William Burt Pope
William Burt Pope was an English Wesleyan [Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist] minister and theologian, who was president of the Methodist Conference.
Biography
Early life
William Burt Pope was born at Horton, Nova Scotia, on 19 February 1822. He was the younger son of John Pope, Wesleyan missionary and Catherine, born Uglow, who was originally of Stratton, Cornwall. He was the younger brother of George Uglow Pope. After education at a village school at Hooe and at a secondary school at Saltash, near Plymouth, William spent a year in boyhood at Bedeque, [Prince Edward Island], assisting an uncle, a shipbuilder and general merchant.In 1845, he married Ann Ehza Lethbridge, daughter of a yeoman farmer of Modbury, near Plymouth. By her he had six sons, two of whom died in early life, and four daughters.
Career
Pope was accepted, in 1840, by the Methodist synod of Cornwall as a candidate for the ministry, and entered the Methodist Theological Institution at Hoxton. Ordained in 1842, he began his active ministry at Kingsbridge, Devonshire. He served for short periods at Liskeard, Jersey, Sandhurst, Dover and Halifax. He served also for longer periods at City Road, London, Hull, Manchester, Leeds, and Southport.In 1846, he became a successful linguist and translator of German anti-rationalist critics.
In 1860, he became editor, having as his co-editor James Harrison Rigg, of the London Quarterly Review' to which he was already a contributor.
In 1867, he succeeded Dr. John Hannah the elder as tutor of systematic theology at Didsbury. He received the degree of D.D. from the Wesleyan University, U.S.A., in 1865 and from the University of Edinburgh in 1877. 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 Methodist Conference at Bristol.
From 1867 to 1886, he taught at Didsbury Wesleyan College in Manchester, England.