Peculiar People

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For the book by Rodney Clapp see: A Peculiar People.

The Peculiar People were originally an offshoot of the Wesleyan denomination, founded in 1838 in Rochford, England by John Banyard, a farm worker's son born in 1800. They derive their name from an alternate translation of the phrase "Chosen people" taken from the book of Deuteronomy.

Banyard was frequently drunk until his wife asked him to attend a service in the local Wesleyan Methodist chapel. The preacher's message had a profound effect on Banyard so that he became teetotal and regularly attended the church. Before long he became a reputable preacher on the Wesleyan circuit. In 1837 he and William Bridges took a lease on an old workhouse at Rochford which became the first chapel of new group which Banyard and Bridges called the Peculiar People, a name taken from Deuteronomy 14:2 and 1 Peter 2:9.

In the mid 1850s they spread deeper into Essex, much of which was agricultural land occupied by a naturally conservative population. The Peculiar People preached a puritanical form of Christianity which proved popular and numerous chapels sprang up throughout rural Essex.

There is a fascinating account of the Peculiars in nineteenth century Plumstead in "Unorthodox London" by C. M. Davies^[1].

The Peculiar People practiced a lively form of worship and considered themselves bound by the literal interpretation of the King James Bible. They did not seek immediate medical care in cases of sickness, instead relying on prayer as an act of faith. This led to judicial criticism when children died due to lack of treatment and, in response to that criticism and to the imprisonment of some parents following the 1910 diphtheria outbreak in Essex, the sect split between the 'Old Peculiars', who still rebuffed medicine, and the 'New Peculiars' who, somewhat reluctantly, allowed it. The split healed in the 1930's and, in general, the New Peculiar position prevailed. In Blunt's Dictionary of Sects and Heresies the Peculiars are described as 'a sect of very ignorant people', During the First and Second World Wars some of the Peculiar People were Conscientious Objectors, believing as they did that war is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Church membership peaked in the 1850s but declined until 1956 when the Peculiar People changed its name to the more acceptable Union of Evangelical Churches. The movement continues with regular worship at 18 chapels that remain in Essex and London.Many of the traditional distinctions mentioned above have now been abandoned and the UEC churches today are very similar to other mainstream evangelical churches. The UEC today is associated with the FIEC and Affinity. It has its central office at Eastwood Road Evangelical Church, 36 Eastwood Road Rayleigh Essex SS6 7JQ.