author
W. J. (William John) Townsend
1835–1915
A Methodist minister with a gift for church history, he wrote clearly about theology, missions, and the people who shaped early Methodism. His books helped preserve stories of figures such as Robert Morrison and Alexander Kilham for later readers.
1 Audiobook
Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known Characters
by George Milligan, Walter F. (Walter Frederic) Adeney, J. Morgan (James Morgan) Gibbon, J. G. (John Gershom) Greenhough, H. Elvet (Howell Elvet) Lewis, Alfred Rowland, David Rowlands, W. J. (William John) Townsend
About the author
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne on January 20, 1835, William John Townsend was educated in his native city and worked in business before preparing for the ministry in 1859–60 under James Stacey of Sheffield. He went on to serve churches in the Methodist New Connexion and became one of the denomination's best-known writers.
Townsend wrote on theology, philosophy, and Methodist history, and he is especially remembered for biographical and historical works. Among the subjects he treated were Robert Morrison, the pioneer missionary to China, and Alexander Kilham, an important early Methodist reformer. He also helped edit A New History of Methodism, a substantial survey of the movement's development.
He died on March 7, 1915. Although not a household name today, Townsend's work remains useful for readers interested in nineteenth-century Methodism, Protestant missions, and the way religious history was written in his time.