Name Mary Fletcher | ||
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Died December 8, 1815, Madeley, United Kingdom | ||
Mary Bosanquet Fletcher (12 September 1739 – 8 December 1815) was an English deaconess in the early Methodist movement.
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Life
Bosanquet was born to Samuel Bosanquet and his wife (whose name in not known) in 1739 at the family seat in Leytonstone. Her family were rich Huguenots. Her father was Lord of the Manor and her brother was a director of the Bank of England. Bosanquet was called to a religious life and lived frugally despite her wealth. She was good friends with John Fletcher and John Wesley who were both active Methodists. Her correspondence with Wesley in the 1860s survives.
Wesley visited Bosanquet's home in Leytonstone in 1867. The house which had long been in Bosanquet's family had in the 1860s what Wesley called "life and power of religion". However in 1869 Bosanquet decided the building was too small and moved to Yorkshire. In Morley she bought Cross Hall and started an orphanage for fourteen girls.
Bosanquet wrote letters to John Fletcher in 1781 and they found out that they had both considered the other as a suitable spouse. They were married at Batley Church in Yorkshire on 12 November 1781. Her new husband exchanged churches with the evangelical vicar of Bradford, John Crosse, in order to settle his wife's affairs in Yorkshire. They returned to Madeley together on 2 January 1782, but before leaving Bosanquet had ensured that all the former girls in her care had been found alternative accommodation. She and Fletcher started a joint ministry in Madeley. Her marriage was to be short as Fletcher died on 14 August 1785. She and Fletcher started a joint ministry in Madeley.
Death and legacy
Bosanquey died in 1815 in Madeley but she left money for helpers and they continued her work.
In 1895 Agnes Cotton opened a home for girls in Leytonstone. Cotton purchased what had been Bosanquet's house. She renamed the house as "The Pastures" and in time opened a larger home on the same site.