United Brethren (England)

The United Brethren were a group of former Primitive Methodists in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, England that converted en masse to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1840.

In the mid-1830s, a group of approximately 600 Primitive Methodists led by Thomas Knighton [Recorded as "Thomas Kington" by Wilford Woodruff.] left the Primitive Methodism movement and established an independent religious organization they called the United Brethren. The church was divided into many small congregations scattered among the Malvern Hills, with 50 designated preachers for the group. In 1836, the United Brethren built a chapel in Gadfield Elm, near Ledbury.

In April 1840, Latter Day Saint missionary and apostle Wilford Woodruff was brought to Gadfield Elm by William Benbow, a recent English convert to Mormonism. Benbow introduced Woodruff to his brother John Benbow, who was a member of the United Brethren. Woodruff received permission to preach to United Brethren congregations, and in the first 30 days he had baptized 45 preachers and 160 members of the United Brethren into the Latter Day Saint church. By December 1840, 300 members of the church had been converted to Mormonism, and ultimately all the members of the United Brethren except one became Latter Day Saints. Woodruff and other Latter Day Saint missionaries also had success among the non-United Brethren in the area, baptizing a total of 1800 people by January 1841.

The United Brethren's chapel in Gadfield Elm was converted into a Latter Day Saint chapel, and today it is the oldest extant chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the world. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2005/03/30/mormon_chapel_feature.shtml "Do you know where the oldest Mormon chapel in the world is?: Gadfield Elm chapel is in our two counties"] , BBC News, 2007-03-23.]

Notes

References

*James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. "Men with a Mission: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1837-1841". (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1992)
*James B. Allen and Malcom R. Thorp, [http://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/pdfSRC/15.4AllenThorp.pdf "The Mission of the Twelve To England, 1840–41: Mormon Apostles and the Working Classes"] , "BYU Studies", vol. 15, no. 4 pp. 1–23 (Summer 1975)
*Richard L. Evans, "Wilford Woodruff and the United Brethren" in "A Century of "Mormonism" in Great Britain" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1937), reprinted 2007 by Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1432517023
*Tim B. Heaton, Stan L. Albrecht, and J. Randal Johnson, [http://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/pdfSRC/27.2HeatonAlbrecht.pdf "The Making of British Saints in Historical Perspective"] , "BYU Studies", vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 119–135 (Spring 1997)
*Wilford Woodruff, [http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/NCMP1820-1846&CISOPTR=8795&filename=3906.pdf "Elder Woodruff's Letter"] , "Times and Seasons" (Nauvoo, Illinois), vol. 2, no. 9, 1841-03-01, pp. 327–334
*—— (Matthias Cowley ed.). "Wilford Woodruff, fourth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: History of his life and labors as recorded in his daily journals" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News, 1909)