868. A further ministerial training college opened at Handsworth (Birmingham) in 1881.

A general committee of management of the Wesleyan Theological Institution was appointed each year, consisting of the president and secretary of Conference, president of the Institution (Jabez Bunting until his death in 1858), tutors from the branches in Richmond and Didsbury, treasurers, secretary, general secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and the local branch secretaries and treasurers. The management of the separate branches of the Institution was entrusted to local sub-committees, also appointed by Conference.

After the Methodist union in 1932, the title of Wesleyan Theological Institution was dropped, but a General Oversight Committee continued to coordinate the activities of Didsbury College (which closed in 1940 and transferred to Wesley College, Bristol, until its closure in 2012) and Richmond College (which closed in 1972).

The archive has been arranged into two series: committee minutes (WTI/1), and financial records (WTI/2). Within each series, items are arranged chronologically.

The collection is open to any accredited reader, subject to the requirements of Data Protection Act 2018.

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.

Access to WTI/1/10 is restricted under the Data Protection Act 2018. Open parts of this collection, and the catalogue descriptions, may contain personal data about living individuals.

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. MA1977/545.

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) also holds the archives of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, Southern branch (Richmond College), 1838-1971; and the Northern branch (Didsbury College), 1848, 1910-1914. The archives of Wesley College Bristol, transferred to the Library in 2015, include material relating to Disbury, Richmond and Headingley colleges.

Simon Dixon, 'Wesleyan Theological Institution: Northern Branch, Didsbury (1842-1940)', Dissenting Academies Online: Database and Encyclopedia, Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies, September 2012, revised April 2015. https://dissacad.english.qmul.ac.uk.

Isabel Rivers, 'Wesleyan Theological Institution: Hoxton (1834-1842) and Abney House (1839-1843)', Dissenting Academies Online: Database and Encyclopedia, Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies, July 2012, revised September 2012. https://dissacad.english.qmul.ac.uk.

Isabel Rivers, 'Wesleyan Theological Institution: Southern Branch, Richmond (1843-1972)', Dissenting Academies Online: Database and Encyclopedia, Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies, September 2012. https://dissacad.english.qmul.ac.uk.