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About
the 'M'...
by
Bryan J. Grant, All
About Mormons
"THE CHURCH of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints came to
the British Isles when seven LDS missionaries landed at
Liverpool, England, on July 19, 1837. The success of this
first mission (more than 1,500 converts by April 1839) set
the stage for the even more successful apostolic mission
of 1839-1841, which saw nine of the eleven apostles (the
twelfth place was vacant at the time) serving as missionaries
in England under the direction of Brigham Young. The Church
grew rapidly in Great Britain among the working classes
of the Northwest, the Midlands, and, especially, Wales.
Membership counts at the end of 1851 showed 33,000 members
of the Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland and 12,000
in Utah.
Although
total membership in the British Isles declined after the
mid-1850s due to emigration and attrition, substantial additions
through baptisms continued through the 1860s. From 1870
to the mid-1950s, the Church did not experience sustained
growth in the United Kingdom and Ireland. But the dedication
of the London Temple (in Lingfield, Surrey) in September
1958 and the creation of the Manchester England Stake on
March 27, 1970, initiated a second growth phase of membership;
by 1990 the Church had more than 160,000 members in 9 missions,
40 stakes, and more than 330 wards and branches in the British
Isles. The strength of the Church in the United Kingdom
and Ireland in 1990 is indicated by the number of stakes:
thirty-two in England, five in Scotland, two in Wales, and
one in Northern Ireland. Branches (congregations) in the
Republic of Ireland, whose members are not as numerous as
in other areas, are under the jurisdiction of mission districts
rather than a stake.
When the missionaries first arrived in the British Isles,
they went to Preston, England, where Joseph Fielding's brother,
Rev. James Fielding, had invited him and his missionary
companions to preach at his Vauxhall Chapel. James's enthusiasm
waned when it became apparent that he risked losing his
congregation, and he promptly closed the chapel to the missionaries.
They then taught in private homes, and a week later baptized
the first nine British converts in the river Ribble, at
Preston. By Sunday, August 6, there were nearly fifty converts
in Preston, and Elder Heber C. Kimball organized the Preston
Branch. In two months, membership had reached 140, and the
original branch was divided into five separate branches
in October. Missionary work was extended to Bedford, and
to Alston, near the Scottish border, where the missionaries
had relatives. Elder Kimball preached in the villages of
the Ribble Valley."
On Christmas Day of 1837, the members met for the first
conference in Britain, and on Sunday, April 8, 1838, another
conference held in the Cockpit, Preston, drew down the curtain
on the first phase of Mormon missionary work in Britain.
There were 1,500-2,000 British members of the Church, and
the leadership was transferred to Joseph Fielding as elders
Kimball and Orson Hyde set sail for America.
To
learn more about the formation of the Englan Manchester
Mission in detail and other Mission history, please go to
the link entitled, 'UK Mission History' on the left of your
web browser.
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