UMFC local preacher and philanthropist, was born at Cutgate, near Rochdale on 8 July 1813 and started life as a weaver. After attending a WM Sunday School in Rochdale, where he spent his whole life, he joined the WMA. Determined to serve the labouring classes, in 1848 he formed a ragged school which led ten years later to the 'chapel for the destitute', despite misgivings among his fellow Associationists that this might widen the gap between rich and poor. He continued to supervise the chapel for the rest of his life. He was a busy preacher and lecturer and a prolific writer of tracts, notably successive volumes of Strange Tales from Humble Life. He also wrote accounts of his visits to America and the Holy Land. He died at Rochdale on 26 January 1875.