PRIMITIVE METHODISTS, a community of noncon formists, formed in consequence of the belief that Methodism as founded by the Wesleys tended, after the first generation, to depart from the enthusiasm that had marked its inception and to settle down to the task of self-organization. There were some ardent spirits who continued to work along the old lines and whose watchword was revivalism; and out of their efforts came the Bible Christian, the Independent Methodist and the Primitive Methodist denominations. One of the zealous evangelists to whom Primi tive Methodism owes its existence was Hugh Bourne (1772 1852), a millwright of Stoke-upon-Trent. He joined a Methodist society at Burslem, but, business taking him at the close of 1800 to the colliery district of Harrisehead and Kidsgrove, he was so impressed by the prevailing ignorance and debasement that he began a religious revival of the district. His open-air preaching was accompanied by prayer and singing, a departure from Wes ley's practice and the forerunner of the well-known "camp meet ing." One of the of ter-fruits of this revival was the conversion (Jan. 1805) of the joint founder of Primitive Methodism, William Clowes (178o-1851), of Burslem, who threw his house open for love-feasts and prayer-meetings, and did a great deal of itinerant evangelization among the cottages of the countryside. The first "camp meeting" was held on Mow Cop, since regarded as the Mecca of Primitive Methodism. It lasted from 6 A.M. to 8 P.M., and Bourne and his friends determined to continue the experiment as a counterblast to the parish wakes of the time, which were little better than local saturnalia ; but serious difficulties were presented by the antagonism of the Wesleyan Methodist circuit authorities. But Bourne and his friends persisted against both Conference and the local superintendent, who issued bills declaring that no camp meeting would be held at Norton in August 1807. The meeting was held and ten months later Bourne was expelled by the Burslem Quarterly Meeting. Camp-meetings went steadily on, and in 1810, the methods of the meetings organized by Bourne and Clowes were found to be incompatible with those of Wesleyan Methodism.
A chapel was built at Tunstall, which became the nucleus of a circuit. Clowes and James Crawfoot, an ex-Wesleyan local preacher, were set apart as preachers to "live by the gospel," and in February 1812 the name "Primitive Methodist" was formally adopted.
The period 1811-43 was a time of rapid expansion for the new sect. Enthusiasts pressed forward through the "Adam Bede" country to Derby (which became the 2nd circuit in 1816), Nottingham, where a great camp-meeting on Whit Sunday 1816 was attended by 12,000 people, Leicestershire, where Lough borough became the 3rd circuit, with extensions into Rutland, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, and ultimately to Hull, which became the 4th circuit, and where a meeting which deserves to be called the First Conference was held in June 1819. The Hull circuit during the next five years, through its Yorkshire, Western, North Western and Northern Missions, carried on a vigorous campaign with great success, especially among the then semi-savage colliers of Durham and Northumberland. Simultaneously Tunstall circuit, having thrown off its lethargy, was carrying on an aggressive evangelism. Work in the Black Country was extended to Liverpool and Manchester on the one side and South Shropshire on the other; and thence to Herefordshire, Glamorganshire and Wilt shire. Thenceforward, while the Oxford Movement was awaken ing one section of the people of England the Primitive Methodists were making themselves felt among other classes of the popula tion. The early Primitive Methodists had to meet mob violence that often amounted to sheer ruffianism, especially in Wessex and the home-counties. On the other hand there was legal persecution all over the country, and the preachers suffered many things from the hands of rural clergy and county magistrates. There are a score of cases of serious imprisonment, and a countless number of arrests and temporary detention. Local preachers received notice to quit their holdings, labourers were discharged, those who opened their cottages for meetings were evicted, and to show any hospitality to a travelling preacher was to risk the loss of home and employment.