Ritson, Joseph
1852-1932; e.m. 1874

Outstanding PM preacher, born at Ninebanks, Allendale, Northumberland on 9 January 1852. He trained for the ministry at Elmfield College, where he taught before moving to Woodhouse Grove School. He was much loved in the Scottish circuits which he brought into order. He wrote for the PM Magazine over a long period and was Connexional Editor 1906-1911. His best-known novel, based on the life of Hugh Gilmore, was Hugh Morigill, Street Arab (1905). He wrote an influential bestseller on The Romance of Primitive Methodism (1909) and The Centenary of Glasgow Primitive Methodism 1826-1926. He was President of the PM Conference in 1913. At the Methodist Church Congress in 1929 he spoke on 'The Peril of Secular Civilization - Abroad'. He died on 13 August 1932.

Sources
  • PM Magazine, 1914 pp.2-4
  • Methodist Recorder,18 Aug. 1932