J. Jackson (James Jackson) Wray

Born in Sancton, Yorkshire, on August 12, 1832, James Jackson Wray was an English minister and author who moved between teaching, preaching, and writing. Reference works describe him as having studied at Westminster Normal College, then serving first as a schoolmaster before entering the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in 1858.

He was sent to Freetown, Sierra Leone, early in his ministry, but returned to Britain after about a year and went on to serve in several circuits. Later notices describe him as a well-known Congregational preacher as well as a writer, which fits a career that seems to have crossed denominational lines over time.

Wray is remembered today mainly for his many novels and religious works, including Nestleton Magna, a story rooted in Yorkshire Methodism. His writing is closely associated with Victorian moral fiction: accessible, earnest, and interested in the lives of ordinary people. He died in 1892.