Alexander Kilham

Alexander Kilham (1762-1798) was the founder of the Methodist New Connection. Kilham became one of Wesley’s traveling preachers in 1785 and handled several circuits in Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire in the following years. After Wesley’s death in 1791, Kilham’s independent streak and anti-establishment thinking left him at odds with many in the Methodist hierarchy, and he was banished in 1792 to the Aberdeen circuit for his support of allowing non-ordained itinerant preachers to conduct the Lord’s Supper. He soon formed a group of Methodists (later called “Kilhamites”) who sought to break all ties with the Established church. The issue reached a crisis with Kilham’s publication in 1795 of The Progress of Liberty Amongst the People called Methodists, which advocated a greater voice for the laity than the movement was willing to allow.  At the Methodist Conference in 1796, Kilham was expelled for his “seditious” publication. He kept up his attack during his preaching tour of the north of England that year, as well as in his periodical, the Methodist Monitor. Kilham proposed some reform measures at the Methodist Conference at Leeds in 1797, but failed again, at which time he and a large group separated to form the Methodist New Connexion on 9 August 1797. About 5000 joined the first year, all from the north of England, comprising some 66 societies. Kilham was appointed the first secretary and established himself in Sheffield. In 1798 he moved to Nottingham to continue his duties as secretary, but on an itinerating trip he developed a cold and died.