1905-1907 Charlotte Chapel Revival

Introduction

This report provides a definitive historical analysis of the 1905-1907 revival at Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh. It will argue that this revival was not a spontaneous, isolated event but rather the potent confluence of three critical factors:

1. A widespread spiritual hunger across Britain, epitomized by the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival
2. The near-total institutional collapse of a specific local church, creating a vacuum of desperation.
3. The arrival of a uniquely prepared and strategically-minded leader in Pastor Joseph W. Kemp.

The study will trace the revival’s chronology through its two distinct waves, analyse its distinctive prayer-centric phenomena, and assess its lasting impact on the congregation and its social witness in Edinburgh.

By examining the interplay between broad religious currents, local congregational dynamics, and individual leadership, this report will demonstrate how a moribund chapel on a side street in Scotland’s capital was transformed into a vibrant centre of evangelical fervour, leaving an indelible mark on the city’s religious landscape.

Part I: The Fertile Ground: Context and Catalysts

The remarkable events that unfolded within the walls of Charlotte Chapel between 1905 and 1907 cannot be understood in isolation. They were a product of their time, emerging from a complex and often contradictory socio-religious environment.

This section will establish that broader context, arguing that a combination of peak institutional religiosity and an underlying spiritual malaise created the conditions necessary for such a dramatic spiritual awakening.

It will first examine the religious landscape of Edwardian Edinburgh and then explore the direct influence of the momentous revival that swept through Wales, sending shockwaves of spiritual expectation across the United Kingdom.

Chapter 1: Religion and Society in Edwardian Edinburgh

The Paradox of Peak Membership

The religious scene in early twentieth-century Edinburgh was, by all accounts, lively, diverse, and deeply woven into the fabric of the city’s social life.¹ Contrary to a historical consensus that once posited widespread secularization by this period, more recent scholarship has revealed a far more religious society.¹

In a striking paradox, church membership in Scotland as a whole reached its all-time statistical peak in 1905, the very year the revival movements began to take hold.¹

Regular attendance at public worship was a widely accepted sign of respectability and a common expression of communal identity. The Sunday Sabbath was strictly observed, with most shops and public houses closed, casting a quiet pall over the city streets.¹ Religion was not a marginal force; it was a central pillar of Edwardian life.

This high level of religious participation extended beyond Sunday services. Churches were hubs of social activity, offering a vast array of programs including Sunday schools, choirs, literary clubs, temperance societies, mothers’ meetings, and uniformed organizations like the Boys’ Brigade and the Girl Guides.¹

For many, the church provided a complete social and moral framework. Yet, the very ubiquity of this “cultural Christianity” may have masked a deeper spiritual deficiency.

The statistical zenith of church affiliation did not necessarily equate to spiritual vitality. The situation in Wales prior to its revival provides a telling parallel: observers there noted a growing religious formalism, a decline in impassioned gospel preaching, the creeping influence of theological liberalism from Germany, and a tendency for chapel programs to focus on entertainment and social acceptance rather than genuine conversion.²

This suggests that the high membership figures across Britain could represent a society saturated with the forms of religion but lacking its experiential power. This created a deep, unfulfilled hunger for an authentic, personal encounter with the divine among a population that was already within the institutional church.

The revival’s success, therefore, was not in reaching a secular populace, but in its ability to meet this latent spiritual demand within the existing churchgoing community, offering a powerful, emotional alternative to what one account described as the “dull, dreary, monotonous decorum” of formal worship.⁴

A Competitive Religious Marketplace

Edinburgh was host to a “free marketplace of religion,” where numerous Christian denominations competed for members and influence.¹ The city was overwhelmingly Protestant, with the majority of its inhabitants adhering to Presbyterianism. This was itself a fragmented tradition, dominated by the established Church of Scotland—which had 59 churches in the city in 1891—but also featuring significant dissenting Presbyterian groups.¹

Alongside the Presbyterians, the Scottish Episcopal Church was growing in confidence and security in its Scottish identity.¹ The landscape was further diversified by smaller but active movements, such as the Open and Exclusive Brethren, who were pervasive in Lowland Scottish society.⁶

Within this competitive environment, the Baptist community, to which Charlotte Chapel belonged, was a small minority.⁷ This marketplace dynamic fostered an era of ambitious church construction and institutional expansion, as denominations sought to establish their presence and impress their identity upon the city’s architecture.²

However, it also could lead to inter-denominational rivalry and a focus on institutional metrics—membership numbers, building size—over spiritual depth.² This context of high religious affiliation, institutional competition, and an underlying spiritual vacuum created the fertile ground upon which the seeds of revival, carried north from Wales, would fall.

Chapter 2: The Fire from the Valleys: The Influence of the Welsh Revival (1904-1905)

The immediate catalyst for the spiritual awakening in Edinburgh was the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival, one of the most significant spiritual movements of modern times.⁹ Its influence was international, and its characteristics would be mirrored, in part, in the events at Charlotte Chapel.

Origins and Key Figures

The revival began in late 1904, though its roots lay in prayer meetings and conferences held the previous year.¹⁰ The initial spark is often traced to a meeting in February 1904, when a young woman named Florrie Evans gave a simple, heartfelt testimony: “I love Jesus Christ with all my heart”.⁹

This unadorned statement reportedly had a profound effect on the attendees, igniting a spiritual fire that began to spread through local youth meetings.⁹

The movement was soon catalyzed by the ministry of Evan Roberts, a 26-year-old former coal miner and ministerial student.¹⁰ Roberts was not a traditional, powerful preacher; rather, he saw his role as one of exhortation and guidance, encouraging congregations to yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.¹¹

Though he became the public face of the movement, the revival was notably non-denominational and non-sectarian, moving across different chapels and communities with a momentum that seemed to transcend human organization.¹⁰

Distinctive Characteristics

The Welsh Revival was distinct from many earlier awakenings. Its defining features were not theological debates or the powerful oratory of a single preacher, but rather a collection of spontaneous, Spirit-led phenomena.¹⁰ Meetings were highly unstructured and often continued for many hours, sometimes all night, as attendees lost all sense of time.³ The core activities included:

• Spontaneous Prayer and Testimony: Individuals would break into prayer or share personal stories of conversion and conviction without formal prompting.⁹
• Public Confession of Sin: A key element was the open confession of sin, which created an atmosphere of intense spiritual conviction.¹²
• Congregational Singing: Perhaps the most noted feature was the singing. Congregations would erupt into hymns, often sung from memory and without any instrumental accompaniment or formal leadership. The singing itself was considered an act of worship and a vehicle for the Holy Spirit’s presence.²
• Empowerment of the Laity: The revival was remarkable for the way it empowered ordinary people. For the first time in such a movement, women, young people, and uneducated laborers were given the freedom to lead meetings and address congregations, breaking down traditional ecclesiastical hierarchies.¹³

International Impact and Spread to Scotland

The news of the revival spread rapidly, first through Welsh newspapers like the Western Mail and then internationally.¹⁰ It became a global phenomenon, triggering or inspiring similar awakenings in India, Korea, North America, and across Europe.⁹

The movement is explicitly credited with having spread to Scotland and England, with some estimates suggesting that as many as one million people were converted across Britain.¹⁰ Missionaries and ministers from around the world, including Joseph Kemp of Charlotte Chapel, travelled to Wales to witness the events firsthand, carrying reports and a spirit of expectation back to their own communities.¹⁴

Social Transformation

A crucial part of the revival’s narrative was its tangible effect on Welsh society. The most widely reported impact was a dramatic reduction in crime and public drunkenness. Police statistics for the county of Glamorgan showed a nearly 50% reduction in convictions for drunkenness in the years following the revival.¹⁰

In some mining communities, the transformation was so complete that the pit ponies, accustomed to being directed with profanity, reportedly became confused by the miners’ newly cleaned language.¹⁶ Taverns went bankrupt, and judges were left with no cases to try.¹⁰

This demonstrable social impact—the power of the gospel to “regenerate a nation” ¹⁷—became a powerful part of its appeal and a key aspiration for those who prayed for a similar visitation in places like Edinburgh.

Part II: The Vessel and the Visionary

While the broader religious climate created the conditions for revival, the specific events in Edinburgh were contingent upon the state of a single congregation and the character of its new leader.

This section will narrow the focus to Charlotte Baptist Chapel, examining its desperate institutional condition at the turn of the century and the unique background and theological convictions of the man who would become the instrument of its dramatic transformation, the Reverend Joseph W. Kemp.

Chapter 3: A Light Nearly Extinguished: Charlotte Chapel at the Turn of the Century

A Long History

The congregation that would become known as Charlotte Chapel was first established in January 1808 by Christopher Anderson, a young Edinburgh businessman who began evangelical work in the city’s Pleasance district.¹⁸

By 1816, his congregation had outgrown its original home. In that year, Anderson purchased a building on Rose Street named Charlotte Chapel, which had been recently vacated by an Episcopal congregation that had moved to the newly constructed St John’s Church on Princes Street.¹⁸

The Baptist congregation adopted the building’s existing name. This original two-story chapel seated 750 people and served the church for nearly a century.¹⁸ Under Anderson and his successors, the church grew, reaching a peak membership of 232 in 1873, though many more attended its services.¹⁸

The Lowest Ebb

By the summer of 1901, however, the chapel had sunk to its lowest ebb.²¹ A long decline, driven partly by emigration, had taken its toll.¹⁸ The pastorate was vacant, and of the 108 members on the roll, fewer than half were in regular attendance.⁴ For the summer months of 1901, evening services were suspended entirely.²¹

A “spirit of despondency prevailed,” and the future was shrouded in “uncertainty and gloom”.²¹

The physical state of the building mirrored the spiritual state of the congregation. It was in a poor state of repair, unsanitary, and possessed a “Victorian unattractiveness” that offered little inducement to outsiders.²¹

The situation was so dire that the church leadership received a handsome financial offer for the building from a business firm that intended to convert it into a warehouse.⁴ With no minister, a dwindling congregation, and no apparent vision for the future, the very real possibility of closing the church’s doors and selling the property was seriously entertained.⁴

The Faith of Andrew Urquhart

The survival of Charlotte Chapel at this critical juncture can be attributed in large part to the visionary faith of one man: the church secretary, Andrew Urquhart.⁴ A convert of the 1873 Moody and Sankey mission in Edinburgh, Urquhart refused to countenance the sale of the building.²²

He stood before the despondent members and declared with tenacity, “I, for one, am not going to believe that the light which has burned for so long in this place is going to be put out… I believe the crisis is of God, and He will bring us through it”.²¹

Urquhart’s faith was not a passive hope but an active vision. His son later recalled how his father, walking with his family down an empty Rose Street on a Sunday morning on their way to the nearly empty chapel, would sometimes remark, “Look at the crowds waiting to get in”.²¹ This was not delusion but a profound confidence in a future that he could see by faith.

Andrew Urquhart lived for another decade, long enough to see his vision literally fulfilled, as crowds queued in that same street to worship God in a revived and overflowing Charlotte Chapel.²¹ His steadfast refusal to despair was the pivotal act that kept the vessel of the church afloat, ready to receive the new captain who would steer it into revival.

Chapter 4: The Making of a Revivalist: The Life and Theology of Joseph W. Kemp

The man called to the pastorate of this dying church was Joseph William Kemp. His life experiences and theological development uniquely prepared him for the task of leading a revival.

Early Life and Conversion

Born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, on December 16, 1872, Kemp’s early life was marked by tragedy and hardship.²³ His father, a police constable, drowned while on duty when Joseph was only seven. His mother struggled to provide for her six children for two more years before she also died, leaving Joseph an orphan at the age of nine.²³

The children were scattered, and Joseph’s formal schooling was limited to a total of just eighteen months.²³ At twelve, he was in full-time employment as a page-boy.²⁵

Despite this difficult start, he came under the influence of a Christian benefactor in Hull. His conversion, however, was sudden and decisive. In September 1886, at the age of fourteen, he was challenged by an old sailor who asked him, “When you going to accept Christ?” Kemp did so on the spot and never afterward doubted his salvation.²⁵

He immediately threw himself into church work, studying in the evenings and engaging in open-air evangelism.²⁵

Theological Formation

Kemp’s theology was forged through a combination of personal study, formal training, and the influence of key evangelical movements of the day.

• The Keswick Movement: Kemp was deeply influenced by the teachings of the Keswick movement, which stressed the possibility of a deeper spiritual life through a personal act of consecration and an empowering “second blessing” of the Holy Spirit. This emphasis on a real, experiential faith, separate from the world, became a hallmark of his ministry.²³
• Bible Training and Baptist Convictions: At the age of twenty, an elder in his Presbyterian church funded two years of study for him at the newly founded Glasgow Bible Training Institute (1893-1895).²⁴ This program combined academic study with extensive practical work, including missions and open-air meetings.²⁵

It was during his intensive study of the New Testament at the institute that he became convinced of the scriptural basis for believer’s baptism. On the very day he completed his training, he was baptized, fully aware that this would upset his Presbyterian friends and patrons.²⁵

• Premillennialism and Evangelistic Urgency: From his earliest days in ministry, Kemp developed a keen interest in biblical prophecy, particularly the doctrines of the Second Coming of Christ, dispensationalism, and the rapture.²³

He held special meetings in his home to study these topics, which attracted much interest.²⁵ This premillennial eschatology, with its belief in the imminent end of the age, undoubtedly fueled the urgency of his evangelistic preaching, which was always focused on the “salvation of the lost”.²⁶

Early Ministry (Kelso & Hawick)

After a period as an itinerant evangelist, Kemp accepted his first pastorate at the Baptist Church in Kelso in 1897, followed by a move to the nearby town of Hawick in 1898.²⁴ In these smaller settings, he honed the methods that would later prove so effective in Edinburgh.

His ministry was marked by a clear gospel focus, especially in the Sunday evening services, and a strong emphasis on discipleship through a large Bible Class for young people.²⁵

Crucially, he gave priority to open-air work and was known for his powerful, extemporaneous preaching style, using few notes to “leave room for the Holy Spirit to work through him”.²⁵ His boldness was demonstrated at the end of 1901 when he successfully organized and held evangelistic services in a new theatre in Hawick before it officially opened for secular entertainment, packing the venue on a Sunday evening.²⁵

It was from this busy and fruitful work in the Scottish Borders that he received the call to the near-moribund Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh.

Chapter 5: Preparing the Way: The Pre-Revival Ministry of Kemp (1902-1904)

The revival at Charlotte Chapel did not erupt from a vacuum upon Kemp’s arrival. Rather, it was the culmination of a deliberate, multi-year strategy of spiritual preparation that he meticulously executed. The “spontaneous” outpouring of 1905 was, in fact, the harvest of seeds sown through three years of disciplined prayer, systematic evangelism, and practical improvements.

Arrival and Initial Strategy

Joseph Kemp, then 30 years old, was inducted as the pastor of Charlotte Chapel on Sunday, February 2, 1902. The congregation that greeted him numbered only 35 people.⁴ Undaunted by the small gathering and the chapel’s dilapidated state, he immediately launched a clear, three-pronged strategy aimed at nothing less than the revival of the church.⁴

This was not a passive waiting for a divine visitation, but an active, calculated preparation for one. The three prongs were:

1. Prayer: From his very first sermon, Kemp called his small congregation to “intensive, fervent and continuous prayer”.²¹ He taught on the subject, preached about it, and led by example.

In the summer of 1903, he institutionalized this focus by establishing three new prayer meetings every Sunday: an early morning meeting at 7 a.m., which he always attended; a second at 10 a.m. to pray specifically for the morning service; and a third at 5:45 p.m. to intercede for the evening evangelistic service.⁴

This disciplined structure was the antithesis of unstructured spontaneity; it was the organized engine room of his ministry.

1. Open-Air Preaching: Drawing on his experience in Hawick and leveraging the chapel’s strategic location just off Princes Street, Edinburgh’s main thoroughfare, Kemp began to hold regular open-air services at the end of Rose Street.⁴

This took the gospel outside the church’s uninviting walls and into the public square, reaching people who would never have entered the building.

1. Building Renovation: Kemp was a pragmatist as well as a man of prayer. Recognizing that the unsanitary and unattractive building was a significant deterrent to visitors, he initiated efforts to improve both the interior and exterior, making the physical space more welcoming.⁴

Significant Pre-Revival Growth

Kemp’s strategy did not have to wait for the fire from Wales to prove its effectiveness. In the three years leading up to the main revival events (1902-1904), his methodical work bore tremendous fruit. The prayer meetings, though slow to grow at first, became places of palpable spiritual power, attracting people from all over the city, with 30 to 40 people regularly attending the 7 a.m. meeting.²¹

The combination of fervent prayer and direct, evangelistic preaching led to a steady stream of conversions. During this three-year preparatory period, 347 people joined the church. Significantly, nearly all of these were new converts who made a public profession of faith and were subsequently baptized.⁴ Many more were converted through the chapel’s ministry but joined other churches.⁴

This substantial growth demonstrates that a significant spiritual momentum was already building. Kemp’s strategy had created a “tinderbox”—a prayerful, expectant, and rapidly growing congregation. The news from Wales in late 1904, and Kemp’s subsequent visit, would provide the crucial spark.

Part III: The Outpouring: A Chronological and Phenomenological Analysis

The period from January 1905 to early 1907 witnessed two distinct but related waves of revival at Charlotte Chapel. The first was characterized by intense evangelism and mass conversions, while the second focused more on the spiritual purification of existing believers.

This section will provide a detailed chronological account of these events and analyse the unique phenomena of the revival meetings, which were defined above all by the overwhelming primacy of prayer.

Table 1: Chronology of the Charlotte Chapel Revival and Key Associated Events (1901-1912)

Year/Date	Key Event(s) at Charlotte Chapel	Key External/Contextual Event(s)	Source Snippet(s)
Summer 1901	Pastorate vacant; congregation at its lowest ebb; building sale considered.		4
Feb 2, 1902	Joseph W. Kemp inducted as pastor; congregation of 35.		14
1902-1904	Kemp implements three-pronged strategy; 347 new members join the church.		4
Late 1904		1904-1905 Welsh Revival begins and gains international attention.	10
Early Jan 1905	Kemp spends two weeks in Wales witnessing the revival firsthand.		4
Jan 22, 1905	Revival Wave 1 begins at a conference; meeting lasts from 3:30 p.m. to past midnight.	Church membership in Scotland reaches its all-time peak.	1
Jan 1905 – Mar 1906	Chapel is open for meetings every night for 455 consecutive nights.		4
1905 (Full Year)	An estimated 1,000 people are converted; 750-seat chapel is consistently overflowing.		4
Late 1905	Initial intensity of the revival wanes; life returns to “accepted Church lines.”	Welsh Revival begins to fade.	4
Dec 31, 1906	Revival Wave 2 begins during the Watchnight service with an “overwhelming sense of God’s presence.”		4
Jan – Feb 1907	Second wave continues for approx. 8 weeks, focused on consecration of believers.		4
Feb 16, 1907	All-night prayer meeting held from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., attended by 150 people.		4
1907	Plans are prepared for a new, larger church building.		18
1912	New 1,000-seat church building opens on Rose Street.		18

Chapter 6: The First Wave: The Prayer-Fueled Revival of 1905

The Catalyst: Kemp’s Visit to Wales

In early January 1905, Joseph Kemp took a brief respite from his duties, but instead of resting, he travelled to South Wales to witness the revival for himself.¹⁵ He spent two weeks there, observing, participating, and “drinking in” the atmosphere.¹⁵

The experience was transformative. He was particularly struck by the way the Welsh congregations sang old, familiar hymns with a new power and spontaneity, led not by an organ or a choir but by the Holy Spirit.¹⁵ He returned to his people in Edinburgh not with a new methodology, but with a powerful testimony of what he had seen God do, creating a palpable sense of faith and expectation.¹⁴

The Outbreak: January 22, 1905

The revival fire fell at Charlotte Chapel on Saturday, January 22, 1905, during a monthly conference.⁴ The meeting began at 3:30 in the afternoon and was scheduled to conclude in the evening. However, what was described as “the fire of God fell,” and the meeting continued with intense prayer and testimony until after midnight.⁴

This was the moment the congregation recognized as the divine answer to the many months and years of preparatory prayer.⁴

Continuous Meetings and Mass Conversions

From that Saturday, the revival took on a life of its own. The chapel doors were opened every single night for what would become a run of 455 consecutive nightly meetings, lasting from January 1905 through to March 1906.⁴ This first wave was intensely evangelistic in character. The 750-seat sanctuary, which had been nearly empty just three years prior, was now consistently filled to overflowing.

People crowded into the aisles, sat on the pulpit steps, and occupied every available space to be part of the meetings.⁴

Conversions were a nightly occurrence.⁴ The evangelistic note that Kemp had always maintained in his preaching was now amplified by the spiritual atmosphere, and the results were staggering.²⁶ It was estimated that in the year 1905 alone, one thousand people were converted through the chapel’s ministry.⁴

The growth was tangible. On a single evening, March 16, 1905, following a baptismal service for ten new believers, Kemp invited others to accept Christ, and fifty people immediately responded.⁴ At one communion service during this period, 66 new Christians were formally received into the membership of the church.²¹

Sometimes the building was so full of believers that Kemp would ask Christians to leave to make room for non-believers who were seeking salvation; those who left would then form marches of witness in the surrounding streets, encouraging still more people to attend.¹⁵

Fading of the First Wave

By the end of 1905, the extraordinary intensity of the nightly meetings began to subside. Kemp himself noted that the revival was, for a time, over, and that “life in the Chapel returned to generally accepted Church lines”.⁴

The church leadership made arrangements to reorganize the work along more conventional lines, believing the movement had found its level.⁴ The 455-night run of continuous meetings came to an end, but the church had been permanently and irrevocably transformed.

Chapter 7: The Second Wave: The Consecration Revival of 1906-1907

Just as the chapel settled into a new, more structured routine, the revival fires blazed forth again, this time with a different character and focus.

Rekindling the Fire

The second wave of the revival began on New Year’s Eve, 1906. During the traditional Watchnight service, which started at 10:30 p.m., the “fire of the Lord fell” once more.⁴ Attendees reported a sudden and “overwhelming sense of the reality and awfulness of His presence,” where “life, death, and eternity were suddenly laid bare”.⁴

The experience continued into New Year’s Day, 1907, where at three separate services, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was so powerful that planned programs were abandoned in favor of spontaneous prayer, confession, and testimony.⁴

A Different Focus: “Judgement Begins at the House of God”

This second phase, which lasted for approximately eight weeks into early 1907, was distinct from the first.⁴ While conversions of unbelievers continued to occur, the primary burden of the meetings was the purification, humbling, and consecration of the existing believers.⁴ The dominant theme, as expressed by the participants, was that “judgement must begin at the house of God”.⁴

The focus shifted from evangelism to sanctification, from the salvation of the lost to the holiness of the saints. Kemp reported that this period was marked by believers being awakened from “defeated lives,” deep conviction of sin even in those with outwardly blameless reputations, the reconciliation of estranged brethren, and the healing of divisions within the church community.⁴

Intensified Prayer

The evidence of this rekindling was first noticed in the prayer meetings.⁴ The 7 a.m. Sunday prayer meeting, which had been the powerhouse of the first wave, saw its attendance increase again, with some ardent members arriving as early as 6 a.m. to begin praying.⁴ The movement was characterized by prolonged periods of intercession, with Sunday prayer meetings sometimes continuing after midnight.²¹

This phase of the revival culminated in an all-night prayer meeting on Saturday, February 16, 1907. At least 150 people remained in the chapel from 10 o’clock at night until 8 o’clock the following morning, with Kemp writing that “From the beginning to the close… the prayers ascended in one unbroken continuity”.⁴ This event marked the apex of the second wave, a profound corporate experience of deep intercession and consecration.

Chapter 8: The Anatomy of the Meetings: An Analysis of Revival Phenomena

The most unique and historically significant aspect of the Charlotte Chapel Revival was not merely the number of converts, but the extraordinary character of the meetings themselves. The phenomena observed there offer a compelling case study in a model of revival where the collective prayer of the congregation superseded the traditional role of the preacher.

Prayer as the Central Activity

The single most defining characteristic of the revival was the absolute centrality of prayer. Joseph Kemp himself remarked that, beyond the ordinary Sunday services, there was “very little or no preaching” during the nightly revival meetings.⁴ For weeks and months on end, the congregation was so “caught up in an outpouring of prayer, that preaching was out of the question”.⁴

This stands in stark contrast to many of the great historical revivals, which were often centered on the powerful sermons of figures like George Whitefield, Charles Finney, or D. L. Moody.²⁸ At Charlotte Chapel, the primary vehicle for the Holy Spirit’s work was seen to be the collective, spontaneous prayer of the people themselves.

The New Year’s Day meeting in 1907 provides a perfect example: invited speakers were present and ready to give their addresses, but no address could be given because the congregation was bowed in an unprompted and sustained period of prayer and contrition.⁴

Spontaneity and “Order in Disorder”

The meetings were not directed by any human leader or governed by the clock.¹⁵ Prayer was spontaneous, often with many people praying aloud simultaneously.²¹ To an outside observer, the meetings might have appeared disorderly or chaotic. However, Kemp and other participants perceived a profound spiritual unity in the midst of the apparent commotion.

Kemp described it as “order in the midst of disorder,” insisting that “the confusion never gets confused; the meetings are held by invisible hands”.⁴ This suggests a theological understanding where the normal hierarchies of worship were temporarily suspended, and the congregation as a whole was responding directly to the perceived leadership of the Holy Spirit, de-centring the role of the professional clergy and enacting a radical form of the “priesthood of all believers.”

Experiential and Emotional Character

The revival was profoundly experiential and unapologetically emotional. Kemp’s own preaching was described by a visitor as being “about knowing Jesus in a real sense,” a message that came from his own experience and brought listeners into “living touch with the Christ of whom he spoke”.²⁶ The atmosphere in the meetings was one of “uninhibited liberty, abounding unspeakable joy, and an outflowing of Christian love”.¹⁵

There was a deep, overwhelming, and sometimes “awful” sense of the presence of God.⁴ Kemp acknowledged that in such a charged environment, some participants “went too far with the release of their emotions.” However, he robustly defended the spiritual vitality of the movement, stating that “Such a movement with all its irregularities is to be preferred far above the dull, dreary, monotonous decorum of many churches”.⁴

Public Testimony and Confession

A key feature of the meetings, likely influenced by what Kemp had witnessed in Wales, was the prevalence of public testimony and confession of sin.¹² People who had never before spoken of their faith in public found themselves standing and testifying fearlessly.¹²

This practice created an atmosphere of intense personal and corporate conviction, fostering a “keen sensitiveness to the awfulness of sin and worldliness, and a deep desire to be right with God and with one another”.¹⁵ This emphasis on public confession was central to both the evangelistic work of the first wave and the work of sanctification in the second.

Part IV: The Enduring Legacy

The intense spiritual experiences of 1905-1907 were not a fleeting phenomenon. They produced tangible and lasting outcomes that reshaped Charlotte Chapel’s institutional identity, catalyzed a long-term commitment to social engagement in the city of Edinburgh, and secured its place in the annals of Scottish religious history.

This final section will assess the legacy of the revival, evaluating its impact on the chapel’s physical structure, its social ministries, and its broader historical significance.

Chapter 9: From Congregation to Institution: Rebuilding and Reorganizing

The Crowning Act of Faith

The most immediate and visible consequence of the revival was that the church building became hopelessly inadequate. The massive influx of new converts and attendees meant that the old 750-seat sanctuary was constantly overflowing.⁴

This practical problem became the impetus for a monumental step of faith. In 1907, as the second wave of the revival was concluding, the congregation made the decision to prepare plans for a new, much larger building.¹⁸ This was a remarkable act of confidence for a church that, only six years earlier, had been on the verge of selling its property for use as a warehouse.

The New Charlotte Chapel

The old building was demolished in 1911.²⁰ In its place, on the same Rose Street site, a new church was constructed at a cost of £7,250.¹⁸ It opened in 1912 with a seating capacity for exactly 1,000 people.¹⁸ At the opening ceremony, the church secretary—likely Andrew Urquhart, the man whose faith had saved the chapel a decade earlier—described the new building as the congregation’s “crowning act of faith.”

He reflected that the “one-time little congregation has enjoyed an almost continual revival, witnessed almost continually men and women far down in sin being gloriously rescued and blessedly converted to God”.²² The new building was both a product of the revival and the vessel that would carry its legacy forward.

For most of the next 70 years, this new sanctuary would be “well filled, often to overflowing,” cementing Charlotte Chapel’s status as one of Edinburgh’s largest and most significant evangelical centers.²⁰

Chapter 10: The Gospel in Action: The Social and Evangelistic Fruit of Revival

The revival’s impact extended far beyond the walls of the new building. It ignited a deep sense of social responsibility within the congregation, leading to the creation of several pioneering social ministries.

A Distinction from the Social Gospel

It is important to note that the social action of Charlotte Chapel was theologically distinct from the broader “Social Gospel” movement that was gaining currency at the time. Joseph Kemp viewed the Social Gospel, which tended to locate sin in environmental and structural factors and saw evangelism as the correction of social evils, as “a danger that must not be treated lightly”.²⁰

The chapel’s theology was firmly rooted in an understanding of sin as individual and inherited, and of societal transformation as the result of the new birth of individuals through the proclamation of the gospel.²⁰ For the chapel, social action was not a substitute for evangelism but an essential and compassionate outgrowth of it.

The “White House” Rescue Mission (1908)

A direct and immediate fruit of the revival’s social conscience was the establishment of the “White House” in January 1908.²⁰ Led by Dr. Maxwell Williamson, a deacon in the chapel who would soon be appointed Edinburgh’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, this initiative was a response to the destitution and prostitution prevalent on the city’s streets, including Rose Street itself.²⁰

The White House was a rescue center that accommodated twenty young women at a time, providing them with food, clothing, and assistance in finding safe employment or returning to their homes.²⁰ Alongside this practical help, the “power and claims of Christ were pressed on them”.²⁰

The mission was supported by gifts and volunteers from the congregation, including one woman, herself saved at an open-air meeting, who offered a month of free labor to prepare the home for occupancy.²⁰

Other Missions and Lasting Social Commitment

The revival catalysed a long-term commitment to social action that would become a defining feature of the church for decades. This included:

• The Rock Mission (1912): Also started by Dr. Williamson, this mission provided free tea and sandwiches in the impoverished Cowgate area to those willing to listen to a gospel message. The chapel ran this mission weekly for 64 years.²⁰
• The Jamaica Street Mission (1916) and the High Street Mission (1921): These missions provided a wide range of social and spiritual activities—including Sunday schools, youth clubs, and women’s meetings—for the residents of some of Edinburgh’s most socially deprived areas.²⁰
• Formalized Pastoral Care: The revival’s emphasis on caring for individuals led to the formalization of pastoral care within the church. From 1907, the chapel employed a full-time deaconess (a role later called a “pastoral care worker”) to minister to the congregation’s needs.²⁰
• Support for the Royal Infirmary: The chapel’s long-standing tradition of financially supporting the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary continued with renewed vigor during and after the revival, even as the church was urgently trying to raise funds for its own rebuilding project in 1907.²⁰

Chapter 11: Historical Significance and Conclusion

A Localized Phenomenon with Broader Significance

The 1905-1907 Charlotte Chapel Revival did not spark a nationwide awakening in Scotland on the scale of what occurred in Wales. It remained a largely localized phenomenon, centred on a single congregation. Nevertheless, it stands as a highly significant case study in the history of modern revivalism.

It powerfully demonstrates how the international currents of spiritual fervour, exemplified by the Welsh Revival, could be channelled through the specific circumstances of a local church and the strategic guidance of a prepared leader to produce dramatic and lasting results. It illustrates the dynamic interplay between global religious trends and grassroots congregational life.

Counter-Narrative to Secularization

The story of the revival provides a potent counterpoint to the simplistic historical narrative of inevitable secularization in early twentieth-century Britain. At a time when many historians have focused on the decline of religious influence, the events at Charlotte Chapel reveal a vibrant, dynamic, and rapidly growing expression of evangelical faith.

This was not a faith in retreat, but one that was actively and confidently shaping its urban environment through both mass conversion and compassionate social action. It shows that, even as broader societal trends may have been shifting, pockets of intense religious vitality not only existed but thrived.

Conclusion

The 1905-1907 Charlotte Chapel Revival was a pivotal and transformative moment in the history of Scottish evangelicalism. It rescued a dying congregation from the brink of extinction and remade it into one of Edinburgh’s largest and most influential churches.

This remarkable turnaround was not a historical accident. It was fueled by the strategic and disciplined prayers of a people prepared for revival, sparked by the spiritual fire that had spread from the Welsh valleys, and guided by the focused, experiential, and evangelistically urgent leadership of Joseph W. Kemp.

The movement was defined by a unique set of phenomena: an overwhelming and tangible sense of God’s presence, the radical primacy of spontaneous, corporate prayer over formal preaching, and a deep conviction of sin that led to both the personal transformation of thousands and a renewed commitment to public and social witness.

The legacy of the revival was not merely a fleeting emotional experience. It was solidified in the brick and mortar of a new, thousand-seat sanctuary and embodied in the enduring social ministries that served the city’s most vulnerable for decades to come. In its origins, its character, and its consequences, the Rose Street Awakening left an indelible mark on the religious landscape of Edinburgh.

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