Charles Wesley, The Journal of the Rev. Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in 1707, four years after his brother John. At Oxford University he founded the 'Holy Club', soon nick-named the 'Methodists', although John became its leader. In 1735 Charles was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England, and worked briefly in Georgia, America. This is where his diary begins, but it was only in 1738 that he found his true callings, as an evangelist preacher and as perhaps England's greatest writer of hymns.

The diary presented here covers most of the twenty years to 1756. He was based mainly in London, but travelled constantly throughout England and Wales. Historians generally agree that the evangelical revival of the 1740s and 50s, led by the Wesleys, played a major role in reining back revolutionary tendencies; the entry here for September 22nd 1740 describes how he subdued rioting miners near Bristol. Wesley's health was poor and in later life he travelled less, acting as the leader of London methodism. He died in 1788.

The following sections are available:
Selections from editor's introduction
Mar. 9 - Aug. 30, 1736: Georgia
Sept. 4 - Dec. 30, 1736: Massachusetts, and back to England
Jan. 3 - Aug. 31, 1737: Devon, and around London
Sept. 9 - Dec. 31, 1737: Oxfordshire, and down to Devon
1738: Around London, and Oxfordshire
Jan. 2 - Apr. 30, 1739: London and Oxford
May 1 - Aug. 31, 1739: Gloucestershire and Bristol
Sept. 1 - Nov. 6, 1739: Preaching around Bristol and Bath
May 1 - Aug. 6, 1740: London,and then to Bristol
Sept. 7 - Dec. 31, 1740: First visit to South Wales
Apr. 3 - Sept. 22, 1741: Bristol and S. Wales again
Jan. 2 - Feb. 27, 1743: Bristol and Bath
May 17 - Aug. 28, 1743: Bristol to Newcastle, then Cornwall
Sept. 2 - Dec. 31, 1743: The Midlands
Jan. 1 - Apr. 30, 1744: London to Newcastle
May 2 - Aug. 31, 1744: Cornwall
Sept. 2 - Dec. 30, 1745: Yorkshire and Durham
1745: London, Bristol and South Wales
Jan. 1 - Aug. 31, 1746: Bristol and Cornwall
Sept. 2 - Dec. 31, 1746: The Midlands and the North-East
Jan. 1- Apr. 27, 1747: Yorkshire, Manchester and Bristol
May 3 - Dec. 28, 1747: Wales and Ireland
Jan: 15 - Apr. 29, 1748: Ireland, Wales and meeting future wife
May 1 - Aug. 31, 1748: London, Wales and Ireland
Sept. 1- Dec. 31, 1748: Ireland and central Wales
1749: Marriage to Sally Gwynne
1750: Bristol and London
Jan. 1 - Aug. 26, 1751: London to Bristol and the north
Nov. 29 - Dec. 6,1753: London and Bristol
July 8 - Aug. 13, 1754: Norfolk
Sept. 17 - Nov. 5, 1756: Midlands, Yorkshire and Manchester