Primitive Methodist preacher, born at Weston Underwood, near Derby. He was convinced of sin under the preaching of Eleazer Hathorn, and after a period of heart-searching found peace with God while returning from a class meeting one Sunday morning. He was recruited as a preacher by Hugh Bourne and preached for the first time at a camp-meeting at nearby Mercaston in June 1816. In 1820 he emigrated to America, but returned home after his first wife's death. The Bournes sent him into the widespread Cheshire Mission; then, in 1828, to the Brinkworth Mission in Wiltshire (1828-1832). He was a leading figure in the extension of PM work eastwards into Hampshire and Berkshire, in the face of great deprivation and fierce hostility. He was stationed in the Shefford Circuit, 1832-1837 and the Reading Circuit, 1837-1843 .On one memorable occasion in February 1830 he and Thomas Russell prayed for several hours in a snowy wood, 'Lord, give us Berkshire' before advancing on Shefford, near Newbury. In June 1834 he and Edward Bishop were summoned to the Quarter Sessions at Winchester for preaching in defiance of a legal ban and spent twelve days in the local gaol before being acquitted.

In 1824 he married Martha Doncaster as his second wife and in 1849 they emigrated to Australia, arriving at Port Philip in January 1850. He died on 15 January 1862.

Category: Person
Comment on this entry