Henry Gratton Guinness (1835-1910) evangelist, author and missionary trainer

Henry, on his 21st birthday, wrote in his diary
to live preaching and to die preaching; to live and die in the pulpit;to preach to perishing sinners till i drop down dead

The combination of the entrepreneurial Guinness spirit on his father’s side and the Cramers creative, magnetic qualities on his mother’s side was an irresistible combination.

1856 Henry entered New College in London under a tutor called Dr. Harris.
In 1857, whilst still a student he began to preach. He became an independent evangelist of the second Evangelical awakening. He spent 15 years travelling and preaching in Britain, Europe and North America.

In 1870 he married Fanny Fitzgerald. To be the wife of an itinerant evangelist’s wife was not an easy one. She travelled with him also became a well known speaker.

In 1872 because of their age, they were turned down for chance of being missionaries in China by their friend James Hudson Taylor. Undeterred they moved deliberately to East London, a poor and unsavory area. In 1873 they moved to Harley House in Bow. where they established the East London Institute for Home and Foreign Missions. ( closed in 1918)

In 1878 they founded the Livingstone Inland Mission. In 1889 they founded the Congo and Balolo Mission which became the Regions Beyond Missionary Union.

Also in 1878 Henry started to write the first of many Christian books. Which resulted in him speaking about biblical prophecy.

Fanny, ‘Mother of Harley’, and mother of their 6 children died in 1898.

He married Grace Hurditch in 1903. Together they travelled widely for 5 years before settling in Bath. In 1910, following a visit to the Congo, Henry died.

He was an Irish Protestant Christian preacher, evangelist and author. He was responsible for training and sending 100s of faith missionaries all over the globe.

He was the great evangelist of the Evangelical awakening

Four of his surviving children from his first marriage worked as missionaries overseas, For further reading read The Guinness Family in Ambassadors for Christ.

Sources
wikipedia
History of Missiology
Ambassadors for Christ ( publ. 1994)