Centenary Mugs

This pair of commemorative ceramic mugs were probably sold as fundraising items for the Wesleyan Methodist Centenary Appeal in 1839.

The mugs feature black and white transfers of John Wesley’s dates of birth and death around a bible, his image and the Centenary Hall in Bishopsgate, London, which was to be the new home for the Missionary Society ( it was formerly the City of London Tavern).

Many hundreds of similar commemorative items were produced and sold at that time.

The date chosen for the celebration was a hundred years after the first recorded Wesleyan Methodist Society meeting which took place in Bristol in 1739.

These items are part of the Methodist Collection at Lincoln College, Oxford.