Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon

HUNTINGDON, Selina Hastings, Countess of. b. probably Astwell House, Northamptonshire, 13 August 1707; d. Clerkenwell, London, 17 June 1791. She was born Selina Shirley, second daughter of Earl Ferrers: she married Theophilus Hastings, 9th Earl of Huntingdon, in 1728. Dissatisfied with her life as a rich noblewoman, she became involved with the early Methodists from 1739 onwards, entering into correspondence with John Wesley* in 1741, and inviting him to use Donington Park, her Leicestershire seat, as his Midland headquarters. The first Methodist Conference of 1744 was held at her house. She subsequently became a fervent supporter of George Whitefield* and a believer in Calvinist doctrines...

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