Hastings, Selina (1707–1791)

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Hastings, Selina (1707–1791)

English religious leader and founder of a sect of Calvinistic Methodists known as the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. Name variations: Countess of Huntingdon; Selina Hastings Huntingdon; Selina Huntington; Selina Shirley. Born Selina Shirley on August 24, 1707, at Stanton Harold in Leicestershire, England; died on June 17, 1791, in London; daughter of Washington Shirley, 2nd earl of Ferrers, and Lady Mary Shirley (Lady Ferrers); married Theophilus Hastings, 9th earl of Huntingdon, on June 3, 1728; children: seven, including Francis (b. 1729); George (b. 1730); Elizabeth Hastings (b. 1731); Ferdinando (b. 1732); Selina Hastings (b. 1737); Henry (b. 1739).

The English countess Selina Hastings is best known as the founder of a Methodist college. Raised primarily in Leicestershire, England, and on her family's Irish estates, Selina was one of three children of Washington Shirley, 2nd earl of

Ferrers, and Lady Mary Shirley , known as Lady Ferrers. When Selina was young, her parents separated, and Lady Ferrers left her children with their father and moved to Paris. This event, which Selina perceived as her mother's abandonment of the family, led Selina to develop a lifelong enmity for her mother and a deep devotion to her father. In 1728, Selina married Theophilus Hastings, earl of Huntingdon, a wealthy aristocrat 11 years her senior. It was a happy union, and Selina was deeply devoted to her husband, with whom she had seven children. The countess' married life was typical of the leisured life of an 18th-century English noblewoman, showing little of the remarkable activity and religious zeal which characterized her later years.

In 1738, Selina underwent a profound spiritual conversion to Methodism. Her experience was the result of the preaching of her Methodist sister-in-law and a period of long illness which it was feared she would not survive. The next year, she joined John Wesley's Methodist society in Fetter Lane, London, the message of which—an emotional faith in God and an emphasis on individual morality—was beginning to gain in popularity across England. Selina's wealth, her previously hidden talent for widescale organization, and her dedication to her new faith led to her emergence as a major figure in the Wesleyan movement.

With the death of her husband Theophilus in 1746, Selina devoted herself wholeheartedly to an evangelical life. Her existence became a cycle of endless short crises of faith and periods of extreme ill health (documented in her copious correspondence), followed by renewed faith and activism. She concentrated her efforts on converting the upper classes to Methodism, employing her wealth and social position as a peeress to gain the support of the elite. Selina appointed Methodist clerics as chaplains in the towns she held as countess, and with her own funds established over 60 chapels, forming a religious network called "The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion." She led missionary trips across England, although she never preached herself and was outspoken in her belief that women should not preach. In 1768, she founded Trevecca House, a college for training preachers in Brecknockshire, Wales. Among other Methodist preachers Selina supported George Whitefield, who won converts with his emotional sermons in England and North America. She gave Whitefield a scarf as her chaplain in 1748, and as such he preached in her London house on Park Street to audiences that included Walpole, Chesterfield, and Bolingbroke. In Selina's chapel at Bath, there was a curtained recess known as "Nicodemus's corner" where some bishops sat incognito to hear Whitefield. Selina also tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the Methodist factions of Whitefield and Wesley after the two leaders split over issues of doctrine.

In 1779, the Church of England refused to allow her Methodist ministers to continue in their offices in her towns. Selina always considered herself part of the established Church of England, although the Church disagreed, and so was greatly disappointed by this ruling. In order to evade the injunction, she was compelled to take shelter under the Toleration Act. This forced her to register her chapels as dissenting places of worship and had the effect of severing several eminent and useful members from the Connexion, including William Romaine (1714–1795) and Henry Venn (1725–1797). The countess was also disappointed in her efforts to convert her three surviving children, none of whom followed their mother's faith.

Selina Hastings remained active until her final illness in 1791. After her death at age 83, her college was relocated to Hertfordshire and then Cambridge. Many of her chapels are still in operation under Methodist congregations.