Edward Perronet

 2 August 1721—2 January 1792

Among the most steadfast and ardent friends of John and Charles Wesley, is to be numbered the Rev. Vincent Perronet, the Vicar of Shoreham, Kent. He had a large family—at least six sons and four daughters. Two of his sons, Charles and Edward, born, probably, about the time of his removal to Shoreham (1726), became somewhat noted in the annals of Methodism. They were “men of education, talent, and piety.” Partaking of the zeal of their father, they became, about 1746, preachers of the Gospel in connection with the Wesleys—often travelling with them in their evangelical journeys.

In 1755, arose the question of separation from the Church of England, and the organization of another Church. The brothers Wesley strenuously opposed it. The brothers Perronet favored it, and Charles went so far as to administer the Lord's Supper to the societies. Edward Perronet, a man of much wit as well as poetry, wrote and published in 1756 a scathing satire on the Church of England, entitled The Mitre: A Satyricall Poem, in three Cantos, of 279 pages. The Wesleys were exceedingly irritated by this production, and succeeded in suppressing and destroying all but about thirty copies. Extracts from it are given by Tyerman, in his Life and Times of Rev. John Wesley, II. 242–243.[1] The Wesleys broke with him at once. Charles Wesley wrote a furious letter about The Mitre, and “Ted” the author, in which he accused him of being the head and front of all the disaffection among the preachers.[2]

Previous to this, Perronet had married, and had made Canterbury his home. After his breach with the Wesleys, he preached awhile in Lady Huntingdon’s Connection, but eventually became a Dissenter. He procured the old palace of the archbishop, and fitted it up for worship. His venerable father died May 8, 1785, in his ninety-second year, and he himself, January 2, 1792, at his home in Canterbury.

by Edwin Hatfield
The Poets of the Church (1884)

  1. Luke Tyerman, The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. 2 (NY: Harper, 1872), pp. 242–243: Archive.org

  2. 16 November 1756, quoted in Tyerman, vol. 2 (1872), pp. 253–254: Archive.org; see also John Wesley’s In-Correspondence (1756–60), Wesley Works Editorial Project, pp. 62–63: https://wesleyworks.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/jw-in-correspondence-1756-60.pdf

Featured Hymns:

All hail the power of Jesus’ name

Collections of Hymns and Poems:

Select Passages of the Old and New Testaments Versified (1756): PDF

The Mitre (1756): PDF

A Small Collection in Verse (1772)

“On the Crucifixion” (1779): PDF

A Small Collection of Hymns (1782): PDF

Occasional Verses Moral and Sacred (1785): PDF

Manuscripts:

Perronet Family Papers, Rubenstein Library, Duke University:
https://find.library.duke.edu/catalog/DUKE000872564

John Rylans University Library, Manchester, Methodist Archive and Research Centre:
https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/special-collections/guide-to-special-collections/methodist/

Related Resources:

John Wesley, A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists. In a Letter to the Revd. Mr. Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham in Kent (Bristol: Felix Farley, 1749): PDF

“Memoirs of the Rev. Vincent Perronet,” Methodist Magazine, vol. 22 (1799), pp. 1–8, 53–58, 105–110, 157–162.

Josiah Miller, “Edward Perronet,” Singers and Songs of the Church (London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1869), pp. 247–248: Archive.org

Edwin Hatfield, “Edward Perronet,” The Poets of the Church (NY: A.D.F. Randolph & Co., 1884), pp. 494–496: Archive.org

Samuel Duffield, “All hail the power of Jesus’ name,” English Hymns: Their Authors and History (NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1888), pp. 15–19: Archive.org

A.B. Grosart, “Edward Perronet,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London: J. Murray, 1892), pp. 889–891: Google Books

A.W. Harrison, “The Perronets of Shoreham,” Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society, vol. 16 (1928), pp. 41–47.

Edward Perronet, Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/person/Perronet_Edward

J.R. Watson, “Edward Perronet,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/e/edward-perronet

Margaret Batty, “Edward Perronet,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (23 Sept. 2004):
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/21982