Prophet John Wroe's Leap Year Day challenge at Apperley Bridge

The Prophet John Wroe had announced he would be publicly baptised in the River Aire at Apperley Bridge at 1.30pm on Leap Year Day in 1824. In his book Round About Bradford, Cudworth recounts that Wroe would then walk across the river without getting wet. Reportedly, some 30,000 people watched him attempt this.

Cudworth describes the event: “The result may be imagined. The river Aire persisted in flowing its usual course, refusing to be divided, and, when the poor prophet launched his frail and trembling frame upon its waters, they proved as treacherous as ever, and John got a ducking. Nor was he the only one who made a hole in the water that day, but fortunately no one was drowned. The prophet himself came worst off as, in addition to his ducking, he was well bespattered by the spectators and with difficulty escaped a worse fate.”

One might quibble about the size of the crowd, which represented at the time the whole population of Bradford. However, even a crowd of 3,000 would in 1824 have been a remarkable gathering on the river banks on a winter afternoon in a small village.

We don’t know if the 41-year-old thought February 29 an auspicious date for such a challenge, the more so because it also fell on a Sunday, but we do know he was driven by a vision revealed by God. He already had a reputation for being a controversial evangelist who claimed he was the new Messiah! The only image of the man that survives is a drawing of a bearded man on a donkey. He’s portrayed 50 years later as ‘a man of peculiar appearance who inspired uneducated, wonder-loving people with a strange fascination’. Cudworth describes him, and his followers, as assuming ‘the strange outward garb of long brown coats and shaggy, broad-brimmed hats, and went about with long beards’.

Blue plaque dedicated to John Wroe at his former home in Ashton-under-Lyne (Image: Martin Greenwood)

This story of the river crossing was just one episode in a life of strange events. In 1782 John Wroe was born at Rooley Lane, East Bowling, to a worsted manufacturer and farmer. Despite attending school. he was barely literate. He tried his hand without success at both his father’s businesses but in his thirties, and a father of seven, fell seriously ill with a fever. He gradually recovered, but started having visions. A message from God told him to stop his worldly life and preach God’s word.

From 1819 he became influenced by the teachings of Joanna Southcott, a domestic servant who claimed supernatural gifts (aged 64 she announced she was pregnant with the new Messiah). She led the Southcottian movement which survived for over 100 years. In 1820, in Bradford, Wroe met George Turner, Yorkshireman and prophet from this sect, and became a lead follower, gradually replacing Southcott’s teachings with his own. He founded the Christian Israelite movement, proclaiming that he was appointed by God to gather descendants of the ‘lost tribes’ and bring about their redemption.

Christian Israelite Church in Sydney (Image: Martin Greenwood)

He travelled Europe from Paris to Vienna, Venice and Milan before founding in 1822 the Christian Israelite Church, established in Ashton-under-Lyne near Manchester with a core 500 followers, including prominent families. He introduced laws backed by severe penalties, eg a strict dress code for both sexes, and for men circumcision and growing of beards. He declared that his Church would be the new Jerusalem. Four gatehouses were built; only part of one, the Odd Whim Public House, survives, with a blue plaque. Acknowledged as a prophet, Wroe had power he was quick to use. In 1830 he announced he had orders from heaven that seven virgins be delivered to ‘comfort and cherish him’. Three local families gave him their teenage daughters and with them he set off on a preaching tour. Accusations of impropriety swirled. One of the girls became pregnant. Would the baby be the Messiah? Unfortunately not, as it was a girl! Riots and street battles were fought between Christian Israelites and concerned townsfolk and Wroe was forced to leave Ashton.

Writer Jane Rogers’ historical novel Mr Wroe’s Virgins was adapted by the BBC in 1993, with Jonathan Pryce as Wroe, directed by Danny Boyle.

Wroe travelled to the USA and Australia. Between trips, in 1854 he announced a command from the Lord to build a mansion. The Church funded it, using members’ contributions. Melbourne House, in Wrenthorpe outside Wakefield, was grandly designed. Known as ‘the Temple’, it never held any religious services, becoming Wroe’s longterm residence. Although it belonged to the Church, Wroe signed a will for it to be shared between his family. A few weeks later in Melbourne he died suddenly. His followers were shocked to hear about the will.

The Christian Israelite Church still exists, but only in Australia. In 2000 there were seven churches and one in the USA. The last remaining Christian Israelite in England died in 1980. The final word about its founder comes from Cudworth whose opinion is quite clear: “We hesitate to encumber our pages with an account of one of the most silly impostures ever practised in England, namely, that embodied in the career of ‘Prophet’ Wroe, not merely a gross impostor himself, but represented in a marked degree human folly and credulity.”

The events at Apperley Bridge on Leap Year Day in 1824 are a perfect example!

* Every Day Bradford by Martin Greenwood has a story for each day of the year about people, places and events from Bradford’s history. Available from thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk and Amazon.