James Everett (1784–1872) was an English Methodist and miscellaneous writer. He was a prominent figure behind the formation of the United Methodist Free Churches. Life Everett was born in 1784 at Alnwick in Northumberland. He was the second son of John Everett and his wife, Margaret Bowmaker. Everett's father died when he was young, and the boy soon learned to help his mother. After a short time at a private school in Alnwick, he was apprenticed to a general dealer, where he was given to fun and practical jokes. In 1803 he underwent a great change, joined the Wesleyan society, and began to preach. He refused an offer made in 1804 to send him to Hoxton Academy to prepare for the ministry among the independents. At the end of his apprenticeship in 1804 he went to Sunderland, and there showed such preaching power that in December 1806 he was recommended for the regular ministry among the Wesleyan Methodists, and was duly accepted by the conference of the following year. His first circuits were Sunderland, Shields, and Belper in Derbyshire. He obtained a good knowledge of practical theology, and a wide acquaintance with general literature. In August 1810 he married Elizabeth Hutchinson of Sunderland. Recollections At an early period he formed the habit of taking careful notes of the celebrated characters whom he met, and thus preserved recollections of Robert Southey, poet laureate, James Montgomery, William Dawson, and many others. In 1815 he was appointed to the Manchester circuit. On account of a serious throat infection in 1821, Everett gave up the regular ministry and became a bookseller, first in Sheffield, afterwards in Manchester. He had been collecting materials for the history of Methodism in those towns, part of which he published. He was the intimate friend and became the biographer of Dr. Adam Clarke. Everett preached occasional and special sermons while in business, and extended his popularity. In 1834 he resumed full ministerial work at Newcastle upon Tyne, and thence moved to York in 1839. Through failure of health he was again made a supernumerary minister in 1842, but remained in York, and employed his pen more actively than ever. Expulsion The foremost event in Everett's life was his expulsion from the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in August 1849. For many years he had been opposed to its policy and working and published anonymously several volumes of free criticism, such as