Luke Tyerman Books: McLintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Entry

Luke Tyerman

Tyerman, Luke English Wesleyan minister, was born at Osmotherly,* February 6, 1820, in 1842 entered the ministry, continuing to preach until 1864, when he became supernumerary, and devoted his attention to literary work. He died March 20, 1889. He was author of The Life and Times of the Reverend Samuel Wesley: The Life and Times of the Reverend John Wesley (3 volumes): — The Oxford Methodists: — Wesley's Designated Successor:The Life of the Reverend John Fletcher: — The Life of the Reverend Geo. Whitefield.

*Village in N Yorkshire. John Wesley preached at the Barter Table on the green on several occasions, the first in 1745. In 1754 a Methodist Chapel was erected in Chapel Yard.

Tyerman, Luke (1820-1889)

British Wesleyan Methodist, was a notable Methodist historian. He was bom on Feb. 26, 1820, at Osmotherley, near Thirsk, Yorkshire, and entered the Wesleyan Ministry in 1844. A Methodist preacher of the old school, he was particularly intense in his attacks on popery. Ill health forced him to superannuate in 1864, and he devoted the rest of his life to his scholarship. Although much had been written about eighteenth century Methodism before his time, Tyerman was the first historian to produce serious, scholarly biographies of John Wesley, George Whitefield, and John Fletcher (the "designated successor"). Tyerman's life of John Wesley has only been superseded in recent years, and there is still no other important study of Fletcher. He might properly be called the father of modem historical studies. His publications included: Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, 1866; Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, 1871; The Oxford Methodists, 1873; Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, 1876-77; Wesley's Designated Successor, 1882. He died on March 30, 1889.
H. MORLEY Rattenbury in Encyclopedia of World Methodism 1974