A general conference of the British Mission was held at Manchester, England, on the 6th of October, 1840, at which there were present six of the Twelve Apostles--Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, and Wilford Woodruff. The presiding officers in the mission represented twenty-seven conferences, besides other churches or branches not yet included in organized conferences. The Church membership in Great Britain was given as 3,621, being an increase of 1,113 members since the conference held the April previous. On the evening of October 7th, the first discussion of any note of Mormonism, held in Great Britain, took place at Manchester, between Elder Alfred Cordon and a minister of one of the denominations whom Elder Woodruff does not name. It was attended by the members of the Twelve then in England. The subject under discussion was the Book of Mormon; and although the view of the Latter-day Saints was upheld therein by an elder of less prominence than one of the Apostles, the result evidently was very satisfactory to the Saints, and their cause received further favorable impression in the minds of a great majority of the fifteen hundred persons present on the occasion. "I left Manchester on the 14th of October," writes Wilford {130} Woodruff, "to return to my labors in London; and on my way, with Elder Alfred Cordon, I visited the Staffordshire Potteries and Birmingham. On the 17th I arrived in London, where I found Elder George A. Smith, and we were glad to meet each other again. We hired lodgings, board, and sitting-room at No. 40 Ironmonger Row, St. Luke's. Everything was costly, and we found that with the greatest economy we could not do with much less than a pound per week each. What few Saints there were in London were very poor, and unable to assist us. Most of the means used in my labors in London was supplied by my converts in Herefordshire. "The prospect in London at that time was the darkest it had ever been in since entering the vineyard; but the Lord was with us, and we were not discouraged. On Sunday we met with the Saints three times at Brother Corner's, read the Book of Mormon, gave instruction, and broke bread unto them. We had a good time, though there were only about half a dozen present. I felt the spirit bear testimony that there would be a work done in London.