Hugh Bourne 1772 - 1852
					Hugh Bourne was born in Fordhayes, Stoke-on-Trent on April 3rd 1772 the son of Joseph and Ellen Bourne. As a young man he was apprenticed to his uncle as a wheelwright and spent most of his time working on windmill and watermill wheels. Hugh Bourne became a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion at Bemmersley. He was inspired by an American Evangelist named Lorenzo Dow 1777-1824 who was noted for his preachings at outdoor gatherings or camp meetings, that had quickly become established throughout America. He invited Dow to preach in the Chapel at Harriseahead which was opened in 1802. This meeting gave Bourne a desire to arrange a camp meeting in the area, and it was decided to hold the meeting on the slopes of Mow Cop on Sunday May 31st 1807. The camp meeting was a complete success, even though the morning had started with threatening black clouds, by 6 a.m hundreds of people had gathered. The meeting lasted for thirteen hours and by it's close, had been attended by thousands.
		Hugh Bourne developed a reputation as a zealous preacher, but the leadership of the Methodists were in disagreement with his radical views and, the the so called camp meetings. In July 1807 at the annual Methodist Conference in Liverpool, the camp meetings were deemed improper and subsequently banned. Defiant in his own beliefs, Hugh Bourne was expelled from the Methodist Connexion in 1808. Later he and his two hundred or so followers joined another local preacher, William Clowes, to form the Primitive Methodists in 1811. Bourne adopted the name from a statement made by John Wesley in 1790 "I still remain a primitive Methodist". He died at Bemmersley on Oct 11th 1852, and since building his first Primitive Methodist Chapel at Tunstall in 1811 up to his death, his Primitive Methodist membership numbered over 100 000, with 500 travelling Evangelists and some 1200 Chapels