This year marks the bicentennial of the death of Methodist preacher, Charles Graham. His ancestors, of Scottish stock, had settled at Drumahair, near Sligo.[1] However, he became known as The Apostle of Kerry.
Charles Graham was born circa 1753, his descent given as follows:
The head of the family, being a Scotch laird, was in the habit of returning yearly to Scotland for his rents, but one of those occasions proved to be his last. It was supposed he was either drowned or murdered. He was never heard of afterwards. He left a widow and four orphan sons to deplore his loss, and that in a strange land. One of those sons was the grandfather of Charles Graham.[2]
In 1790, at the age of about 37, Charles Graham had ‘a very remarkable dream’ that he should go far to the south west of Ireland and there proclaim ‘the message of life,’ but that he should be forty years of age before doing so. Prior to this, he had met Dr Thomas Coke in Sligo who was searching for agents to preach in the Irish language. Charles Graham was inspired to write a sermon in Irish which he delivered with great success, though it was seen by some as a ‘new sect.’
In 1793, he followed his missionary calling, and left Sligo with his wife and two children:
I took my leave of my native country with a small hope of ever returning to it again, hearing such reports of Kerry, and that the inhabitants thought very little of a man’s life, especially that of a Methodist preacher.
Charles Graham settled his family in Limerick and rode on horseback over eighteen miles of bad mountain road and another eighteen miles of coach road. On the mountains he witnessed ‘deeds of bloodshed repeatedly committed.’ However, he arrived safely in Castleisland and ‘settled in the humble hotel of the town, intending to stop for the night.
Soon after, word went out that a ‘false prophet’ had come to town:
Immediately the priest gathered a mob, and came to the inn, and insisted on their putting out the stranger, which, of course, had to be done to please ‘his reverence’ and his brave band of ‘defenders of the faith’ like the saints at Granard in 1867.
Charles Graham, not knowing the district, wandered off on the road to Tralee:
When about half way to Tralee, he called at a farmer’s house, and told his tale of disappointment. At once he was invited to come in. He found his host to be a staunch Protestant, who sent out and gathered a congregation for the missionary, for it was upon this condition that he promised to remain … the word preached was with power. The man of the house was deeply affected, and next morning, when Mr Graham was leaving for Tralee, Mr Groves said, ‘Sir, you are welcome to stay until May-day in the morning, and make this your stopping-place while you are in this country.’[3]
Charles Graham pursued his mission in Kerry with sufficient success to be styled ‘The Apostle of Kerry.’ He returned to Castleisland and preached for a small congregation at Riverville, residence of Mr Marshall. He also held service in the barracks. On one occasion, Divine Intervention may have saved his life:
At Castleisland, although the shouting of an unruly mob exceeded anything the missionaries had witnessed elsewhere, they had a good time. But their adversaries, not being satisfied, resolved to attack them that night, and twenty or thirty assembled and got drunk for the purpose. However, such a terrible hurricane arose that the malicious project had to be abandoned.
His reception in other towns in the county varied. One man named Roche who went to hear Graham preach in order to mock him was converted when ‘the word reached his heart.’ In Milltown, a yeoman who joined with others in throwing stones was deprived of his arms and drummed out of the corps. Sir William Godfrey sent a message to Charles Graham ‘not to preach there again’ which was disregarded, and a foundation was laid in the town which later became the head of a circuit.
The Catholic Bishop of Kerry charged his clergy not to go near the Methodist for he was ‘a walking devil.’ In one part of the county, a priest called out from the altar the names of sixteen people who had gone to hear Charles Graham preach. The priest insisted that each should go through bogs by night to a distant graveyard, barefooted and bareheaded, and bring back a human bone, and then appear on the following Sabbath in a sheet, bone in hand, before the congregation.
Other places where Charles Graham preached were Ballyseedy, Ballymacelligott, Killarney, Ballymalis (Mr Egar), Ballintaggart (house of Rev Edward Nash) and at Tralee, where a new chapel was nearly finished, a promising society was formed.
Charles Graham spent about forty years as a missionary preacher, and died on 23 April 1824:
At Athlone, at an advanced age, Mr Charles Graham, a Preacher in the Wesleyan Connexion, and for many years had been engaged as an Irish Missionary. Mr Graham was about 60 years in the Methodist Society, 40 of which were occupied in arduous duties of a travelling preacher.[4]
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[1] The life of Charles Graham is explored in The Apostle of Kerry, or, The Wonders of the Irish General Mission, Being the Life and Labours of the Rev Charles Graham Together with those of the Celebrated Gideon Ouseley (1869) by the Rev Wm Graham Campbell, Irish General Missionary, and near Relation of Mr Graham. ‘Charles Graham’s ancestor came directly from Scotland at the time of the Revolution, and fought gallantly under King William. He afterwards settled down at Drumahair, about six miles from Sligo; the ruins of the old mansion are said to remain there still.’ [2] Ibid. [3] This offer was duly accepted. ‘This man became the subject of saving grace. The writer had the pleasure of seeing him fifty-three years after that time, in the year 1843, when he travelled the same circuit commenced by Mr Graham. Such Gaiuses should not be forgotten.’ [4] Freeman’s Journal, 1 May 1824. IE CDH 163.
