Excerpted from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

"Gayer [née Jones], Henrietta (d. 1814). In 1758 she married Edward Gayer (d. 1799) of Derryaghy, near Lisburn, clerk to the Irish House of Lords. Vivacious, sociable, and worldly, Mrs Gayer was described as ‘remarkably attractive in her appearance and manner, a charming singer and highly accomplished, the life and soul of a highly respectable and fashionable circle of friends’ (Crookshank, Memorable Women, 117). Following her marriage Mrs Gayer's ‘ardent temperament’ was increasingly directed towards spiritual fulfilment (ibid.). A scrupulous member of the established church, she sought guidance from a clergyman, who advised her to ‘travel, go more into society, and engage more frequently in fashionable amusements’ (ibid.). Still dissatisfied, she embarked on a rigorous regime of fasting and prayer, while maintaining her social activities, and allegedly once took her prayer book to a ball at Dublin Castle ‘and after each dance retired and read a portion of it’ (ibid.).

About 1772 Mrs Gayer came into contact with Methodism, which had established itself in Ulster's ‘linen triangle’, of which Lisburn was a part, during the previous decade. Although attracted to the movement she hesitated to become a member, ‘being unwilling to act contrary to the prejudices of her husband against Methodists and Methodism’ (Crookshank, Memorable Women, 119). Shortly afterwards, however, she was invited by Jane Cumberland, a baker's wife and leader of Methodism in Lisburn, to attend a meeting in her house. She did so, bringing with her her thirteen-year-old daughter, Mary. Both were converted and subsequently became members of the society.

When John Wesley visited Lisburn in 1773 he was introduced to Mrs Gayer, and on the following day visited her and preached at Derryaghy. Mr Gayer's hostility to Methodism was overcome by Wesley's ‘culture and gentlemanly deportment’, and Derryaghy subsequently became a centre of Methodism (Crookshank, Memorable Women, 120). A room, known as ‘the Prophet's Chamber’, was set aside in the Gayers' house and used for many years by itinerant preachers as a resting place (Crookshank, History of Methodism, 1.277). Wesley himself visited Derryaghy on a number of occasions, and in 1775 was nursed there through a serious illness. Following her conversion Mrs Gayer devoted herself to the promotion of Methodism in her locality and social circle, and was instrumental in attracting a number of new members, among them her niece Mrs Agnes Smyth, who herself became an effective proponent of the movement. Mrs Gayer was also instrumental in having a chapel built at Lisburn, facilitating the expansion of Methodism in the district.

Widowed in 1799, Mrs Gayer continued to take an active leadership role in her local congregation. Her outstanding traits were her humility and her zeal, described by Crookshank as ‘remarkable’ but regarded by other observers as ‘excessive’;

In March 1814 her health began to decline and she died on the 25th. Giving instructions for her funeral, which took place at Derryaghy, where was buried at Christ Church, she directed that no unnecessary expense be incurred, ‘so that all that could be spared might be given to the poor’ (ibid., 124). In fact her various charities had entirely dissipated her fortune and she died ‘without having one shilling to leave to any person or for any purpose whatever’ (ibid., 123–4)."

Rosemary Raughter

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