HUNTINGDON, SELINA HASTINGS, Countess of. – Founder of a Protestant sect, b. at Stanton Harold in Leicestershire (England) on 24 Aug. 1707, d. in London on 17 June 1791. In 1728 she married Theophilus Hastings, Earl of H., and in 1738 she became interested in the incipient Methodist movement. Widowed in 1746 and having lost all her children, she devoted herself entirely to the said movement.
Her house and chapel in Park Street, London, became centres of Methodist propaganda even among English nobles such as Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Chesterfield, Horace Walpole, etc. With ample financial means at her disposal, she built many chapels in various places and founded the Trevecca Seminary, later transferred after her death to Cheshunt for the training of Methodist ministers. Her chaplain was G. Whitefield, the companion of G. Wesley; and when the split occurred between these two leaders of Methodism, Whitefield inclining towards Calvinist doctrines contrary to what Wesley wanted and taught, the Countess adhered to the party of her chaplain. At his death in 1777 she practically became the head or superintendent of the new sect, called “The Countess of H.’s Connexion.” She strove to remain united to the Anglican Church, of which she preserved the liturgy, but interpreted the 39 Articles in a Calvinist sense. Only reluctantly did she separate from the official Church in 1779, owing to difficulties raised by the Anglican hierarchy regarding the appointment of chaplains for the Connexion. At her death there were 64 groups and chapels of the new sect. After her death the congregationalist system was gradually adopted, so that this sect is perhaps the only one to combine congregationalist polity, Calvinist doctrine, and Anglican liturgy.