Wesley writes:—“In November, 1729, four young gentlemen of Oxford,—Mr.
John Wesley, Fellow of Lincoln College; Mr. Charles Wesley, Student of
Christ Church; Mr. Morgan, Commoner of Christ Church; and Mr. Kirkham,
of Merton College,—began to spend some evenings in a week together in
reading, chiefly, the Greek Testament.”[1]
These were the first Oxford Methodists; and, though there is little to
be said of Morgan, and still less of Kirkham, they must not be passed
in silence. Methodism may be traced to their associating with the two
Wesleys, to read the Greek Testament, in 1729.
Robert Kirkham was the son of the Rev. Lionel Kirkham, a clergyman
resident at Stanton, in Gloucestershire. The family consisted of Robert
and at least two sisters, Sarah and Betty.
Sarah was the intimate friend of Mary Granville, afterwards Mrs. Delany,
a woman of great accomplishments, who moved in the highest society
and, for more than fifty years, was honoured with the friendship and
confidence of King George III. and his Queen Charlotte. Sarah Kirkham was
born in 1699; and, in 1725, was married to the Rev. John Capon, or, as
the name is sometimes spelt, Chapone. She was a woman of great intellect
and of an intensely warm and generous nature. “Sally,” wrote Mary
Granville, in 1737, then Mrs. Pendarves, “would shine in an assembly
composed of Tullys, Homers, and Miltons: at Gloucester, she is like a
diamond set in jet,—their dulness makes her brightness brighter.”[2] Mrs.
Chapone died in 1764.
Her sister Betsy was probably the first of Wesley’s sweethearts. As early
as February 2, 1726, Robert Kirkham, writing, from home, to his “Dear
Jacke,” at “Lincoln College, Oxford, by the Worcester carrier,” says,—
“Your most deserving, queer character, your personal
accomplishments, your noble endowments of mind, your little
and handsome person, and your most obliging and desirable
conversation,—have often been the pleasing subject of our
discourse. Often have you been in the thoughts of M. B.” [Miss
Betsy?] “which I have curiously observed, when with her alone,
by her inward smiles and sighs, and by her abrupt expressions
concerning you. Shall this suffice? I caught her this morning
in an humble and devout posture on her knees. I must conclude;
and subscribe myself your most affectionate friend, and
_brother I wish I might write_,
“ROBERT KIRKHAM.”