William Frederick Padwick Burton (1886–1971) was born in Liverpool in 1886. He was the son of a sea captain and grew up in a notable family in Surrey. He played football for the local Reigate team, trained as an engineer. He described himself as a teenager “getting into sin and sadness.” He was converted after hearing R.A. Torrey’s preaching in London in 1905.

Burton went to Preston to work as an engineer and was baptized in the Spirit in 1910. In 1911 he joined the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU) Bible school in Preston. He preached the gospel and prayed for the sick and saw some remarkable h…