H B Kendall

Rev Holliday Bickerstaff(e) Kendall, BA is important in Methodist history for having written three separate histories of the Primitive Methodist Church. The second of these was commissioned for publication in 1907, the centenary of the first Primitive Methodist Camp Meeting, 31 May 1807. He is therefore regarded amongst British Methodists as one of the essential sources of information on this subject.

Rev H B Kendall

This article provides a brief biograhy, and a summary of his work as the leading historian of the rise and first century of Primitive Methodism

Biography

Holliday Bickerstaff(e) Kendall was born on 2 August 1844 at Wakefield the only child of Rev Charles and Sarah Kendall nee Bickerstaffe (Holliday came from friend Rev. Thomas Holliday). Holliday died 10 March 1919 at Bournemouth and is buried in Boscombe Cemetery. He served as a Primitive Methodist Minister from 1864 to 1903. He was President of the Conference in 1901. [W Leary, "Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits", (1990), p. 121, ISBN 1 871431 00 X hb or ISBN 1 8714310 18 sb] . There are 10 Kendall's listed in Leary [Leary, "op. cit."] , Uncle's Thomas (1816-1878), Dennis (1824-1896), Joseph (1827-1890), Amos (1830-1909), Henry (1832-1900) and father Charles (1818-1882) [kendall, "The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church" vol 1 pp 428-432] and cousin Frederick Dennis (1858- ). Cousins Henry George and his brother James Dennis Hird (later first Principal of Ruskin College) were ordained in the Church of England [Family Knowledge] . [http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kendall1&id=I0539 'Family Tree']

Circuits

H B Kendall served in the following Circuits -
1864 - Newcastle
1867 - North Shields
1871 - Sunderland
1874 - Durham
1877 - Spennymoor
1879 - Middlesbrough
1884 - Harrogate
1892 - Editor (Primitive Methodist publishing)
1901 - Folkstone, and President of the Conference
1902 - Bournemouth (Retired) [Leary, "op. cit."]

Kendall's own work [Kendall, "The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church", (1906), pp. 366 - 400] describes the Primitive Methodist Bookroom in some detail. The minimal reference in Leary, "Editor", covers a decade of work which made Kendall one of the most influential persons of his time in Primitive Methodism.

Kendall the historian

Three separate histories mark H B Kendall's achievements as a historian.

"History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion", 1888

H B Kendall's first significant history was published in 1888 (this date is inferred from material in the book). This shows a combination of literary style and scholarship which made Kendall a candidate for writing the most substantial of all the histories for the Camp Meeting Centenary. Kendalls' skills would have been enhanced by his time as Connexional Editor, and retirement would have freed him to do the work. This the shortest work (120 pages of text, equivalent to A5 size) ref|k1

"The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church", 1906 [Kendall, "The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church", (1906), reprinted by Tentmaker Publications as ISBN 1901670-49-X ISBN 9781901670-49-3 (EAN-13 format)]

H B Kendall was honoured with being asked to write the major publication celebrating the Camp Meeting Centenary. This detailed work is generally regarded as the definitive history of Primitive Methodism. It was first published as a set of 14 paperback volumes of 80 pages each, often breaking in mid-sentence between volumes. There are a few misprints, for example the dates of the first 2 Ramsor Camp Meetings being given as 1809 when they were actually 1808. [ Kendal, op. cit. Ch. III. (The first two dated as 1809 is obviously a misprint, at odds with all other sources, including Kendall’s other works, and the date of the 3rd Camp Meeting)] The main printing was in 2 hardback volumes. This has since been reprinted by Tentmaker Publications. ref|k2

"History of the Primitive Methodist Church", 1919

A third history was written during World War I, and has his final words "penned when the Great War is over." This is a more moderate length work (174 pages of text plus a few tables, equivalent to A5 size).

The advantages of this volume are that it provides a more condensed summary of the history, and it contains information up to 1918. For example, the sub-headings in chapters II and III allow the reader easily to date the key events leading up to the adoption of the name "Primitive Methodist" on 13 February 1812 [H B Kendall, "History of the Primitive Methodist Church", (1919), pp. 11- 38] .

In this volume, we also find the considered judgement of a mature scholar upon the events of history and the people involved.

Footnote

As well as being comprehensive, all Kendall's works are now presumed to be in the public domain for copyright. 70 years after Kendall's death is 1989, The last work was published before 1923, and all illustrations may also be copied in the USA. This is of great benefit to historians and others requiring photographs such as those used here.

References

Notes

#This volume has been copied to the internet and is freely available for non-commercial use. See External Links.
#Available through the Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum of Primitive Methodism, or directly from Tentmaker Publications. See external links below.

External links

* [http://www.rewlach.org.uk/books/Kendall/index.htm 'History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion' (1888?) by Rev. H. B. Kendall (the first of three histories by Kendall)]
* [http://www.engleseabrook-museum.org.uk/ Englesea Brook Museum of Primitive Methodism]
* [http://tentmaker.org.uk/content/?page_id=54&category=5 The 2 volume 1907 History by Kendall has been reprinted by Tentmaker Publications]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/originhistoryofp01kendiala The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church Vol1]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/originhistoryofp02kendiala The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church Vol2]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/historyofprimiti00unknuoft History of the Primitive Methodist Church]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/christskingdoman00kenduoft Christ's Kingdom and Church in the Nineteenth Century]