Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Entwisle, Joseph
ENTWISLE, JOSEPH, (1767–1841), methodist minister, second son of William Entwisle and his wife, Ellen Makin, who were members of a presbyterian church in Manchester, was born there on 15 April 1767, being one of five sons who grew up to manhood. He was taught at the free school connected with the old presbyterian chapel, Manchester. At the age of fourteen Entwisle joined the methodists, and made diligent use of a good library at the preacher's house in Oldham Street. When not quite sixteen he began to preach, and was known as ‘the boy preacher.’ Wesley called him out to the itinerant work, and in 1787 sent him to the Oxfordshire circuit. Four years after, at the Manchester conference, he was received into the full ministry while stationed in Halifax. In May 1792 he married Mary Pawson, second daughter of Marmaduke Pawson, farmer, Thorner, near Leeds, by whom he had six children. Two of his sons, Joseph and William, became ministers in the methodist connexion. During the next few years Entwisle laboured in Leeds, Wakefield, Hull, Macclesfield, Manchester, Liverpool, and London, winning a well-deserved popularity by his preaching power, personal excellence, and judicious management. While in Macclesfield his wife died. When stationed in London he married his second wife, Lucy Hine of Kingsland Crescent, in October 1805. He was at this time appointed the first missionary secretary. The conference of 1812 was held in Leeds, and Entwisle was elected president. Henceforward he filled a foremost place in the councils of the connexion, and did much to mould its policy and guide its affairs. The busy public life he led left him little time for literary work, but in 1820 he published an ‘Essay on Secret Prayer,’ a volume which obtained a large circulation, and was translated into French. He also contributed biographical and practical articles to the ‘Methodist Magazine.’ The later years of Entwisle's ministry were spent in Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, and London, where he was several times reappointed. In 1825 he was elected president of the conference a second time. He ceased to itinerate in 1834, being appointed house governor of the new Theological Institution opened at Hoxton for the education and training of young ministers. Through failure of health he resigned the office four years after, and retired to Tadcaster, where his only daughter lived. He preached occasionally and with much acceptance until within a few days of his death, which occurred on Saturday, 6 Nov. 1841, at the age of seventy-four.
[Memoir by his son, 7th ed., 1861; Minutes of the Methodist Conferences.]