Selina, Countess of Huntingdon
| The Countess of Huntingdon | |
|---|---|
Selina Hastings
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| Born | 24 August 1707 |
| Died | 17 June 1791 (aged 83) |
| Title | Countess of Huntingdon |
| Known for | Methodism |
| Nationality | British |
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon (24 August 1707 – 17 June 1791) was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales, and has left a Christian denomination (Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion) in England and in Sierra Leone in Africa. She played a major role in financing and guiding early Methodism. Selina was the first female principal of a men's college in Wales (Trefeca College, for the education of Methodist ministers). She financed the building of 64 chapels in England and Wales, wrote often to George Whitfield and John Wesley, and funded mission work in colonial America. She is best remembered for her adversarial relationships with other Methodists who objected to a woman having power.
Selina Hastings was born Lady Selina Shirley, the second daughter of Washington Shirley, 2nd Earl Ferrers and Mary Levinge, at Staunton Harold, a mansion near Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. She married Theophilus Hastings, 9th Earl of Huntingdon on 3 June 1728, and went to live at Donington Park; he died in 1746. She gave birth to seven children in the first ten years of the marriage, and suffered some poor health.
In 1739, Lady Huntington joined the first Methodist society in Fetter Lane, London. Some time after the death of her husband in 1746, she threw in her lot with John Wesley and George Whitefield in the work of the great revival. Whitefield became her personal chaplain, and, with his assistance, following problems put in her path by the Anglican clergy from whom she had preferred not to separate, she founded the "Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion", a Calvinistic movement within the Methodist church.
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