Billy Bray (1794-1868)

William Trewartha Bray was the eldest of three children He was born in the village of Twelveheads, Cornwall, England.
After leaving school he became a miner in Cornwall for 7 years. He was a drunkard and prone to riotous behaviour.

In 1821 he married Joanna, a lapsed Methodist. They had 9 children -two were orphans

In November 1823, following a close escape from a mining accident, he was converted* *after reading John Bunyan’s Visions of Heaven and Hell.

He became well known as an unconventional Cornish preacher - his sermons were enlivened by spontaneous outbursts of singing and dancing.

His biographer, F.W. Bourne, quoted Billy as saying
If they put me in a barrel, I would shout glory out through the bunghole! Praise the Lord
about people who complained about his enthusiastic singing and shouting.

He generously gave help to other people. He raise enough funds to build three new Methodists chapels. The one in Kerley Downs was nicknamed 'Three Eyes ’ because it had three windows and was later dedicated to him in 1984.

In 2012 Michael Bentley wrote a children’s book about Billy.