McNeal, George Henry
1874-1934; e.m. 1896

Pastor, evangelist and one of the leading Central Mission ministers. He was born on 5 June 1874 at Preesall, Lancs. He was converted by Gipsy Smith and trained by Samuel Collier. Sent in 1905 to develop a new mission in Sheffield, he filled a theatre and built the Victoria Hall, raising the £46,000 needed in three years. He built up the congregation and pioneered its social witness (e.g. the Labour Yard). A Memorial Chapel was created there in his memory. At Wesley's Chapel 1924-1935 he restored the building and rescued the graveyard from near-terminal neglect. He died at St. Leonards on 16 December 1934.

Sources
  • Methodist Recorder, 20 & 27 Dec 1934
  • H. Murray, Preachers Only (c.1935) pp.81-4
  • Agnes E. Slack, People I Have Met and Places I Have Seen (1941) pp.97-99
  • Nicholas Farr, At the Heart of the City:a Methodist Mission in the Twentieth Century (Sheffield, 1991) pp.10-34

See also

Entry written by: JHL
Category: Person
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