Smith, Gervase, Dd

Smith, Gervase, D.D.

an English Wesleyan minister, was born at Langley, Derbyshire, June 27, 1821. In his youth he received a liberal education, and early began, as a local preacher, to invite sinners to repentance. He was accepted as a candidate for the ministry in 1842, and spent three years in study at Didsbury, receiving his first appointment in 1845. His preaching was eminently evangelical, and very attractive from the beginning of his career. He also had a special adaptability to the presentation of the various benevolent enterprises of the Church. In 1873 he was elected secretary of the conference, and two years later its president. In 1874 he was appointed British representative to the first General Conference of the Methodist Church in Canada; and in 1877 to the Australasian Conference, with instructions to visit the districts in Polynesia formerly under the care of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. For nearly twelve years he was secretary of the Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund; and in 1880 became treasurer of the Auxiliary Fund. He died April 22, 1882. See Minutes of the British Conference, 1882, page 26.