Many thanks Lois, most interesting - John Rylands library, 'the' archive for Methodist studies is closed until late 2005 for renovation (it must rank as the most pleasant research library I have ever worked in and I would thoroughly recommend a look inside if you ever get to Manchester - guided tours available most afternoons & their collection of early books is breathtaking) - I have Kendall (the late 19th potted history - his Manx section is possibly as bad as his American section!) and other books on the British PMs but they ignore the American church.

However to return to formal training for PM ministry - the PM's were until c.1860 quite antagonistic towards a formal training, feeling that it would drive them down the Wesleyan path of a dominant Minister caste - Kendall in the penultimate chapter of a 1000+ page work has about 3 pages on the development from 1865 of the formalised instruction of potential ministers, luckily for the PM church they found a genius in A S Peake to teach their ministers from later on in the 19th century. As for the Wesleyans any potential minister had to be sponsored by the local district and thus some information will appear in local conference and district minutes (many held at John Rylands library) - I will have a look through the Manx records to see if they sponsored him.