[ Josiah Hudson, Wesleyan Methodist minister in Scotland and India. ] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Brother' James Ward, giving an account of the 'Yearly Expenditure' of his chapel in Ayr, and discussing the predicament of 'Scotch Chapels' like Ward's.

The Hudson Memorial Church in Bangalore, founded in 1904, commemorates Hudson's work at he Wesleyan Mission Canarse Chapel. The present item, dating from an earlier part of Hudson's career, casts an interesting light on the practicalities of religious administration in Scotland in the Georgian period. 3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with remains of red wax seal and postmark, to 'Mr. John Ward | Park Lane, Lightmoor | Near Shiffnall | Shropshire | L B.' Docketed: 'Particulars as to income &c &c'. He has not been 'indifferent' to Ward's 'very trying affair'. (Later in the letter he comments: 'Yours is not the only case of Scotch Chapels that has made my heart to bleed. […] Methodism ought not to be carried on at the cost of such sacrifices as yours.') Nevertheless he fears that nothing can be done regarding Ward's 'noble offer'. He presents, in columns headed 'Yearly Income' and 'Yearly Expenditure', 'as correct a statement' as he can give: 'We have a good Chapel which will seat about five hundred persons, two small houses, a stable, and a piece of ground let for building, situated in the best part of the town.' He continues with reference to 'the collections', an 'application for a larger grant from Conference', the fact that 'a considerable number of our people have been in a state of great poverty', 'the income of our Circuit', 'poor Scotch stations', weavers, 'the Trustees, 'Captain Howie', 'letting public money go into the hands of poor men', the fact that 'the Episcopalians wanted the Chapel', 'the President'.