Goodbye to that College in Didsbury part three .......a wall plaque and the Rev Archibald Walter Harrison

The plaque

I don’t think I ever noticed the wooden plaque in the library showing the crests of the old Methodist College and Didsbury Training College, along with the name of the Rev Archibald Walter Harrison.

And when the MMU vacates the site later this year I hope it will be displayed somewhere in the new building at Birley in Hulme.

Now the Methodist College which provided theological training from 1842 till 1942 deserves a post all of its own as does Didsbury Training College which can trace its history back 1946 when the Board of Education rented the building as an Emergency Training College and on to its purchase in 1950 by the Manchester Education Committee.

Likewise the Rev Archibald Walter Harrison should not just be dismissed as an obscure name on a wooden board.

The Library in 1911

He was at his death the President of the Methodist Conference and had a long record in the service of the Wesleyan faith.

Born in 1882, he trained for the ministry at Didsbury where he studied for three years “completing his B.Sc degree and passing the Intermediate examination in Divinity before becoming Assistant Tutor.”*

From there he moved across the country as a minister, wrote extensively on church history, was awarded the Military Cross in the Great War, and was variously Vice Principal and then Principal of the Westminster Training College from 1921-1940.

“Methodism was in his bones and in his blood; he understood its peculiar genius, loved its hymnology, served it with splendid loyalty and gave his life to serve it to the uttermost.”**

So I am just left wondering when the wooden plaque was placed in the library and if the Manchester Education Committee made a contribution.

In the meantime it is a nice reminder of the long history of college and thanks again to Pierre for sending it to me.

* W F Howard, Wesleyan Historical Studies, 1946

**ibid, W F Howard

Picture; of the plaque, courtesy of Pierre Grace and the college Library in 1911