WM connexional evangelist, born in Brampton, Cumbria on 3 September 1853. Addicted in his youth to gambling and renowned as a wrestler, he was moved by attending a Boxing Day service in 1875 and converted in 1876. Accepted for the ministry in 1880, he was sent to supply at Airdrie, where he quickly filled a failing chapel. He was trained at Headingley College and in 1883 was appointed a Connexional Evangelist, working in close association with Thomas Cook. During the next 27 years he travelled nearly 300,000 miles, averaged 350 services a year and claimed around 100,000 converts, despite avoiding sensational appeals. In 1899 he wrote Special Missions: their utility, methods, messages and incidents. The early years of his ministry were described in his Twenty-three Years a Missioner (1906). He also wrote The 'Clarion' or the Bible (4th edition, 1908) in reply to the socialist Robert Blatchford's article on 'God and my Neighbour' in The Clarion, and The Christian Church and the Present Outlook [1909]. With donations solicited from friends and profits from his own writings he contributed to the building of the church in his native Brampton in 1900.

He began an active retirement in 1910 and died on 17 October 1932.

Entry written by: JAV
Category: Person
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