Betty Leworthy, in retirement at Victor Harbour in 1873, recorded the story of her life in a series of letters to her grand daughter. Recalling her school days at Crewkerne, in Somerset, in 1814, she said:

... Dr Ash of the Established Church ... brought word that a person named Joannah Southcote [sic] would give birth to the Messiah, that a vast number of learned and affluent persons advocated her cause. If any one of the young ladies acknowledged this statement to be true, they were to be regaled with cake and wine. I remember feeling indignant at such palpable wickedness and at once declared I did not believe one word that had been advanced. (Leworthy, Betty. Reminiscences, PRG 3/3/3)

The Israelite House of David grew in part out of the visions of Joanna Southcott, a Devonshire housemaid, in the 1790s. She was seen by her followers as one of the 'messengers' predicted in the Bible in the book of Revelation. Her prediction of the French invasion of Italy by a then unknown general named Bonaparte drew particular attention at the time. Although she appeared to be miraculously pregnant at the age of 64, she died soon afterwards.

Richard Brothers in London, in the 1780s, inspired the formation of the British Israelites with similar visions and beliefs to the Southcottians. The Israelite House of David was established in Michigan, USA in 1878 following visits by Englishman, James Jershom Jezreel, who saw himself as another of the 'messengers'. The Christian Israelite Church was founded by John Wroe in England in 1822. Wroe brought this teaching to Australia, with 'sanctuaries' meeting in South Australia, at Gawler and Adelaide from the 1850s until the 1880s. The sect attracted unwanted publicity when the son of one of the Gawler trustees, John Kerney, John Kerney junior, turned bushranger as 'Captain Thunderbolt' with his brother David, and the son of other sect members, Thomas Field. All were arrested in 1866 after hold-ups at Prospect and Gawler.

All three groups were based on similar interpretations of Biblical predictions about the second coming of Christ. Unlike many alternative sects, they held a high regard for other churches, believing that 'the elect' could be found scattered amongst all Christian denominations. In 1904 a House of David group formed in Melbourne, and by 1916 there was a group in Adelaide. The group remained active until the 1930s. The movement influenced Leo Harris, founder of the Commonwealth Revival Crusade in Adelaide in 1945.