The Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society (IoMNHAS) is continuing its 2022-23 winter programme next weekend with a lecture at the Manx Museum in Douglas.

The talk entitled ‘Thomas Burndred and Robert Teare – a pioneering primitive methodist missionary and his Manx son-in-law’ is being conducted by Dave Martin, honorary editor of IoMNHAS’s proceedings.

In it he will profile Thomas Burndred – his great, great, great grandfather – who was one of a group, along with his friends Hugh Bourne and William Clowes in the Potteries, who broke away from the Wesleyans to form what became known as ‘The Society of Primitive Methodists’.

Thomas first came Missioning to the Isle of Man in about 1829-30, and eventually moved to the island in 1847; his son-in-law Robert Teare (merchant, philanthropist, preacher and Member of the House of Keys) continued his work.

The talk, which is in conjunction with the Manx Methodist Heritage organisation, is founded on Thomas’s journal, which records his travels and exploits both on and off the island. His life experiences range from being a blacksmith’s apprentice to an iron founder; and from being a teenage tearaway who disrupted prayer meetings to becoming a local preacher in 1810.

Thomas also suffered the ignominy of being thrown out of the PM conference in 1856 for arriving at their annual conference in the Staffordshire town of Darlaston three hours late because of a cancelled Manx ferry sailing.

As is customary with IoMNHAS lectures, the presentation will be followed by tea or coffee and biscuits.

For further details about IoMNHAS and how to join, email [email protected], visit www.manxantiquarians.com or see www.facebook.com/IsleofManNaturalHistoryandAntiquarianSociety

To find out more about Manx Methodist Heritage, see www.methodist.org.im/news/manx-methodist-heritage/