Selina Hastings (1707–1791) was involved with Christianity and the founding of the Methodist Church.
Hasting's worked with John and Charles Wesley, who were very important in the founding of Methodism and revival movement.
Then in 1743 Hastings develops a friendship with George Whitefield. Whitefield was another of the founders of Methodism.
She opened chapels for wealthy aristocratic people in Bath, Brighton, and Tunbridge Wells.
Then she gave 6000 pounds to missionaries in Georgia in the US to spread Christianity to the American poor. Hasting’s instructed the missionaries to buy slaves for the missionary in Georgia. She even instructed the missionaries to name an enslaved person Selina after herself.
Her relationship with Wheatley developed after Hasting was moved by Wheatley’s “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield” in 1770. She was also close to Susanna Wheatley, Phillis’s master.
She was the patronage of Wheatley’s novel Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.
Letter from Phillis Wheatley to the ‘Right Hon’ble The Countess of Huntingdon’, July 17, 1773
“Madam,
I rec’d with mixed sensations of pleasure & disappointment your Ladiship’s message favored by Mr. Rien Acquainting us with your pleasure that my Master & I Should wait upon you in So[uth]. Wales, delighted with your Ladiship Condescension to me so unworthy of it. Am sorry [to a]cquaint your Ladiship that the Ship is certainly to Sail next Thurs[day on] which I must return to America. I long to see my Friends there [I am ex]tremely reluctant to go without having first Seen your Ladiship.
It gives me very great satisfaction to hear of an African so worthy to be honour’d with your Ladiship’s approbation & friendship as him with whom you call your Brother*… My great opinion of your Ladiship’s goodness, leads me to believe, I have an interest in your most happy communion, with your most indulgent Father and our great and common Benefactor. With greatest humility I am,
Most dutifully
Your Ladiship’s Obedt. Sert.
Phillis Wheatley”.
*Most historians think the "Brother" mentioned here is James Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (1710?-1772?) who wrote A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself. Hasting was his sponsor and his book was dedicated to her.
Wheatley's book was dedicated to Hasting's as well.
“DEDICATION
To the Right Honorable the
COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON
THE FOLLOWING
POEMS
Are most respectfully
Inscribed,
By her much obliged,
Very humble,
And devoted servant
Phillis Wheatley”
The letter quoted above as well as the book dedication is from the 'Complete Writings' By Phillis Wheatley and Introduction and Edited by Vincent Carretta. It is published by the Penguin Group in 2001. The dedication is on page 3 and the letter is on page 145.
A more in depth biography of Hasting's is available at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography with the link below: https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/12582
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