Wibsey Wesleyan Reform, Holroyd Hill:: Membership Book

 

 

 

 

Holroyd Hill Wesleyan Reform Chapel, Membership Book
This Membership Book contains names from all over the Wibsey area but the quality of record keeping is rather poor and we highly recommend that you read these notes first before searching through these records.
The original book is held at Bradford archives under the reference 94D87/6. The book bears dates covering the period 1857 to 1875. There are a large number of blank pages in the book and a gap between the mid-1860's and 1875.
There is no standard spelling for surnames, so for example Ormand could be Ormondroyd. We recommend that you search the index first but bear in mind that given names and surnames may be given in an unexpected form.
The book can be divided into three sections or lists which appear to have been compiled at different periods.
The first list seems to consist of membership lists for different classes belonging to the Chapel. Each Methodist chapel or society consisted of classes where members met to discuss their spiritual progress and find support. For example, the list on page 6 consists mainly of people living at 'Rowley' (Rooley) which probably formed a class. However, no dates are given and no class leaders are identified. The lists probably date from the middle to late 1850's but there are signs that the lists were compiled over a number of years and kept up to date with members being crossed off or annotated as having died in 1857 and 1858. At the end of this section are three class lists where the classes are expressly identified as Garden Class, Buttershaw Class and Coll Beck Class. These three lists could have been compiled after the preceding ones and there are signs of some members having changed classes.
The second list appears to date from 1859 to 1866 and seems to be a list of people who had joined the Chapel rather than a list of people divided into classes. Dates of entering the society are given haphazardly and we recommend that you look at the other entries on the page where the person you are interested in appears for clues. The pages have been transcribed in the order they appear in the book but the entries have obviously been entered haphazardly with blank pages filled in at random and much repetition. There are lots of crossed out entries.
The third list appears to be much more straight forward. It consists of three unidentified class lists but each page is headed with the date March 3/ [18]75 and it is reasonable to assume that the list is a class register for three different classes taken on that date. The lists do not appear to have been added to or corrected after this date and we do not know whether there were other classes which were not included.
The book ends with a partial unfinished index at the end of the book. Please consult the index we have compiled which contains all the entries in the book.

 

 

HOME