Mason, John (itinerant)
1733-1810; e.m. 1764

WM itinerant, born at Hambledon, Hants. His mother died when he was 5 and he was brought up by an aunt in Portsmouth. He was greatly impressed by a sermon by George Whitefield and joined the Tabernacle society. Hearing the WM preachers who had begun to visit Portsmouth, he was received into the society by James Oddie. Reinstated after a lapse of 5 years, he was appointed a class leader by Francis Gilbert. He became an exhorter and in 1764 an itinerant preacher. He was stationed mainly in southern circuits, including Cornwall, but also as far north as Whitehaven and for two years, 1767-1769, inIreland. He retired in 1797 on health grounds and spent his closing years at West Meon, north of Portsmouth, continuing to preach in the neighbouring societies. In addition to his historical reading throughout the years he studied anatomy and medicine and developed an extensive knowledge of botany, collecting rare species. He died on 27 April 1810.

Sources
  • Arminian Magazine, 1780 p. 650
  • Lives of the Early Methodist Preachers 3 pp.307-15