Thomas Hazlehurst (17 April 1816 – 14 July 1876) was known nationally as "the Chapel Builder" and more locally as "the Prince of

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

" or "the Prince of the Wesleyans". He was given these titles because of his generosity in paying wholly or largely for the building of some 12 chapels and three schools in the area of

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

and the villages in north

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. His father, also called

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, had founded a profitable soap and

alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...

manufacturing business, Hazlehurst & Sons, in Runcorn in 1816.

Wealth

His wealth was derived from two sources. In 1851 Thomas' first wife Eliza died from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

on her 28th birthday leaving a fortune which was said to be of the order of £60,000. In addition he had a substantial income from the family business. Between the years 1859 to 1875, when the partners in the business were the two youngest brothers Thomas and Charles, each took home around £6,000 each year. During that time the business was run mainly by Charles, leaving Thomas to concentrate on religious matters.

Religion

Like his father, Thomas was a pious Methodist. He held all the positions available to a layman in the church and was at one time the organist at Brunswick chapel. He chaired many committees for religious and charitable groups. During his life he wrote and distributed free a large number of

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

s or "discourses". But he is best known for his generous donations to the Wesleyan Methodist movement, in particular his paying for the building of chapels and schools. In addition he was frequently invited to lay the

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

s for chapels and schools both locally and further afield. On each occasion he was presented with a silver inscribed commemorative trowel or mallet. In all he collected almost 100 of these tokens and displayed them with pride, mounted in a large wooden frame in the lounge of his home. Sermon

Chapel building

Thomas' first known gift of a complete chapel was in 1848 in Farnworth, then a village north of what is now the town of Widnes. At that time the ancient Anglican parish church of Runcorn was being demolished and rebuilt. Thomas bought the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

from that church and donated it to the chapel at

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Within the historic county of Lancashire, Farnworth lies on ...

. Some years later he donated an organ to Brunswick chapel. In 1857 he paid the greater part of the cost of a new chapel in the Appleton area of Widnes. Then came the following for which he paid the complete cost, unless otherwise stated (the stated costs are approximate): *1858 Eden chapel at Five Crosses, a hamlet to the east of

Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population in 2021 was 9,300. It is south of Liverpool and southwest of Man ...

. *1860 Hough Green ( Ditton) chapel, Widnes costing £850. *1861 Halebank chapel, Widnes costing £900. *1862 Camden chapel and school, Runcorn. It is not recorded that he paid the full cost for them but he certainly made a large donation towards them. *1864 Victoria Road chapel, Widnes. The largest chapel yet, costing £3,350 *1864 Widnes Dock chapel, towards which Thomas donated nearly £3,000, *1866 St Paul's chapel, Runcorn. This was built on land donated by Thomas and his brother Charles on land adjacent to their factory in High Street, Runcorn. It cost £8,000 and was considered to be the finest Wesleyan chapel in the

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

district. *1870 Camden school was enlarged, the cost being met by a donation from Thomas and public subscriptions. *1871 Halton Road chapel, Runcorn. Another fine chapel costing about £8,000. *1871 Hurst chapel, Kingsley (a village east of Frodsham). Thomas paid over half the cost and also wrote off the outstanding debt on the old chapel. *1872 Weston Point chapel, Runcorn. *1873 Trinity chapel, Frodsham. Another fine chapel with a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

. The chapel cost £7,000. *1873 Weston day school, Runcorn. *1875 Trinity chapel and day school, Halton. This is the only one of Hazlehurst's chapels which is still in use as a chapel today. In all, his donations to the Wesleyan movement are estimated to have totalled some £70,000. He is buried next to two of his brothers in Runcorn cemetery.

References

Citations

Sources

* *

Architects' drawings

These are reproductions of art work by architects for four of Thomas Hazlehurst's chapels. File:St Paul's (drawing).jpg, St Paul's chapel File:Halton Road (drawing).jpg, Halton Road chapel File:Weston Point (drawing).jpg, Weston Point chapel

External links

More detailed biography of Thomas Hazlehurst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazlehurst, Thomas (chapel builder) English Methodists English philanthropists 1816 births 1876 deaths People from Runcorn 19th-century British philanthropists