A PICKERING church minister who became a leading international missionary in the 19th century, is to be commemorated at the town’s Beck Isle Museum.

The Rev George Piercy, who died in 1913, is one of the market town’s unheralded famous sons, says Rodge Dowson, the museum manager.

This week an exhibition featuring Mr Piercy opened at the museum, including a plaque featuring a large brass memorial.

He is believed to have been born in Lockton or Levisham in the mid-1850’s, said Mr Dowson, and after going into the Methodist ministry, became a missionary in China.

“The Chinese Methodists regard him as the ‘father’ of their faith,” he added.

The interest in Mr Piercy has been instigated by his successors who asked the museum to establish a permanent memorial to him within the riverside museum. Photographs and text about his life are included in the exhibition, and among the first visitors was a group of 47 Chinese Methodists from Hong Kong.

“They are coming here specifically to see the birthplace and plaque” said Mr Dowson.

Mr Piercy is buried in a private garden at the rear of the Kirk Theatre in Pickering, where he preached when it was one of the town’s two Methodist churches. He is commemorated with a stone in the parish churchyard.

“He has certainly been one of Pickering’s forgotton famous sons, in much the same way as the artist, Francis Nicholson was until recently.

“We are sure that Methodists from all parts of the world will want to come and see where Rev Piercy was born and is buried once the commemoration is created.”