Welsh Journals

Christopher Oldstone-Moore, Hugh Price Hughes: founder of a new Methodism, conscience of a new Nonconformity [University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 19991. x, 393 pp. illus. ISBN 0 7083 1468 6. n.p.g. It is perhaps a measure of the degree of secularisation of modern society that Hugh Price Hughes, a man to whom Lloyd George thought it an honour to be invited to pay tribute, and who in his lifetime was regarded as the Nonconformist equivalent of W. E. Gladstone, should today be so little known, while the names of both Liberal Prime Ministers are all too familiar. Yet as a leader and organiser Hughes probably had greater impact on the Methodist Church than anyone since John Wesley himself. He was primarily responsible for remoulding the Wesleyan Connexion into the Methodist Church; he personified the Nonconformist Conscience and advanced the cause of Christian Socialism; and he made a significant contribution to the unifying of the Free Churches. Such are the conclusions of this thoroughly researched and eminently readable biography. Born the son of a doctor at Carmarthen in 1847, Hughes was educated at Swansea. At the age of fourteen he experienced a Wesley-like conversion at a chapel in Mumbles, and determined on a career as a Methodist minister. He appears always to have regarded himself as a Welshman, and would return to Carmarthen to visit his family, but his educaton and ministry took him to England: to Richmond College, and to Dover, Oxford, Brighton and more than one circuit in London. In all his spheres of ministry his organising abilities were well tested, in support of temperance at Dover, for instance, or in the preparation for the building of new churches at Oxford. It was his firm conviction that engaging in politcal activity was a Christian duty, and he was active in many campaigns, for stricter licensing laws, for example, and for equitable educational opportunities for Nonconformists. He spearheaded the establishment of the West London Mission, to evangelise in a wealthy area, not commonly thought of as a suitable target for missionary activity: but Hughes emphasised the importance of taking the Gospel to the rich as well as the poor. He had drive and determination, and would hold fast to his chosen course. This very determination made him a fearless advocate for what he believed in. He courted controversy by becoming the voice of the Nonconformist Conscience in demanding the resignation of Charles Stewart Parnell as the leader of the Irish Nationalists, and his uncompromising language was thought by some to be insensitive and intemperate, especially as he himself had consistently advocated Home Rule for Ireland. His paper, The Methodist Times, which he founded in 1885, became the mouthpiece of Liberal Nonconformity, constantly calling for moral purity and crusading evangelism, and setting out Hughes' vision of a Christian nation. Through his involvement in the Grindelwald Reunion Conferences between 1892 and 1895 he tried to advance the cause of the reunification of the Free Churches, and succeeded in achieving greater recognition of their common interests. He also sought to bring the Methodist Church closer to its Anglican roots in terms of worship and liturgical practice, not least from his fellow Wesleyans, and in spite of opposition, on many issues, he was widely recognised as an able and inspiring preacher and leader, so that in the 1890s, at the zenith of his career, he was successively President of the Free Church Congress, the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, and the Conference of the Methodist Church.