| Catalogue Reference | D/MS104 |
| Title | Records of Henley Wesleyan Methodist Church, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire |
| Description | Summary
Society administration
Trustees' meeting minutes, 1907-1947; trust accounts, 1886-1914, 1935-1943; trust annual statements of accounts, 1929/30-1937 (incomplete); papers re sale of church, 1978-1979; papers re use of St Mary's Church, 1974-1998; papers re manse, 1977; leaders' meeting minutes, 1935-1974; society or church meeting minutes, 1927-1948, 1979-2002; Church Council minutes, 1974-2002; Finance Committee minutes, 1953-1962; stewards' meeting agendas, 2001-2002; church accounts, 1923-1983; annual statements of accounts, 1974/5-2002 (incomplete); finance committee minutes, 1923-1952; general workers committee minutes, 1927-1950; pastoral committee minutes, 1981-1993; Joint Council minutes, 1997-2001; correspondence, 1972-2003; papers re LEP, 1999-2000.
Society organisations
Ladies Guild/Young Wives/Wednesday Group minutes, 1967-1979; Women's Bright Hour statement of accounts, 1933/4; Women's Fellowship (later Tuesday Fellowship) annual statements of accounts, 1986-2000, and miscellaneous, 1983-2000; Tuesday Group directory, 1999; choir minutes, 1924-1940, and accounts, 1925-1926.
Service of the church
Special orders of service, 1978, 2001-2002.
Registration
Baptism register, 1874-2002; marriage registers, 1876-1945, 1953-1957, 1964-2001.
Membership
Membership roll, c.1982-2000.
Printed material/Miscellaneous
Newsletters, 1965-1978; history of church, 1974; photograph, 1979; picture of stained glass window, 2001; miscellaneous, 1990s-2002. |
| Date | 1873-2003 |
| Repository | Berkshire Record Office (code: GB 005) |
| Level | Fonds |
| Extent | 27 vols, 26 bdls, 1 file, 17 docs |
| Admin History | John Wesley preached at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, three times in the 1760s, and a Wesleyan Methodist society appears to have been meeting in the town by c.1800. From 1811 services were provided by preachers from Reading Wesleyan Methodist Circuit (D/MC 1). The first meeting place was a rented former stable and joiner's shop in the Market Place.
The cause revived in the 1860s under the auspices of the butter and housekeeper at Henley Park. A chapel was built in Duke Street in 1873.
The chapel building closed in 1978 due to its extremely poor condition, and was sold in 1979. The congregation moved to St Mary's Church (the Anglican parish church) under a Sharing Agreement, but retained a separate identity.
The society was dissolved in 2002. |
| Acquisition | Deposited in February 2004 (acc. 7335); May 2005 (acc. 7628); February 2012 (acc. 8973)
Schedule of accessions
Acc. 7335: 5B/1-5; 8/1
Acc. 7628: 1A/1-4; 1C/1-2; 1D/1; 1F/1; 2A/1-10; 2B/1; 2C/1-5; 2D/1-4; 2E/1; 3A/1-2; 3F/1; 4B/1-4; 5A/1; 6A/1; 8/2-17
Acc. 8973: 1B/1; 2B/2-7; 2C/6 |
| Arrangement | Classification scheme for Methodist society (chapel or church) records
[This scheme shows how the collection is arranged. This collection does not include every type of record in the scheme. See the summary for records included in this collection.]
1 Trustees
1A Trustees' meeting minutes
1B Trust accounts
1C Chapel property [deeds, certificates, licences, appointments of trustees]
1D Correspondence
1E Related committees
1F Other property [eg manse, hall, school]
1G Other
2 Leaders and society stewards/Church Council)
2A Leaders' meeting/Church Council minutes
2B Accounts
2C Committees
2D Correspondence
2E Other
3 Society organisations
3A Women's groups [except Women's Work
3B Men's groups
3C Joint fellowship [except Sunday Institute]
3D Youth organisations [except Sunday School]
3E Missions [including Women's Work]
3F Other
4 Service of the church
4A Pulpit notices
4B Orders of service
4C Ministers' papers
4D Other
5 Registration
5A Baptism
5B Marriage
5C Burial
6 Membership
6A Registers, class books and directories
6B Young disciples
6C Other
7 Sunday School and Sunday Institute
7A Sunday School minutes and accounts
7B Sunday School registers and cradle rolls
7C Other Sunday School records
7D Sunday Institute
8 Printed material/Miscellaneous |
| Related Material | Records in other collections
Circuit records D/MC1,5-6
Church property file, 1990-2002 D/MC6/3A/27
Yearbook, 1955 D/MS29/8/5
|
| Access Conditions | With the exception of registers of baptism, marriage and burial, and other material whose contents have been made public, records of the Methodist Church are closed for 30 years, and pastoral records for 75 years, in accordance with Methodist Church standing orders.
Applications for access to closed records must be made in writing to the County Archivist. |