The two services held each Sunday in the Eton Wick Chapel rarely figure in the records except when the change of time for the evening service was confirmed each spring and autumn. Circuit plans would have told us who was to preach there each Sunday and at the mid-week evening service (first mentioned in 1904), but unfortunately no early plans survive. We can be sure though that most of the preachers came from outside the village, and mainly from Maidenhead where the Superintendent Minister resided.
Unlike incumbents of the Church of England, Primitive Methodist ministers rarely stay at any one place more than three years and share the conducting of services with other ministers and lay preachers. In spite of this there was no lack of fellowship nor contact between preachers and congregation. After all the preachers who came from outside the village had to make the journey on foot and often spent the whole day in the village being fed and looked after by chapel members. The five mile or more walk could seem a very long way to new preachers as Mr Lodge wrote with wry humour remembering his early days. Still feeling rather tired after walking from Maidenhead to Winkfield Row he was told by a lady there, 'You will never make a Methodist preacher; why William Evans comes six miles further than you and does not complain; a young man like you tired before you begin!'
Eton Wick did have one preacher of its own - John Lane. He
was already accepted as a lay preacher by 1893 when the earliest of the
surviving minute books begins. Another member of the Eton Wick Chapel had also
become a preacher by this date, Frank Tarrant of Dorney. In 1893 he was away
from the area working for the Evangelical Society. He came back for two weeks
in the autumn of 1894 to take services at Cox Green and Eton Wick, but this was
probably the last time for within a few years Frank Tarrant was to leave the
Methodist Church for the Congregational. Soon afterwards he was ordained pastor
of that church.
His conversion to Christianity had been one of Annie Tough's
early successes and to the end of her life she was to remain proud of her protégée; she was delighted when he eventually became minister at Windsor.
William Folley was also brought to Christ through the efforts of Mrs Tough
though he belonged to the Maidenhead Church and not the Eton Wick Chapel; he
was ordained in 1917 and soon after this he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical
Corps.
Although she was busy in many roles, Mrs Tough was not yet a
preacher, but in March 1901 she took the first step on the ladder by becoming
an exhorter, a position that no longer exists, but which might be described as
an apprentice preacher. She was on trial as an exhorter until the end of 1902
as were several others, all men, who came 'on the plan' at the same time. Annie
Tough wasn't the first woman lay preacher in the Maidenhead Circuit, indeed the
Maidenhead Chapel had been one of the first in the district to welcome them,
but there were still very few. Francis (Frank) Paintin and S Baker from Eton
Wick were also examined and accepted as exhorters in the early years of the
century. Frank Paintin became a full local preacher in 1907 and, like Annie
Tough, took services at Eton Wick as well as other chapels in the Circuit.
 |
| 1924 Circuit Plan Mrs tough was planned to preach at Eton Wick in October at the Mothers Meeting. |
Unlike incumbents of the Church of England, Primitive Methodist ministers rarely stay at any one place more than three years and share the conducting of services with other ministers and lay preachers. In spite of this there was no lack of fellowship nor contact between preachers and congregation. After all the preachers who came from outside the village had to make the journey on foot and often spent the whole day in the village being fed and looked after by chapel members. The five mile or more walk could seem a very long way to new preachers as Mr Lodge wrote with wry humour remembering his early days. Still feeling rather tired after walking from Maidenhead to Winkfield Row he was told by a lady there, 'You will never make a Methodist preacher; why William Evans comes six miles further than you and does not complain; a young man like you tired before you begin!'
Eton Wick did have one preacher of its own - John Lane. He
was already accepted as a lay preacher by 1893 when the earliest of the
surviving minute books begins. Another member of the Eton Wick Chapel had also
become a preacher by this date, Frank Tarrant of Dorney. In 1893 he was away
from the area working for the Evangelical Society. He came back for two weeks
in the autumn of 1894 to take services at Cox Green and Eton Wick, but this was
probably the last time for within a few years Frank Tarrant was to leave the
Methodist Church for the Congregational. Soon afterwards he was ordained pastor
of that church.
His conversion to Christianity had been one of Annie Tough's
early successes and to the end of her life she was to remain proud of her prodigy; she was delighted when he eventually became minister at Windsor.
William Folley was also brought to Christ through the efforts of Mrs Tough
though he belonged to the Maidenhead Church and not the Eton Wick Chapel; he
was ordained in 1917 and soon after this he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical
Corps.
Although she was busy in many roles, Mrs Tough was not yet a
preacher, but in March 1901 she took the first step on the ladder by becoming
an exhorter, a position that no longer exists, but which might be described as
an apprentice preacher. She was on trial as an exhorter until the end of 1902
as were several others, all men, who came 'on the plan' at the same time. Annie
Tough wasn't the first woman lay preacher in the Maidenhead Circuit, indeed the
Maidenhead Chapel had been one of the first in the district to welcome them,
but there were still very few. Francis (Frank) Paintin and S Baker from Eton
Wick were also examined and accepted as exhorters in the early years of the
century. Frank Paintin became a full local preacher in 1907 and, like Annie
Tough, took services at Eton Wick as well as other chapels in the Circuit.
 |
| Windsor and Eton Branch of the Women's Total Abstinence Union tea party at Bell Farm 1904. |
Mrs Tough also had her own way of conducting the campaign against the evils of drunkenness, a real problem in England before the First World War. She personally sought out those who found solace - and too much pleasure - in drink, and 'set herself prayerfully and earnestly to rescue them. In this she achieved remarkable success. She won many trophies, and was thrilled with joy at the transformation wrought in the homes and lives of her coverts'. Her biography in 'Christian Messenger' tells the story of one convert.
'There came to reside in the village an elderly man, named
William Broad, of fine presence. He was addicted to intemperance, and the soul
of many a convivial party on account of his sparkling repartee and
mirth-provoking disposition. Our sister invited him, by note, to the chapel. He
came a few times. To him it was a novelty to hear a woman pray, and it was
afterwards known that he gave a boy a penny to tell him when our sister engaged
in prayer, that he might listen outside to her supplications. Despite his bad
habits, the Spirit of God laid hand on his heart. At his request Mrs Tough
visited him and showed him the way to salvation and led him into the rest of
faith. He was then sixty years of age. He at once became a total abstainer and
non smoker, and opened his house for a weekly prayer meeting.
His boon companions soon understood the change was not only
wonderful but real. True, his Christian life was uphill work owing to his
deeply rooted habits and former associations, but he held on his way. Severe
affliction attended his later days, and then the call came quite suddenly, and
this brand plucked from the burning was safe at last'.
For the three years before his death, however, he allowed
class meetings to be held in his house, and the cheerful room, blazing fire in
winter and his own blunt and often witty speech helped to draw others to these
prayer meetings who might not ever have set foot in the chapel.
In 1911 John Moore, Mrs Tough's father, died. He had been a
tremendous support to her, moving to Eton Wick soon after her marriage. He was
one of the chapel trustees and a benefactor in many ways, small and large. He
was undoubtedly one of those men who liked to get involved and help run things
- maybe it was from him that Annie took some of her inspiration - and he had
time and sufficient money to do both. It was he that obtained the licence in
1895 so that marriages could take place at the chapel; his youngest daughter,
Lilian, was the first bride ever to be married there. Two years later in 1913
John Lane also died. We know little of his strengths and influence, but he like
Mrs Tough was a Primitive Methodist of long standing, an active member within
the circuit as well as the chapel. He also was a trustee. The loss of the two men inevitably brought changes, which were no doubt increased by the advent of the
First World War.
In June 1914 the circuit minutes report that a chapel
committee is to be appointed to work with Mrs Tough, consisting of Mrs Lane, Mr
Robinson and Frank Paintin.
How long the committee lasted isn't made clear, but it does
seem that more and more the chapel revolved round Mrs Tough and more and more
of her life was devoted to the chapel. As well as being trustee, society
steward and organist, she now became the Sunday School Superintendent in place
of John Lane. She had long been concerned with the Womens Meetings or
Sisterhood as they were later known, and it is quite likely that she began
these even before the chapel was built. She was the leader for many decades.
The ladies met on a mid-week afternoon in the tiny schoolroom, bringing with
them their sewing or knitting. The meeting opened with a hymn and then, while
the ten or so members got on with their individual work, Mrs Tough read the
week's instalment from a chosen Christian book. There were no speakers as
today, but there was time before the end of the meeting for a cup of tea and a
prayer.
There was much more to these meetings, however, than is
implied in the above description, for it was through them and Annie's ability
to understand other women's problems and to extend to them 'sympathy, tact,
kindness and unbounded charity' that - in the words of the Rev Tolfree Parr -
she 'won the hearts of the women and led many to Christ.' Was it this work that
brought about the 'many recent conversions and the outpourings of grace' at
Eton Wick which were reported in the circuit minutes of 1912. At no other time
and for no other chapel in the circuit was there occasion to record such
success.
The Eton Wick History Group is most grateful for the kind permission given by the Eton Wick Methodist Chapel to republish this history, Tough Assignment on this website.
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