Hick, Samuel ('Sammy')
1758-1829

Village blacksmith at Micklefield, Yorks. Born into a poor family at nearby Aberford, he received little education and was apprenticed at 14. He heard John Nelson preach in Aberford and John Wesley in Leeds, but came to a conversion experience following the later death of his mother-in-law. Becoming a local preacher, he built up the societies around Aberford, Garforth and Barwick, where his simple enthusiasm led to a notable ministry. As his popularity spread he was in demand farther afield and in his closing years spent much time in London in support of the missionary movement. His chief appeal lay in the transparent simplicity and cheerfulness of his faith.

Sources
  • J. Everett, The Village Blacksmith, or, Piety and unselfishness exemplified in a memoir of the life of Samuel Hick (1831)
  • Robert A. West, Sketches of Wesleyan Preachers (1849) pp. 134-43
  • Methodist Recorder, Winter Number, 1892, p.47
  • J.B. Leslie in in WHS Proceedings, 5 pp.18-19

See also

Entry written by: PSF
Category: Person
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