“Here lies the Body of
the REV. JOHN WILLIAM DE LA FLECHERE,
Vicar of Madeley.
He was born at Nyon, in Switzerland,
September 12th, MDCCXXIX,
and finished his Course in this Village,
August 14th, MDCCLXXXV, where his
unexampled labours will be long remembered.
He exercised his Ministry for the Space
of Twenty five Years in this Parish,
with uncommon Zeal and Ability.
Many believed his Report and became his Joy
and Crown of Rejoicing:
While others constrained him to take up
the Lamentation of the Prophet,
‘All the Day long have I stretched out my Hands
unto a disobedient and gainsaying People;
yet surely my Judgment is with the Lord,
and my Work with my God.
(He being dead yet speaketh.’)”
MRS. FLETCHER,
OF MADELEY.
Long before the question of woman’s mission came to be debated, there
were useful and pious women who quite came up to the standard modern
champions of the sex have raised. History brings before us the names of
many whose thoughts and doings had a vital influence upon the society in
the midst of which they moved. The fidelity, zeal, and usefulness of
some appear as a silver-thread woven into the past, showing that there is
no sex in piety or in intellect. When the down trodden vine of
Christianity had to be raised, tended, and made to entwine around the
sceptre of the Cæsars, there were “fellow-helpers” of the apostles,
“honourable women, not a few,” who distinguished themselves. So in the
days of the Wesleys and Fletcher, there were women who greatly aided in
the work of christian revival. Mrs. Fletcher was one of these. She was
born at Forest House, once the residence of the Earl of Norwich, on the
1st September, 1739. The Cedars, another fine old mansion in
Leytonstone, built by Charles II., was her property. She was therefore a
Lady by birth and fortune; and she chose to be useful in her day and
generation. She was the subject of early religious impressions, which
gave tone and character to her life. The first use she made of her
wealth and influence upon coining into possession of her property was to
convert the spacious building she inherited into an Orphanage, and her
income was devoted to the support of this and similar institutions. She
held religious meetings, and exhorted among the Wesleyans, of which body
she became a member. She heard frequently of Mr. Fletcher, and Mr.
Fletcher of her, through the Wesleys; and a presentiment seems to have
been felt by each that they were designed for each other. Twenty-six
years however elapsed before proposals were made or an intimacy sprung
up. They were married on the 12th of November, 1781, at Batley church,
near Cross Hall, at that time the residence of Miss Bosanquet, and in
January, 1782 she says in one of her letters:—
“On January 2nd, 1782, we set out for Madeley. But O! where shall I
begin my song of praise! What a turn is there in all my affairs!
What a depth of sorrow, distress, and perplexity, am I delivered
from! How shall I find language to express the goodness of the Lord!
Not one of the good things have failed me of all the Lord my God hath
spoken. Now I know no want but that of more grace. I have such a
husband as is in everything suited to me. He bears with all my
faults and failings, in a manner that continually reminds me of that
word, ‘Love your wives as Christ loved the church.’ His constant
endeavour is to make me happy; his strongest desire, my spiritual
growth. He is, in every sense of the word, the man my highest reason
chooses to obey. I am also happy in a servant, whom I took from the
side of her mother’s coffin, when she was four years old. She loves
us as if we were her parents, and is also truly devoted to God.”
Married life however with them was a short one. The seeds of disease
which had previously shewn themselves became in course of time more fully
developed, and in three years and nine months she was left a widow. She
survived her husband 30 years; and was permitted to continue to live at
the vicarage; and she frequently held meetings at the Rough Park, at
Coalbrookdale, Madeley, and Madeley Wood; having first taken counsel of
Mr. Wesley, who approved of the steps she had taken.
“The Old Barn” was one of the places long associated with her labours and
her name, and was a place long endeared to Mr. Wesley’s early ministers,
who used it for preaching and exhortation. It was a heavy half-timbered
building, in the fashion of former times, a lithograph representation of
which by a friend of ours, Mr. Philip Ballard, may be seen in the houses
of many of the inhabitants of Madeley.
Sarah Lawrence, whom Mr. Fletcher took as a child from the side of her
mother’s coffin, and adopted as a daughter, was a faithful friend, and of
considerable assistance in visiting and conversing with the sick; but she
died some years before Mrs. Fletcher, who built a chapel at Coalport to
her memory, in consequence of a dream Miss Lawrence had had, that great
good would result from the erection of a place of worship there. The
lease, we believe, has now expired.
Miss Tooth, another adopted daughter, survived Mrs. Fletcher, and for
many years continued the Sunday morning meetings in a large upper room of
her house, which is now converted into a public house. The Rev. George
Perks who now holds a distinguished position among the Wesleyans, the
present writer, and many others, attended these meetings. Miss Tooth
took care that they did not interfere with the services of the
Established church, which she set the example of attending punctually.
She usually read one of Mrs. Fletcher’s papers, such as she had formerly
read herself at her meetings. Speaking of Mrs. Fletcher, soon after her
death Miss Tooth said:
“Her whole life was one of self-sacrificing endeavour to do good to
the souls and bodies of men. She lived not for herself but for
others. She was one of a thousand, as of mercy, so of economy;
always sparing of expense upon herself, that she might have more to
give to ‘the household of faith.’ She would often say, ‘God’s
receivers upon earth are Christ’s Church and His poor.’ When I have
proposed the purchasing of some article of clothing for her, she
would ask, ‘Is it quite necessary? If not do not buy it: it will be
much better to give the money to some of our poor neighbours than to
lay it out upon me.’ Nor was this once only; it was invariably her
conduct; and with great truth it might be constantly said of her
also, that
“‘What her charity impairs,
She saves by prudence in affairs.’
“She was remarkably exact in setting down every penny she expended.
She kept four different accounts, in which all she spent was
included. These four were the house, sundries, clothes, and poor.
We have often at the end of the year been astonished to find the
house expenses so small, considering how many had shared with us. At
such times she has said, ‘It is the Lord who has blessed our bread
and water.’”