Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crowther, Jonathan (1794-1856)
CROWTHER, JONATHAN (1794–1856), Wesleyan minister, was born at St. Austell, Cornwall, on 31 July 1794. His father, Timothy Crowther, and his uncles, Jonathan [q. v.] and Richard, were all methodist preachers of Wesley's own appointment. He was educated at Kingswood school, Gloucestershire, and began to preach when about the age of twenty. Having been principal teacher at Woodhouse Grove, near Bradford, Yorkshire, he was appointed in 1823 headmaster of Kingswood school. After this he was stationed from time to time in various Wesleyan circuits, and distinguished himself as a zealous defender of the principles and discipline of his denomination. In 1837 he was appointed general superintendent of the Wesleyan missions in India, and rendered important services to this cause in Madras presidency. Returning to England in 1843 on account of impaired health, he was again employed in the home ministry. In 1849 he received the appointment of classical tutor in the Wesleyan Theological Institution at Didsbury, Lancashire. He was a respectable scholar and successful teacher. To the acquirements necessary for his chair he added a good knowledge of Hebrew and several modern languages. He acted as examiner at Wesley College, Sheffield, as well as at New Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove schools. To the periodical literature of his denomination he was a frequent contributor. He was a man of no pretension, but of good judgment and much simplicity and sweetness of character. His health failed some time before his death, and on 31 Dec. 1855 he was seized with congestion of the brain while on a visit to the Rev. William Willan at Leeds. In this friend's house he died on 16 Jan. 1856, leaving a widow and family.
[Wesleyan Meth. Mag., 1856, pp. 191, 564, 846; also Minutes of Conf. same year.]