#OTD in 1751, John Wesley slipped and fell on ice covering London Bridge. He was carried to the home of Mary Vazeille, a well to do widow. The couple were married a week later, and here began twenty years of heartbreak.

John Wesley, like his brothers, was part of the Methodist movement in the UK. He spent little time at home, instead prioritising his preaching trips.
With John spending so much time away from her, Mary grew increasingly uneasy and unhappy with their marriage.

Unfortunately for Mary, things weren't much better when John was at home. He again, chose not to spend time with her and instead shut himself away writing. His many letters to women - which to her eyes were a bit too friendly - sparked Mary's suspicions over John fidelity.

John, perfectly aware of Mary's feelings, did nothing to assure her. And so, whatever marriage they had, completely collapsed.

7 years after their wedding, John left for a preaching trip in Ireland. According to Mary, his parting words to her were "I hope I shall see your wicked face no more". In the same year, Mary would leave John for the first time.

Over the next few years, a pattern emerged of Mary returning, teh couple violently clashing, and then her leaving again. John seems to have not cared. When she left him in 1771 he wrote: "I did not leave her: I did not send her away. I will not call her back."

When Mary died later that year, the couple had grown so far apart that John didn't hear of her death until 4 days after it had happened.

The marriages of influential Christian figures are often over romanticised. The marriage of John and Mary Wesley presents a different and more authentic image. It is likely over ministry marriages faced similar struggles, it's just that this is the best recorded.

However, it is often Mary who gets the blame for the breakdown of the marriage. She has been remembered as demanding, difficult and unsupportive. In reality, she was involved in the Methodist movement, a devout Christian, just misunderstood and mistreated.