Clarke Huston Irwin

“ In 1907 he acted as secretary of the South India district committee.
Campbell was a great missionary. Journeying from village to village, he established scores of Christian churches during his seventeen years of labour. A pioneer in the cause of union among missions, he helped to form the united church of South India, in which presbyterians, congregationalists, and baptists united for ecclesiastical purposes, forming a Christian community of upwards of 150,000 people, about one-fourth of the protestants of South India (cf. his art. L.M.S. Chronicle, November 1908) . ”

“ Educated at the Academical Institution, Londonderry, he took both his arts and divinity courses at Edinburgh University, being a first prizeman in the divinity class and in church history, and graduating M.A. in 1880 and B.D. in 1882. At Edinburgh he also studied Sanskrit for two years, and attended some medical classes. His services being accepted by the London Missionary Society, he was ordained on 12 Sept. 1884 at the congregational church, Londonderry, and reached Cuddapah, South India, in November 1884. ”

“ Devoting his leisure to the study of Latin, Greek, French and German, he was accepted, in 1840, by the methodist synod of Cornwall as a candidate for the ministry, and entered the Methodist Theological Institution at Hoxton. There he added Hebrew and Arabic to his stock of languages. In 1842 he began his active ministry at Kingsbridge, Devonshire, and served for short periods at Liskeard, Jersey, Sandhurst, Dover and Halifax. ”

“ In his home in Ireland he and his brothers had made one of the best private collections of Irish moths and butterflies. In India he formed a fine collection of moths of that country, adding sixty or seventy species that were new to science. ”

“ For many years he was chairman of the Manchester district, and in 1896 was elected president of the conference. In 1891 he received the degree of D.D. from the Wesley an Theological College, Montreal. He retired in 1902 from the active ministry, and died at Manchester on 4 July 1904, being buried in Cheetham Hill Wesleyan churchyard. In August 1856 he married Sarah Dewhurst, second daughter of John Scurrah of Padiham; by her he had a son and daughter; the son, Sir John Scurrah Randles, is conservative M.P. for North West Manchester. ”

“ The services, held at first in the smaller hall, which seated about 1000, were soon transferred to the great hall, where about 4000 persons were regularly present. The meetings were catholic in spirit. ”

“ From 1846 to 1848 he laboured in France, first at Boulogne and then in Paris. In 1849 and 1850 his ministry was in London, at Hinde Street and Great Queen Street. From 1851 to 1868 he was one of the secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and he was an honorary secretary 1888-91. From 1868 to 1871 he was principal of the Methodist College, Belfast. ”

“ In 1876 he visited America with Dr. Rigg as delegate to the general conference of the methodist episcopal church at Baltimore. In 1877 he was president of the Wesleyan conference at Bristol. He resigned his position at Didsbury in 1886. ”

“ Robert Percival Downes, a work which favoured an intermediate period of moral probation after death. The view that God is incapable of suffering he strongly maintained, against Baldwin Brown, Dr. A. M. Fairbairn, George Matheson, George Adam Smith, and others, in 'The Blessed God: Impassibility' (1900) . ”

“ Besides the books mentioned and numerous sermons, lectures and pamphlets, Arthur's works include:
'A Mission to the Mysore,' 1847. 'The Successful Merchant; a Life of Samuel Budgett,' 1852. 'The People's Day,' 1855; 11th ed. 1856; an appeal to Lord Stanley against the opening of Exhibitions on Sunday. 'Life of Gideon Ouseley, the Irish Evangelist,' 1876.
[William Arthur: a biography, by Thos. B. Stephenson, D.D., 1907; Crookshank, History of Methodism in Ireland, 1885; private information.] ”