Ministers and probationers of the Wesleyan Methodist Church (Hill's arrangements)

Between 1819 and 1968 regular lists of Wesleyan Methodist ministers (from 1932, all Methodist ministers) were published. These listed all the appointments of those ministers alive at the time, and so can be used to track your ministerial relative around the country. In the early days ministers moved every one, two or three years so they are a moving target when trying to find them and their children in the registers or in the census. Methodist ministers are stationed from 1^st September in any given year.

The first editions were compiled by William Hill, and entitled 'An Alphabetical Arrangement of all the Wesleyan Methodist Preachers and Missionaries,who are now Travelling in Great-Britain and in Distant Parts of the Globe' so Methodist historians usually refer to all the editions as "Hill's arrangements"

The Rev. Kenneth Garlick wrote the best account of how this very valuable reference work evolved, and this can be found here , on pages 2 to 5 of vol 40 of the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society.

The first edition was published in 1819

The second edition was for 1824

Rev Garlick realised that sixteen ministers who had been active at the time did not appear in either 1819 or 1824, so published details of their activities on pages 45 to 47 of Vol. 40 of the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society

The third edition was for 1826

A supplement covered the period 1826 to 1832.

The fourth edition was for 1837

The fifth edition was for 1840

The sixth edition was for 1846. As yet no digital copy is available.

The seventh editionwas for 1852

The eighth edition was for 1857.

The ninth edition was for 1861.

The tenth edition was for 1865.

The eleventh edition was for 1869.

The twelfth edition was for 1873

The thirteenth edition was for 1877. As yet no digital copy is available.