By Philip J. Brooks
Mary Bosanquet Fletcher lived an extraordinary life. She was a preacher, an author, a theologian and a philanthropist. She was a child of wealth and privilege who gave it all up to preach the Gospel and serve the poor. She wrote letters to John Wesley, urging him to recognize the calling of women to preach the Gospel. She inspired future generations of female leaders to embrace their callings.
Mary Bosanquet was in Essex in 1739 to a very well-to-do family of French descent. She was first introduced to Methodism at the age of seven when one of her family servants tried to share her Methodist beliefs with Mary and her two sisters. Back then Methodism was largely a movement among the working classes of England. Mary’s parents didn’t like this and sent the servant away, but Mary never forgot the experience.
When she was a teenager Bosanquet was reintroduced to Methodism through her sister and became involved in the Foundery, one of the most prominent Methodist societies in London. Bosanquet renounced her wealth and became close friends with other women within the movement when she joined a class led by a woman named Sarah Crosby who become the first official woman to preach within the Methodist movement.
