The Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Methodist Mission was set up in 1886 in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. The Central Hall building on

Oldham Street Oldham Street is in Manchester city centre and forms part of the city's historic Northern Quarter district. The Northern Quarter is dominated by buildings that were built before World War II. The street runs from Piccadilly to Great Ancoats S ...

became the head office for the mission. Before Central Hall was built, there was a previous chapel (called the Oldham Street Chapel), which was opened by

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

in 1781. John Wesley and his brother

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It Be", "Christ the Lord Is Risen T ...

were the founders of Methodism in England in 1729; the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan mission was named after them, as were many other missions (and missionaries). There were “numerous and flourishing voluntary societies to combat vice, and religious societies to enlighten the faithful”; the society set up by the Wesley brothers in Oxford in 1729 was “to prove that the decline of the religious spirit had been exaggerated”. When the chapel in Oldham Street was demolished, it was replaced by the Methodist Central Hall (which housed the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission). The objective of the mission was simple: to help anyone in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

who required aid and to try to give these people a better quality of life. "This mission from the beginning has existed for one definite purpose. Its aim has been to evangelise the outcast and to arouse to religious earnestness the crowds in city streets." To fulfill its objective, the mission needed to have more than one centre for Manchester and the surrounding areas. There were twelve sites in Manchester and Salford which were owned and used by the mission. Many of the centres (such as Victoria Hall in Daniel Street,

Ancoats Ancoats is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is located next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has ...

and the Irwell Street chapel in Salford) were based in areas where the poor and outlaw population of the city lived. The Methodist Mission had eight workplaces, and weekly services at the chapels for men and women who struggled to find faith and a better life. The eight lines of work were: *Home for men (50 beds) *Labour yard for men *Food depot *Employment bureau *Servant’s registry *Preventive home for young girls (in

Reddish Reddish is an area in Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. south-east of Manchester city centre. At the 2011 Census, the population was 28,052. Historically part of Lancashire, Reddish grew rapidly in the Industria ...

) *Rescue of "fallen women" *Medical mission The work in all these branches was voluntary; advertisements for volunteers and donations were printed to gather the help and funds needed to keep the mission running. The growth and success of the mission would not have been possible without the dedication of Reverend Samuel F. Collier, who was the missionary minister. Rev. Collier appointed numerous men to help him run the mission, as this would have been an impossible task for him to undertake on his own. One of the men he appointed was Richard Johnson, and “the successful Sunday afternoon service at the Central Hall- usually crowded, and for the most part by working men- is almost entirely Mr. Johnson’s work”. This is an example of the dedication of the mission workers. The Rev. T. Brian Castle was employed at the Great Bridgewater Street Centre, and helped to develop one of the most successful missions in that part of the town. Henry J. Pope documented in his annual report on the mission a thank-you to Rev. Collier. "We have reason to be thankful to the great Head of the Church who has raised up such a band of men to deal, as they do, with the sins and sorrows of this great city." The Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Methodist Mission helped those in need to be forgiven of their sin and to have faith in God. Part of the mission was devoted to the rescue of "fallen women", and part was devoted to helping men find employment. The Food Depot helped feed the poverty-stricken residents of Manchester and Salford who were victims of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. All the work carried out by the sisters and ministers was not only to help people, but “everything is done to lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ”. Central Hall was bombed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

; although it was rebuilt, most Mission records were destroyed. The only individual records preserved in the Manchester Archives are maternity home baptism records from 1917–1929 and registers from the Reddish girls' home from 1893–1916.Manchester Methodists – Methodist Records – Manchester City Council
Retrieved 2011-04-17.

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Further reading