PAULL, Josiah David 1865 - 1949

Born at Aberystwyth in 1865. After training at Handsworth College he was sent to Teignmouth, where the wealth of soul and mind that later marked his ministry was quickly seen.

He was possessed of rich natural gifts, and as preacher and pastor greatly endeared himself to his people. Few Methodist ministers were more beloved than he in the wide variety of circuits he served.

A man of cultured mind, he felt it to be a point of honour to keep himself abreast of modern thought. He loved his pulpit, and his sermons were always refreshing and informative.

Among his rarer gifts was the secret of making and keeping friendships ; many made during the years of probation were kept for sixty years.

One who knew him intimately over half a century, and with whom frequent letters were exchanged, wrote : ‘Brother Paull was a genuinely good man. I am sorry I cannot write of him as he deserved.’

As a Supernumerary he laboured in the Chelsea Circuit. Soon afterwards his sight failed, and this was followed by a breakdown in general health.

Throughout the dark and painful years that followed his simple faith in Christ sustained him.

He lived a beautiful life and died in peace, in the eighty-fifth year of his life and the sixty-first of his ministry, on 27th July 1949.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1950