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SUSAN
(FIELDEN) SCHOLFIELD
1711 to
1791
Susan
Fielden married James Scholfield at ST. CHAD'S in 1731.
They lived a middle-class life as hill farmers on the
top of the eastern slopes of the Walsden valley. Financially
they were comfortable, but life was none the less hard. |
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Calflee Farm before 1900 |
They
were both of yeoman farming stock, the Scholfield family
owning the land and farms at CALFLEE and Scout
Top in Walsden aswell as probably Lodge Hall, and were
leaseholders of the land and farm at KNOWLTOP. |
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After
their marriage, James and Susan settled first at Lodge
Hall Farm, later moving to the larger homestead at CalfLee. |
Calflee 2004 |
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Susan
in particular was a very devout Christian, and both
she and James attended Church on every possible occasion.
After producing only daughters during the first 10 years
of their marriage, they were desperate for a son and
heir, and to their delight one autumn, Susan gave birth
to a boy. However, he was a sickly baby and as Susan
watched the life drain out of him, they arranged for
his baptism when he was just 5 weeks old. he died the
same day he was baptised and was buried the next. Susan
was devastated.
She
was still suffering from the after effects of the birth
and became severely depressed and suicidal. She blamed
herself for her son's death and was inconsolable. James
was deeply worried for her health and what she might
do. There were no mental health doctors, councillors
or psychiatric nurses in those days. James did the only
thing he could. He sent for the curate of the church.
The
Revd. William Grimshaw at that time was a most un-Christian
man. He was of a similar age to the Scholfields, but
worlds apart. His father had been a churchwarden and
his family had followed a nominal form of religious
observance. He was educated at a public school in Blackburn
and later at Christ's College, Cambridge where he was
expected to train as a cleric. It was whilst at Cambridge
that Grimshaw began to associate with unworthy companions
and took to drinking and frivolous living. This style
of living in those days was no barrier to ordination
into the church and he readily admitted that his main
motive for entering the church was to obtain a comfortable
and secure parish where he could mix an empty routine
of parish duties with fox hunting, gambling and drinking.
After a short stint at Rochdale, he was sent to Todmorden.
This was the man who visited Susan in her hour of need. |
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Lodge
Hall Farm, where the Revd. Grimshaw
met James and Susan. |
Grimshaw
was at a loss as to how to console Susan, who by this
time was out of her mind with grief and guilt. The only
advice he could muster was for the couple to lighten
up, go out to visit friends, eat, drink and make merry.
This was shallow advice indeed for a couple with such
deep religious conviction and served only to make Susan
worse. |
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James
and Susan ignored Grimshaw's advice and prayed long
and hard for forgiveness and mercy. Susan did eventually
rid herself of her turmoil, and went on to have two
more daughters and two healthy sons. Revd. Grimshaw
had become close to the family by now, believing them
to be his own salvation. He was well aware that he should
have been able to provide the solace that was needed,
and the whole experience filled him with remorse and
shame for his own inadequacies. He was amazed at the
peace and assurance that Susan clearly received from
her God in contrast to the pathetic advice he had given.
It changed his life completely. He renounced his playboy
life style, moved to the Parish of Howarth, and commenced
a hell fire and damnation style of preaching. He always
acknowledged that his new life was brought about by
the inspiration he received from the devout and Godly
minded Scholfields. Grimshaw later wrote to James and
Susan:
"What a blind leader of the blind I was when
I came to take off thy burden, by exhorting thee to
live in pleasure and to follow the vein amusements
of the world! But God has in His mercy pardoned and
blessed us all three. Blessed be His great name."
Grimshaw
became friends with John and Charles Wesley in due course,
and it may be he who introduced the idea of Wesleyism
to the Scholfields. Certainly someone did. Just after
her distress and subsequent forgiveness, about 1745,
she went to listen to a sermon by John Wesley who was
visiting the Parish, and from her came the first spark
of Methodism in the area. She became the first member
to join the Wesleyan Society and she attended the first
meeting at Longfield.
Both
Susan and James lived to be well over 80, leaving behind
4 spinster daughters, 2 married sons and 14 grandchildren.
These surviving children and grandchildren were long
connected to Wesleyanism and the LANEBOTTOM CHAPEL and school in particular.
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