Rayner Stephens

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Joseph Rayner Stephens (1805-1879) was a Methodist minister who offended the Wesleyan Conference by his support for separating the Church of England from the State.

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Born in Edinburgh in 1805, he moved to Manchester when his minister father was posted there in 1819. During his religious career, he worked in a variety of places (including Stockholm and Newcastle-under-Lyme) before arriving in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1832.

Following his expulsion from Wesleyanism, he set up his own "Stephenite" churches in Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge, and became active in the movement for factory reform. A radical supporter of Chartism, though denying he was ever a Chartist, he was a key figure in the movement, and was imprisoned for several months for attending an illegal meeting. A champion of the working classes of Ashton-under-Lyne and the surrounding areas, Rayner Stephens is buried in St. John's Church in Dukinfield with a blue plaque marking his impact upon the local area placed on the remains of Stalybridge Town Hall.

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