Born: 24 August 1707, United Kingdom
Died: 17 June 1791
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Selina Shirley
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a patron of the English Methodists.
She was the daughter of the Earl of Ferrers, and was married to Theophilus Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon.
She became interested in the evangelization of the masses, and her house in Chelsea, near London, was the centre of a circle of women of noble rank, who were zealous in the cultivation of piety in an irreligious age.
When demand arose throughout the kingdom for chapels and meeting-houses for the poor, the countess undertook to supply this need. She dispensed with her luxurious equipage, sold her jewels to obtain the means for carrying out her plans. Halls and theatres were fitted up for chapels, and by her advice a scheme was perfected for supplying destitute districts throughout England with religious instruction.
She founded a theological seminary, and at her decease she left £5,000 for charitable purposes, and the rest of her fortune for the support of sixty-four chapels which she had built.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Religious philanthropist
Countess Selina Huntingdon, a patron of Calvinistic Methodists in England, was born in 1707, and died June 17, 1791. She was one of three daughters and co-heirs of Washington Shirley, Earl of Ferrars, and at the age of twenty-one was married to Theophilus Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, a man distinguished for piety. His sudden death in 1746, and also the death of her four children in youth, caused her to become deeply religious.
At the time when the founders of Methodism, Wesley and Whitefield, were exciting in England a spirit of more intense devotion than was generally prevalent, the Countess of Huntingdon embraced their doctrines with her whole heart. She inclined to Whitefield’s peculiar doctrines rather than to Wesley’s, but she chose herself to become the founder of a sect which was called “The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connection.”
She had the control of a large income during her forty-five years of widowhood, and as her own personal expenses were small, and she was assisted by other opulent persons, she supported a college at Trevecca, in South Wales, for the education of Calvinistic ministers, and built sixty-four chapels, the ministers of which she assisted to support. Her largest chapel was at Bath, which she frequently attended. The college was removed after her death to Cheshunt, Herts, where it still exists, and for the support of it and also her chapels she left a trust. Not only in these ways did she merit the title of public benefactor, but she also expended large sums in private charities. According to the census of 1851, there were 109 chapels belonging to the “ Connection,” with accommodations for 40,000 hearers.
Lady Huntingdon lived for others, and at her death, which took place after a long career, she was mourned by all who knew her. Even those who regarded her conduct as the result of mistaken enthusiasm, respected her for the noble virtues of her character and her Christian conduct.
The Congregational polity prevails among her societies, some of which have formally identified themselves with the Congregationalists.
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
HUNTINGDON, SELINA, COUNTESS OF, Was born in 1707. She was one of three daughters and co-heirs of Washington Shirley, Earl Ferrers; the other two being Lady Kilmorey and Lady Elizabeth Nightingale. Selina, the second daughter, married, in 1728, Theophilus Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, with whom she lived very happily till his sudden death, in October, 1746. She had several children, four of whom died young. Probably these heavy afflictions disposed this lady to take such deep interest in religion. It was at the time when the founders of Methodism, Wesley and Whitfield, were exciting in this country a spirit of more intense devotion than was generally prevalent, and the Countess of Huntingdon embraced their doctrines with her whole heart.
She rather inclined to Whitfield’s peculiar doctrines than to Wesley’s; but she chose to be herself the founder of a sect, which were called “The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion.” She had the control of a large income during her forty-five years of widowhood, and as her own personal expenses were small, and she was assisted by other opulent persons, she supported a college at Trevecca, in Wales, for the education of ministers, and built sixty-four chapels, the ministers of which she assisted to support. Her largest chapel was at Bath, which she frequently attended. She created a trust for the support of her colleges and chapels after her death. And not only did she thus merit the title of public benefactor, but she also expended, annually, large sums in private charities. She lived for others, and at her death, which took place June 17th., 1791, was deeply mourned by all who knew her; even those who regarded her conduct as the result of mistaken enthusiasm, respected her for the noble virtues of her character and her Christian conduct.