Aggrey, James Emman Kwegyir (1875–1927), pastor and educationist, was born at Anomabu, Gold Coast, on 18 October 1875, the son of Kodwo Kwegyir Aggrey, a gold assayer and official at the court of the Fanti chiefdom of Anomabu, and his wife, Abena Andua...
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Maker: Lock & Whitfield
Henry Allon (1818–1892) by Lock & Whitfield, pubd 1879 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Allon, Henry (1818–1892), Congregational minister and leader, was born at Welton, near Hull, on 13 October 1818, the son of William Allon (1792–1878), a builder and later estate steward, and his wife, Mary, née Woolas. He followed his father in apprenticeship to a builder in ...
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David N. Hempton
Arthur, William (1819–1901), missionary, was born on 3 February 1819 at Glendun, Antrim, the son of James Arthur, whose ancestors came from counties Limerick and Clare, and his wife, Margaret Kennedy, who was of Scottish and Ulster descent. He grew up in Kells, Antrim...
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Atherton, William (1775–1850), Wesleyan Methodist minister, was born at Lamberhead Green, near Wigan, in Lancashire. In 1797 he entered the Wesleyan ministry and was assigned to the Grimsby circuit. His fresh and original style of preaching marked him as one of the more famous preachers of ...
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E. Dorothy Graham
Ball, Hannah (1734–1792), follower of Wesleyan Methodism and diarist, was born on 13 March 1734, probably in Buckinghamshire. Nothing is known of her family other than that she was one of a family of twelve children and that her mother died in 1779, aged seventy-nine. At the age of nine she went to live with an uncle in ...
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Eileen Groth Lyon
Barker, Joseph (1806–1875), Methodist minister and politico-religious controversialist, was born on 11 May 1806 at Bramley, near Leeds. His ancestors, originally of Keighley, had been settled in this area for several generations as farmers and manufacturers. The identity of his parents has not been discovered, though it is known that his father was employed in woollen manufacture and served for some time in the militia, and that ...
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Maker: John Cochran
Joseph Barker (1806–1875) by John Cochran, pubd 1880 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Beaumont, Joseph (1794–1855), Wesleyan Methodist minister, was born at Castle Donington, in Leicestershire, on 19 March 1794. His father was John Beaumont, an itinerant preacher among the Wesleyan Methodists, and his mother was a daughter of Colonel Home of Gibraltar. From them he inherited a keen taste for music and the fine arts. He was educated at ...
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Bedford, John (1810–1879), Wesleyan Methodist minister, son of John and Elizabeth Bedford, was born on 27 July 1810 at Rothwell, near Wakefield. His father died when he was about five years old. John was educated in the town and studied for several years in a solicitor's office, but, resolving to become a Wesleyan minister, he was appointed by the conference in 1831 to the ...
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Beecham, John (1787–1856), Wesleyan Methodist minister, was born at Barnoldby-le-Beck, near Grimsby. His father died at Waltham while he was a child. He was educated privately under a clergyman, the incumbent of the neighbouring parish of Irby. His friends hoped he would become a clergyman in the ...
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E. Dorothy Graham
Bembridge [née Kirkland; other married name Harrison], Sarah (1793–1880), Primitive Methodist travelling preacher, was born at Mercaston, Derbyshire, on 12 August 1793, the daughter of Rowland Kirkland (bap. 1746, d. 1813), and his wife Sarah Daykin (bap. 1761, d...
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Simon Ross Valentine
Benson, Joseph (1749–1821), Wesleyan Methodist minister, was born at Melmerby, Cumberland, on 25 January 1749, the son of John Benson (d. 1769), a landowner, and his wife, Isabella Robinson (d. 1779). His father, intending him to enter the church, placed him in the care of the local Presbyterian minister, from whom he received a classical education....
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Joseph Benson (1749–1821) by T. Blood (after John Jackson) © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Catherine Booth (1829–1890) by unknown photographer The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre
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Pamela J. Walker
Booth [née Mumford], Catherine (1829–1890), evangelist and writer, was born on 17 January 1829 at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, the fourth of five children. Only she and her younger brother, John, survived. Her father, John Mumford (1804–1879), was a coach builder and wheelwright, and for some years a Wesleyan Methodist lay preacher. Her mother, ...
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Hugh Bourne (1772–1852) by Watson Smith, c.1827 Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum
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G. C. Boase
revised by W. J. Johnson
Bourne, Hugh (1772–1852), founder of the Primitive Methodist church, son of Joseph Bourne, farmer and wheelwright, and his wife, Ellen Steele, was born at Fordhays Farm, in the parish of Stoke-on-Trent on 3 April 1772, and, after some education at nearby Werrington and ...
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Neil Dickson
Bowes, John (1804–1874), preacher and author, was born in Swineside, Coverham parish, Yorkshire, where he was baptized on 6 June 1804, the son of John Bowes (1779–1853), a farmer, and his wife, Ann Cannon (1780–1859). Bowes joined the Wesleyan Methodists in 1817 but, while working for a brewer in ...
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E. Dorothy Graham
Bultitude, Elizabeth (1809–1890), Primitive Methodist preacher, was born on 12 August 1809 at Hardwick, Norfolk, into a large and very poor family. She had no formal education. Her parents attended the nearby Wesleyan Methodist chapel, taking their children with them. When Elizabeth was thirteen her father died; the family was forced to search for work and so moved to ...
