Few evangelists of the twentieth century came from so far: he was born in a gypsy tent in Epping Forest, near London, the son of a nomadic family who made their living selling baskets and tin utensils. He had no schooling at all.
His mother died of smallpox when he was still a child, and his father passed through spells in prison before converting to the gospel after hearing a chaplain preach. The family, then known as “the converted gypsies,” began preaching from camp to camp starting in 1873.
At sixteen, on November 17, 1876, he was converted in a Primitive Methodist chapel in Cambridge, moved by his father’s testimony, the hymns of Ira Sankey, and a visit to John Bunyan’s house. He taught himself to read and write so that he could preach.
In 1877, William Booth invited him to serve as an evangelist in the Salvation Army. In five years leading eight posts, his services drew thousands of people and resulted in thousands of professions of faith. In 1882, however, he was dismissed for accepting gifts from grateful converts, which broke the organization’s rules.
Far from ending his calling, the episode opened the way to an independent itinerant ministry that would continue for the rest of his life, decades later. He crossed the Atlantic about forty five times, preaching in the United States, South Africa, Australia, and Europe, always without writing his sermons in advance.
During the First World War, he served alongside British troops in France under the auspices of the YMCA, visiting positions near the front line. King George VI recognized him with the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for this pastoral service to soldiers.
He wrote books, including his own autobiography and devotional works such as “As Jesus Passed By” and “Real Religion,” and never stopped visiting gypsy camps on both sides of the ocean, honoring the origin that many, in his day, treated with contempt.
He died of a heart attack aboard the ocean liner Queen Mary in August 1947, at eighty seven, on what would have been his forty fifth crossing toward America. His life is a reminder that God calls preachers from any background, even from society’s margins.
