George Whitefield (1714 - 1770) was born in Gloucester, England and educated at Oxford, where he associated with those who formed the Holy club and who would later be known as the first Methodists. It was also at Oxford that he was converted.
His first sermon was of such fervour that a complaint was made that he had driven 15 people mad. He preached in several churches in London and then accepted an invitation from the Wesley brothers to go to Georgia, USA. On his return to England he preached in the open-air, a practice he would continue to the end of his life, delivering up to 20 sermons a week. He preached throughout the British Isles and made seven journeys to America, where he died shortly after preaching his final sermon
