Treffry, Richard. Memoirs of the Rev. Joseph Benson. New-York: Published by G. Lane & P. P. Sandford, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the Conference Office, 200 Mulberry-street. J. Collord, Printer, 1842. [11840]
Full calf with red leather spine title label, binding is scuffed with a small wormhole on front, front joint weak and partly cracked, back joint is fine, 7 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches. Several former owner's names on the front end papers. Steel-engraved portrait of Benson with tissue guard; 292 pp., tight, light foxing. Publisher's catalogue, lacking a few leaves of the catalogue. Good. Hardcover.
Joseph Benson (1748-1821), English Methodist. “Intended by his father for the Anglican ministry, Benson received a sound classical education and became a teacher at the age of sixteen. Converted under the influence of a Methodist cousin, he was introduced to John Wesley and was appointed classics master at Kingswood School. In 1769 Benson entered St Edmund Hall, Oxford, but was denied Anglican orders because of his Methodist sympathies. After serving for a short time as headmaster of the Countess of Huntingdon's ministerial training college at Trevecca, he joined the Methodist itinerancy in 1771. Benson was a great favorite of John Wesley and the two often corresponded. He went on to become President of Conference in 1798 and 1810 and served as its secretary in 1805 and 1809. In 1803 Benson was appointed connexional editor and in this capacity was a major influence on the development of the Methodist Magazine.” – Methodist Archives website.
Richard Treffrey (1771-1842) was born at Newton near St Austell, Cornwall, and entered the itinerancy in 1792. A self-taught man, Treffrey was a prolific writer who produced many published sermons, tracts and several biographies including the standard life of Joseph Benson. He was elected President of Conference in 1833 and in 1838 was appointed house governor of the newly established Hoxton Theological Institute.
