William Henry Branson

Who was William Henry Branson?

William Henry Branson was a Seventh-day Adventist minister and administrator.

He began denominational service as a colporteur in 1906, and as an evangelist in 1908. In 1911 he was conference president in South Carolina and then in Tennessee. By 1915 he was president of the former Southeastern Union Conference. In 1920 Branson was called as a missionary to Africa, where he organized the division and administered it from 1920 to 1930. He then served as vice-president of the General Conference from 1930 to 1946. From 1946 to 1950 he gave leadership to the denomination's work in China during a time of "great perplexity." In 1950 Branson was elected to the highest administrative post in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, president of the General Conference. Among his notable achievements was organizing the 1952 Bible Conference.

Helderberg College, the first College of the Seventh-day Adventist Church established outside the USA, named the administration building "Branson Hall" in honour of Branson who was president of the South African Division at the time when the college moved to its present site in 1928. The Branson Site of North York General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is named for Branson. Originally the Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital and then North York Branson Hospital, it was amalgamated with the public North York General Hospital during a period of hospital consolidation in Ontario in 1997.