Source:
Glory be 1845-1945, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first Wesleyan Chapel in Newcastle
Details:
In The thirties a band of Christian people met regularly under the spiritual direction of Mr. William Lightbody in a building situated at the corner of Newcomen and Scott Streets. Mr. Lightbody, a native of Ireland, later became a Wesleyan missionary in New South Wales. On his arrival in the Colony he was employed by the Wesleyan Conference as a local preacher and schoolteacher in Sydney and the Hunter River district with great acceptance and usefulness. The Newcomen Street meeting place for the early dissenters was in an upper storey of a terrace of houses, known as the Long Room. Tea meetings as well as devotional services were held there, while open-air services were frequently conducted at the street corner. Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, with other non- Churchmen, united in worship in that humble meeting house, but Methodism predominated and stamped its characteristics indelibly upon the meeting. Meetings in the Long Room continued for several years but, as the population increased, the various denominations gathered strength and founded several churches. The Methodists moved to another building higher up in Newcomen Street, which was used on week days as a cordial factory and in the evenings and on Sundays for religious services. The first chapel was later erected in front of this factory
Details:
Marriage of Richard Henry Wright, eldest son of Thoms Wright of New England to Isabella Langridge on 4th May. Officiating minister Rev. Lightbody
