Thomas SLATER
1738 - 1821 (83 years)
Set As Default Person 
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Name Thomas SLATER Nickname Parson Relationship 
with Arthur SIMS Birth 1738 Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Christening 7 Aug 1738 St. Alkmund's Church, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Church Record (1738 Apr-Aug)
St. Alkmund's Church, Duffield
St. Alkmund's Church
Duffield, Amber Valley, DerbyshireGender Male ResidenceShottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England Death 4 Sep 1821 Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England Burial 9 Sep 1821 St. Alkmund's Churchyard, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Thomas Slater (1738-1821) & Elizabeth Hitchcock (1736-1833) 
St. Alkmund's Churchyard
Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire
Burial Record (1821 Aug-Nov)
St. Alkmund's Church, DuffieldWill 16 Oct 1821 Derby, Derbyshire, England 
Will - Thomas Slater - 16 Oct 1821 Patriarch & Matriarch 
Robert SLATER (3 x Great Grandfather)
Mary ALLCOCK, b. 1706, Ashbourne, Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire, England (Mother) Person ID I24329 Rolfe Family Tree Last Modified 22 May 2024
Father Thomas SLATER, b. 1712, Turnditch, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 1756, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 44 years) Mother Mary ALLCOCK, b. 1706, Ashbourne, Derbyshire Dales, Derbyshire, England Marriage 14 Apr 1730 St. Alkmund's Church, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England St. Alkmund's Church
Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire
Church Record (1730 Feb-May)
St. Alkmund's Church, DuffieldFamily ID F8377 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Elizabeth HITCHCOCK, b. 1737, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 17 Nov 1833, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 96 years)
Marriage 21 Dec 1757 Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England Children + 1. Hannah SLATER, b. 1758, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 1840, Belper, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 82 years)▻ Thomas GILLOTT m. 2 Nov 1785+ 2. Elizabeth SLATER, b. Sep 1760, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 1846, Hazelwood, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 85 years)▻ Vincent CAULDWELL m. 18 Oct 17873. Mary SLATER, b. May 1762, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. Mar 1771, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 8 years)4. Thomas SLATER, b. 1765, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England + 5. Anne SLATER, b. Nov 1768, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England ▻ John BROWN m. 18 May 1791+ 6. Dorothy SLATER, b. 1770, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 14 Jun 1856, Cowways Farm, Blackbrook, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 86 years)▻ William HITCHCOCK m. 27 Dec 1791+ 7. Grace SLATER, b. Apr 1773, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. Jan 1847, Hazelwood, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 73 years)▻ John WOOLLAT m. 27 Feb 1792+ 8. John SLATER, b. 1775 d. 6 Jun 1846, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 71 years)▻ Hannah HASLAM m. 6 Nov 1800+ 9. Mary SLATER, c. 10 Aug 1777, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England bur. 3 Oct 1870, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age ~ 93 years)▻ John GOODWIN m. 27 Mar 1798+ 10. Sarah SLATER, b. Sep 1778, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 19 May 1863 (Age 84 years)▻ William OSBISTON m. 1 May 1796+ 11. Joseph SLATER, b. 1781, Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England d. 26 Apr 1867, Hazelwood, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England (Age 86 years)▻ Elizabeth SLATER m. 11 May 1810Family ID F8379 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 9 Jun 2024
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Event Map 
Birth - 1738 - Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Christening - 7 Aug 1738 - St. Alkmund's Church, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England Residence - Thomas Slater opened his farmhouse kitchen, which could accommodate up to 50 people, for services - - Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Marriage - 21 Dec 1757 - Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England Death - 4 Sep 1821 - Shottle, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Burial - 9 Sep 1821 - St. Alkmund's Churchyard, Duffield, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England 
Will - 16 Oct 1821 - Derby, Derbyshire, England = Link to Google Earth Pin Legend 
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Photos Thomas Slater (1738-1821)
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Notes - Thomas Slater known as "Parson Slater of Shottle"
Thomas Slater was born in 1738 and from an early age was such an avid reader particularly of the Bible that it was said he would become a Parson and, because of this, was affectionately called “Parson” Slater. He was converted at the newly erected Crich chapel in 1765 to which he had been taken by the stone mason who was building a barn for him on his farm at Shottle. He joined the Society at Crich before, two years later, opening his farmhouse kitchen, which could accommodate up to 50 people, for services where Thomas Slater was undoubtedly Class Leader. The Society formed part of the Derbyshire Round, a Round being the forerunner of the Circuit, and was regularly visited by the Round preachers one of the most notable of which was Francis Asbury, the first Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Americas, the 200th anniversary of whose death was commemorated last year.
In about 1770, Thomas Slater became a recognised Local Preacher. For nearly 50 years, he fervently spread the Gospel and it was undoubtedly through him more than anyone else that the Derbyshire Methodist Societies were formed. Preaching was far from easy for him. He had to endure being pelted with stones and eggs. On one occasion, while stood to preach by the side of a house, someone from a bedroom window using a stick with a hook on the end tried to make him an object of ridicule by lifting off his wig and twirling it round. The power of his message was undiminished though and many through him were brought to know their Lord, the most notable being Joseph Taylor converted at an open air service in Duffield. He assisted Thomas Slater with his services and later became one of Wesley’s preachers, a member of the Legal Hundred, the first Superintendent of the newly formed Ashby de la Zouch Circuit in 1792 and finally, in 1802, President of Conference.
In Duffield, following the formation of a Society there through his open air preaching, he hired a room for the 1770- 1771 winter and finally secured a site for the first chapel which opened in 1777. He also procured a site for a chapel in Belper which opened five years later. It seems that, while not recorded in his Journal, during its construction Thomas Slater invited John Wesley to come to Belper to preach and that a crowd proceeded to the site of the chapel led by him arms linked with Thomas Slater on one side and holding the hand of Mary, Thomas Slater’s daughter, on the other. Certainly, Mary would relate how, as a girl of twelve, she had heard John Wesley preach in Belper Market Place and had walked in procession to the site of the chapel alongside John Wesley who had held her hand.
Upon becoming a local preacher Thomas Slater had vowed that if the Lord showed him some fruits from his work, he would preach the Gospel in every town and village in the county. In 1809, he said that he had fulfilled that vow. He was a familiar figure riding his famous mare and his stamina was formidable. At harvest time he would leave with his labourers, travel some 8 miles to preach and be there next morning when they arrived for work. On one Sunday, he preached in Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
In 1816, John Slater, his son, built a chapel on the garden attached to the farm but not before his father had held several prayer meetings on it “to know the Lord’s will”.
He died in 1821 aged 83 leaving a widow of nearly 85 to whom he had been married for almost 64 years, 9 children, 60 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren. It was from this line of descendants that two would come, Humphrey Cooper and his son, William Gervase Cooper, who would have a profound effect on the development of Methodism in a small corner of North West Leicestershire one part of which is in the National Forest East Circuit and the other in the South Derbyshire one
- Thomas Slater known as "Parson Slater of Shottle"
