Smith, William Hodson
1856-1943; e.m. 1880

Born at Burntwood, near Lichfield, the son of a yeoman farmer. He trained for the ministry at Didsbury College. For nine years from 1888 he served under Charles Garrett in the Liverpool Mission, where he was also actively involved in public affairs; then for twelve years in the North Cornwall Mission, with seven ministers, 40 chapels and more than 100 local preachers, at least nine of whom entered the ministry. He also served on the County Council and the County Education Committee. In 1907 he was elected to the Legal Hundred and attended the Ecumenical Methodist Conference in Toronto in 1911 and the Canadian Conference in 1914. From 1912 to 1933 he succeeded Arthur E Gregory as Principal of the NCH in a period which saw an expansion of income, children in care and accommodation, especially at Harpenden. He was President of the 1927 Conference and died in Newquay on 14 May 1943.

Sources
  • Methodist Recorder, 14 July 1927; 20 May 1943