# List of presidents of the Methodist Conference

This is a chronological list of presidents of the Methodist Conference of the Methodist Church of Great Britain and its predecessor churches.
John Wesley, founder of Methodism, organised and presided over the first Methodist Conference, which was to become the church's governing body. This article lists his successors, who are elected by the Conference to serve a one-year term. Presidents follow Wesley's example in travelling the length and breadth of Great Britain, visiting and preaching in local Methodist chapels. Presidents also have an important role representing the Methodist Church in the wider world (most prominently, appearing at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall).
The first century of British Methodism was characterised by multiple splits from the original Wesleyan Methodist Church. Other Methodist branches, such as the Primitive Methodist Church, Bible Christian Church and the Methodist New Connexion had their own conferences and presidents. The various branches were re-united in 1932.

## John Wesley and the early conference

Methodism traces its roots to the 18th-century Anglican evangelist John Wesley and, to a lesser extent, his brother Charles. The Wesley brothers began an evangelical revival within the Church of England. Over time, John Wesley organised converts locally, founding Methodist "societies", organised into "circuits", and linked in a "connexion". All preachers were in were in connexion primarily with him and thence with each other. John and Charles Wesley, along with four other ministers and four lay preachers, met for consultation in London in 1744. This set a precedent for future conferences; subsequently, the annual conference became the ruling body of the Methodist movement.
In 1773, John Wesley had designated John William Fletcher to be his successor, however he outlived Fletcher. In 1784 Wesley made provision for the governance of Methodism after his death through the Yearly Conference of the People called Methodists. He nominated 100 people and declared them to be its members and laid down the method by which their successors were to be appointed.
Wesley himself was the original president of the Methodist Conference – although at the 1780 conference in Bristol, Christopher Hopper presided in Wesley's absence – but after his death it was agreed that in future, so much authority would not be placed in the hands of one man. Instead, the president would be elected for one year only, to sit in Wesley's chair. The Wesleyan Conference of 1792 laid down that the same person was not to be elected president more than once within an eight-year period. Jabez Bunting and Robert Newton each held the office four times.
A list of Wesley's early successors was produced by the Wesleyan Methodist Church, listing all Presidents up to 1890. The My Methodist History website has compiled a list of all Methodist presidents from the 1932 deed of union to 2000, and the My Primitive Methodist Ancestors site has collated the list for the Primitive Methodist presidents from their first conference up to union of 1932. The gap in the Wesleyan records is filled from entries in the Methodist Who's Who of 1912, and the Wesleyan Historical Society's Dictionary of Methodism. The Methodist Church of Great Britain website had a list of presidents (and lay vice-presidents) from 2000 onwards. Additional information on twentieth century Presidents is provided by the Manchester University's Methodist Archives and Research Centre.

## 1791–1819

| Year of election | President of Wesleyan Methodist Conference |
| 1791 | William Thompson |
| 1792 | Alexander Mather |
| 1793 | John Pawson |
| 1794 | Thomas Hanby |
| 1795 | Joseph Bradford |
| 1796 | Thomas Taylor |
| 1797 | Thomas Coke LL.D |
| 1798 | Joseph Benson |
| 1799 | Samuel Bradburn |
| 1800 | James Wood |
| 1801 | John Pawson |
| 1802 | Joseph Taylor SEN. |
| 1803 | Joseph Bradford |
| 1804 | Henry Moore |
| 1805 | Thomas Coke LL.D |
| 1806 | Adam Clarke M.A LL.D |
| 1807 | John Barber |
| 1808 | James Wood |
| 1809 | Thomas Taylor |
| 1810 | Joseph Benson |
| 1811 | Charles Atmore |
| 1812 | Joseph Entwisle |
| 1813 | Walter Griffith |
| 1814 | Adam Clarke LL.D |
| 1815 | John Barber |
| 1816 | Richard Reece |
| 1817 | John Gaulter |
| 1818 | Jonathan Edmonson M.A |
| 1819 | Jonathan Crowther |

## 1820–1932 Wesleyans and Primitives

(During the early years of the Primitives' conference the presidents were not recorded, and may have been elected for each day of the conference. A later record indicates that amongst those serving as Primitive Methodist presidents before 1849, there were, in addition to those listed below, Hugh Bourne, William Garner, Thomas Bateman, Joseph Bailey, George Tetley, Sampson Turner.)
| Year of election | President of Wesleyan Methodist Conference | President of Primitive Methodist Conference |
| 1820 | Jabez Bunting A.M D.D | George Handford |
| 1821 | George Marsden | |
| 1822 | Adam Clarke LL.D | |
| 1823 | Henry Moore | |
| 1824 | Robert Newton D.D | |
| 1825 | Joseph Entwisle | Thomas King |
| 1826 | Richard Watson | James Bourne Esq |
| 1827 | John Stephens | |
| 1828 | Jabez Bunting A.M. | |
| 1829 | James Townley D.D. | James Bourne Esq |
| 1830 | George Morley | |
| 1831 | George Marsden | |
| 1832 | Robert Newton | |
| 1833 | Richard Treffry SEN | |
| 1834 | Joseph Taylor (2ND) | |
| 1835 | Richard Reece | Thomas King |
| 1836 | Jabez Bunting D.D | |
| 1837 | Edmund Grindrod | |
| 1838 | Thomas Jackson | |
| 1839 | Theophilus Lessey | |
| 1840 | Robert Newton | |
| 1841 | James Dixon D.D | |
| 1842 | John Hannah D.D | James Bourne Esq |
| 1843 | John Scott | John Garner |
| 1844 | Jabez Bunting D.D | William Clowes |
| 1845 | Jacob Stanley | William Clowes |
| 1846 | William Atherton | William Clowes |
| 1847 | Samuel Jackson | John Garner |
| 1848 | Robert Newton D.D | Thomas King |
| 1849 | Thomas Jackson | Stephen Longdin |
| 1850 | John Beecham D.D | John Garner |
| 1851 | John Hannah D.D | John Garner |
| 1852 | John Scott | John Garner |
| 1853 | John Lomas | Joseph Bailey Esq |
| 1854 | John Farrar | John Garner |
| 1855 | Isaac Keeling | George Tetley |
| 1856 | Robert Young | Sampson Turner |
| 1857 | Francis A West | Thomas Bateman Esq |
| 1858 | John Bowers | Sampson Turner |
| 1859 | Samuel D Waddy D.D | William Garner |
| 1860 | William W Stamp D.D | John Petty |
| 1861 | John Rattenbury | William Garner |
| 1862 | Charles Prest | William Harland |
| 1863 | George Osborn D.D | William Antliff |
| 1864 | William L Thornton M.A | James Garner |
| 1865 | William Shaw | William Antliff |
| 1866 | William Arthur M.A | George Lamb |
| 1867 | John Bedford | Thomas Bateman Esq |
| 1868 | Samuel Romilly Hall | William Lister |
| 1869 | Frederick James Jobson D.D. | Phillip Pugh |
| 1870 | John Farrar | Moses Lupton |
| 1871 | John H James D.D | James Garner |
| 1872 | Luke H Wiseman M.A | James Macpherson |
| 1873 | George T Perks M.A | Samuel Antliff |
| 1874 | W Morley Punshon LL.D | William Rowe |
| 1875 | Gervase Smith D.D | Robert Smith |
| 1876 | Alexander M'Aulay | John Dickenson |
| 1877 | William Burt Pope D.D | Thomas Smith |
| 1878 | James Harrison Rigg D.D | Henry Phillips |
| 1879 | Benjamin Gregory D.D | Thomas Newell |
| 1880 | Ebenezer Evans Jenkins M.A D.D | Colin C McKechnie |
| 1881 | George Osborn D.D | Charles Kendall |
| 1882 | Charles Garrett | Joseph Wood |
| 1883 | Thomas M'Cullagh | William Cutts |
| 1884 | Frederic Greeves D.D | George Lamb |
| 1885 | Richard Roberts | Ralph Fenwick |
| 1886 | Robert Newton Young D.D | John Atkinson |
| 1887 | John Walton M.A | Thomas Whitehead |
| 1888 | Joseph Bush | Thomas Whittaker |
| 1889 | Charles Henry Kelly | Joseph Toulson |
| 1890 | William Fiddian Moulton M.A D.D | John Hallam |
| 1891 | Thomas Bowman Stephenson | Joseph Ferguson |
| 1892 | James Harrison Rigg | James Travis |
| 1893 | Henry John Pope | John Stephenson |
| 1894 | Walford Green | John Wenn |
| 1895 | David James Waller | John Watson |
| 1896 | Dr Marshall Randles | William Jones |
| 1897 | William L Watkinson | James Jackson |
| 1898 | Hugh Price Hughes | John Smith |
| 1899 | John Edward Radcliffe | William Goodman |
| 1900 | Thomas Allen | Joseph Odell |
| 1901 | William Theophllus Davison | H Bickerstaffe Kendall |
| 1902 | John Shaw Banks | Thomas Mitchell |
| 1903 | Marshall Hartley | Thomas H Hunt |
| 1904 | Silvester Whitehead | Robert Harrison |
| 1905 | Charles Henry Kelly | George E Butt |
| 1906 | Albert Clayton | George Parkin |
| 1907 | John Smith Simon | Henry Yooll |
| 1908 | John Scott Lidgett | James Pickett |
| 1909 | William Perkins | Sir William P Hartley |
| 1910 | John Hornabrook | Samuel S Henshaw |
| 1911 | Dr Henry Haigh | Edwin Dalton |
| 1912 | Frederick Luke Wiseman | Thomas Jackson |
| 1913 | Samuel Francis Collier | Joseph Ritson |
| 1914 | Dr Dinsdale Thomas Young | George Bennett |
| 1915 | Richard Waddy Moss | John D Thompson |
| 1916 | Dr John Greenwood Tasker | Arthur T Guttery |
| 1917 | Simson Johnson | James T Parr |
| 1918 | Samuel Chadwick | William A Hammond |
| 1919 | Dr William Theodore Aquila Barber | James Watkin |
| 1920 | John Thomas Wardle Stafford | Matthew P Davison |
| 1921 | Dr John Alfred Sharpe | Samuel Horton |
| 1922 | John E Wakerley | Henry J Taylor |
| 1923 | Thomas Ferrier Hulme | George Armstrong |
| 1924 | Amos Burnet | Joseph T Barkby |
| 1925 | John Holland Ritson | James Lockhart |
| 1926 | William Russell Maltby | Albert L Humphries |
| 1927 | William Hodson Smith | George Armitage |
| 1928 | Dr John William Lightley | John G Bowran |
| 1929 | William Francis Lofthouse | James H Saxton |
| 1930 | Dr Herbert Brook Workman | William M Kelley |
| 1931 | Charles Rider Smith | Edward McLellan |
| 1932 | Dr Henry Maldwyn Hughes | William Younger |

## Post–1932

In 1932 each denomination held a conference which elected their own interim presidents, followed a few months later by a unified conference at which a new president and lay vice-president were elected.
| Year of election | President of Methodist Conference | Vice-president |
| 1932 | John Scott Lidgett | Sir Robert William Perks |
| 1933 | Frederick Luke Wiseman | Moses Bourne JP |
| 1934 | William Younger | George Pearse Dymond |
| 1935 | William Christopher Jackson | Edmund Lamplough |
| 1936 | Charles Ensor Walters | James Gray JP |
| 1937 | Robert Bond | Isaac Foot jr MP |
| 1938 | William Lansdell Wardle | R. Parkinson Tomlinson MP |
| 1939 | Richard Pyke | Sir Isaac Holden |
| 1940 | Henry Bett | William Ernest Clegg |
| 1941 | Walter Henry Armstrong | Ernest Henry Lamb MP, Lord Rochester |
| 1942 | Walter James Noble | Herbert Ibberson |
| 1943 | Leslie Frederick Church | Charles T. Nightingale |
| 1944 | Wilbert Francis Howard | Wilfred Turner |
| 1945 | Archibald Walter Harrison | Sir George Knight |
| 1946 | Robert Newton Flew | Richard John Soper MP |
| 1947 | William Edward Farndale | Albert Victor Murray |
| 1948 | Ernest Benson Perkins | Mildred Clarissa Lewis |
| 1949 | Harold Burgoyne Rattenbury | John Arthur Stead |
| 1950 | William Edwin Sangster | Dr Clifford William Towlson |
| 1951 | Howard Watkins-Jones | H. Cecil Pawson MBE |
| 1952 | Colin Augustus Roberts | Deaconess Dr Dorothy Farrar |
| 1953 | Donald Oliver Soper | Leslie Ward Kay |
| 1954 | William Russel Shearer | Harold Guylee Chester OBE |
| 1955 | Leslie Dixon Weatherhead | Dr Thomas Edmund Jessop OBE MC |
| 1956 | Harold Crawford Walters | Douglas Blatherwick OBE |
| 1957 | Harold Roberts | Philip Race |
| 1958 | Norman Henry Snaith | Dr John Morel Gibbs OBE |
| 1959 | Eric W Baker | Dr Charles Alfred Coulson FRS |
| 1960 | Edward Rogers | George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy |
| 1961 | Maldwyn L Edwards | Marjorie Walton Lonsdale OBE |
| 1962 | Leslie Davison | A. Lowry Creed |
| 1963 | Frederic Greeves | David Foot Nash |
| 1964 | A. Kingsley Lloyd | Douglas Vernon Brown |
| 1965 | W. Walker Lee | Dr Pauline Webb |
| 1966 | Douglas W. Thompson | Albert Bailey |
| 1967 | Irvonwy Morgan | Percy L Backus |
| 1968 | E. Gordon Rupp | John Clifford Blake CB |
| 1969 | Brian Stapleton O'Gorman | Dr Kenneth James Thomas Leese |
| 1970 | Rupert E. Davies | Dr W. Russell Hindmarsh |
| 1971 | Kenneth L. Waights | John Walton Kellaway MBE JP DL |
| 1972 | Harry O. Morton | Dr Howard Souster |
| 1973 | Donald R. Lee | John Ireland Miller |
| 1974 | J. Russell Pope | Ernest Armstrong MP |
| 1975 | Alfred Raymond George | William Albert Cockell |
| 1976 | Colin M. Morris | Dr Cyril J Bennett |
| 1977 | B. Arthur Shaw | Esther Margaret Waterhouse |
| 1978 | Donald English | Mary Lenton |
| 1979 | William Gowland | Patrick William Welch |
| 1980 | Kenneth G. Greet | Elsie Moult |
| 1981 | John A. Newton | David Ensor OBE |
| 1982 | Norwyn E. Denny | Pamela Luke |
| 1983 | Amos Samuel Cresswell | Paul Gordon Bartlett Lang |
| 1984 | Gordon Emerson Barritt | June Elizabeth Lunn |
| 1985 | Christopher Hughes Smith | Leon Albert Murray MBE |
| 1986 | Nigel Langley Gilson | Anne Mary Knighton |
| 1987 | Dr William Rhys Davies | Derek W Burrell |
| 1988 | Richard Granville Jones | Jennifer Carpenter |
| 1989 | John James Vincent | John Bryan Hindmarsh |
| 1990 | Donald English | Rosemary Wass |
| 1991 | Ronald William Cecil Hoar | Ivan Weekes |
| 1992 | Kathleen Margaret Richardson | Dr Edmund Marshall MP |
| 1993 | Brian Edgar Beck | Susan Howdle |
| 1994 | Leslie John Griffiths | Christine Walters |
| 1995 | Brian Richard Hoare | Stella Bristow |
| 1996 | Nigel Thomas Collinson | Jan Sutch Pickard |
| 1997 | John Brian Taylor | Sir Michael Checkland |
| 1998 | William Peter Stephens | Margaret Parker |
| 1999 | Stuart John Burgess | Brian Thornton |
| 2000 | Inderjit Bhogal | Sister Eluned Williams MBE |
| 2001 | Christina Le Moignan | Ann Leck MBE |
| 2002 | Ian White | Professor Peter Howdle |
| 2003 | Dr Neil Richardson | Judy Jarvis |
| 2004 | Will Morrey | Deacon Myrtle Ann Poxon |
| 2005 | Tom Stuckey | John Bell |
| 2006 | Graham Carter | Dudley Coates |
| 2007 | Dr Martyn Atkins | Ruby Beech |
| 2008 | Stephen Poxon | David Storry Walton |
| 2009 | David Gamble | Dr Richard Mark Vautrey |
| 2010 | Alison Tomlin | Deacon Eunice Attwood |
| 2011 | Leo Osborn | Ruth Elizabeth Pickles |
| 2012 | Mark Wakelin | Michael King |
| 2013 | Ruth Gee | Dr Daleep Satyanand Mukarji OBE |
| 2014 | Kenneth Howcroft | Gillian Margaret Dascombe |
| 2015 | Steven Wild | Dr Jill Barber |
| 2016 | Dr Roger Walton | Rachel Judith Lampard |
| 2017 | Loraine Mellor | Jill Baker |
| 2018 | Michaela Youngson | Bala Gnanapragasam |
| 2019 | Dr Barbara Glasson | Professor Clive Marsh |
| 2020 | Richard Teal | Carolyn Lawrence |
| 2021 | Sonia Hicks | Barbara Easton |
| 2022 | Graham Thompson | Anthony Boateng |
| 2023 | Gill Newton | Deacon Kerry Scarlett |
| 2024 | Helen Cameron | Carolyn Godfrey |