BILLY BRAY
Cornish Miner, Dancing Preacher
The writing of Billy Bray In His Own Words involved extensive research. In spite of careful checking of proofs and facts, a few errors have crept in. These can all be put right in a second edition. In the meantime, here are the two important ones:
On page 22 the central paragraph states that Billy has been married for five years. It should read:
Billy’s account of his conversion is vivid. It is the late autumn of 1823. He has
been back in Cornwall for five years, married for three, and is now a family man
aged twenty-
I have been taken to task by one reviewer for stating on page 36:
There were many temperance societies operating at the time, mostly connected to chapels. John Wesley, who visited Cornwall eighty years earlier, had already taken a major part in promoting temperance and teetotalism.
Let me clarify this. “At the time” is, of course, the 1820s, the time of Billy Bray as a young man. I did not mean to suggest that John Wesley set up temperance meetings and societies, but throughout his life Wesley’s position moved from temperance (moderation in drink when referring to alcohol) to teetotalism (complete abstinence), and he encouraged others to follow his example. It was partly (some would say mainly) Wesley’s teaching on this subject that encouraged later Christians who sympathised with his views to teach teetotalism from the pulpit and set up temperance and teetotal societies. I have no wish to get into extended correspondence on this, but students of early Methodism will find references to Wesley’s early attitude to wine and beer being acceptable, but not spirits, hardening over time to include all alcohol.
There may be other places where readers find problems. I am happy to take everything on board, ready for what I hope will be a second edition. The only other mistakes that I am aware of are minor typographical ones which have no bearing on the facts. I am, of course, always interested in hearing of new sources of information that could be included in a revised edition—although there are no immediate plans for one.
It has been suggested by two readers that the place in Cornwall that Billy spells as Quicke (page 157 of my book), and I thought could be Gweek, is more likely to be Quethiock which is in the mining area east of Liskeard. You would need to hear someone local pronouncing this name correctly as “Gwithick” to understand why they are probably right.
Contact me by email if you have corrections or other comments that could be added here:
© 2008 Chris Wright
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