1849-1863 – The ‘Fly Sheets Controversy’, and more

The next few years witnessed some very serious discontent within the Wesleyan community, with North Norfolk particularly badly affected.  It was such a serious dissonance that a number of members of the Richardson family were torn apart by it. John and his uncle Isaac remained with the Wesleyans, but one of John’s older brothers, another Isaac and another preacher, threw in his lot with the Reformers.

It all began when some anonymous ‘fly sheets’ were distributed among the Wesleyan chapels criticising church leaders and accusing them of overbearing control and excessive self-seeking authoritarian power.  After much public acrimony, the Wesleyan Conference expelled three of its ministers, even though nobody claimed authorship of the ‘Fly Sheets’.  In Norfolk, the membership of the Wesleyan societies was reduced by half, as protests caused great agitation.

(Three Ministers expelled following the ‘Fly Sheets’ controversy)

I knew about this from the way John Richardson approached his playing of me at this time for his regular preaching engagements, not to mention his recent engagement to Betsy, whose parents were staunch Reformers!   Would you believe it, they ‘disowned’ their daughter when she married John at the Wesleyan Chapel in Aylsham in 1857 – simply because he was a Wesleyan ‘remainer’!

It interests me that, at various times in the past, stringed instruments (including harps, lutes, guitars, violins) have been compared, metaphorically and sometimes poetically, to the Cross of Christ, with the dynamic strings representing Christ’s body as if it were stretched across my wooden frame. There is even a connection between the cat-gut nature of my strings and the ‘churning’ or ‘gut-wrenching’ agony of Christ’s crucifixion. In this mystical idea, the death of Christ is understood as a musical atonement which brings healing and salvation to all who will hear it. 

There’s something very powerful in the thought that Christ, the Son of David, the Saviour of the world, expresses healing, release and refreshment to all creation in a similar way to his ancestor’s ability to sooth the heart and mind of Saul.  Does this idea lie behind the importance placed by both Jews and Christians upon the Psalms of David?

Interestingly John Richardson was a Carpenter as well as a Wheelwright, and the way he cared for me taught me a great deal about my inner self. I was always pleased that he applied the right-quality varnish to my outer body, not unlike the way he took special care of his finished products. This reminded me of the way Christ’s body was thought to have been anointed by Mary Magdalene before his crucifixion.

Before these controversial ‘Fly Sheet’ days, I hadn’t fully appreciated the importance of my origin in wood, how my body had been crafted from a number of trees that had been felled, cut to size and then contorted and glued together to produce a unique sounding frame. Although John was an illiterate carpenter, with a penchant for playing folk tunes ‘by ear’ rather than relishing in sophisticated high-brow scored symphonies, I always felt there was a profound respect and consideration for me and my history, with my cruciform origins as well as the dissonant timbre inherited from Vienna and London!

(Wroxham Spring Fair – many years later)

From now until 1863, I was played by both John and his uncle Isaac Richardson, mainly at Methodist meetings and social events, village fairs and the like. And then, out of the blue, there was yet another surprise in store for me! I was carted off to the Spring Fair at Wroxham and put up for sale amongst a whole rag-bag of unwanted items!  Apparently, John had run into serious financial problems, and was later imprisoned in Norwich Castle Gaol for bankruptcy.  Along with the children, he and Betsy now had to leave their rented cottage in Hickling and find a cheaper place, and at the same time sell off any items which might fetch a ‘bob or two’.  I could sense the pain of loss and crucifixion in John’s eyes, and I reckon his whole body was torn apart rather like his uncle Isaac before him, when I was taken off into John Ella’s care thirty years ago.  There certainly had been a connectivity between my body and his body, but now he simply HAD to let go of me!