In 1857, he was accepted as a Candidate for the Ministry, and entered Didsbury College, but had to leave almost immediately to take his first appointment. He spent three years in
Cornwall and then moved to
Exeter. He founded the educational Institution for Native Girls and was also Chairman of the
Maritzburg Girls' Collegiate School. His sister Annie Evans Rowe was the head of the Girls' Collegiate School and later founded Uplands High School for Girls at Blackridge; his daughter Agnes was co-founder of
Merchiston Preparatory School. In 1890, he was elected President of the Methodist Conference in
Cape Town. In 1895 he was appointed to the
Harrismith Circuit. In 1896 he was invited to be the Superintendent of the
Cape Town Circuit, but declined this on health grounds, and requested a year's home leave in England. On his return to
South Africa a year later, he died of a brain haemorrhage as his ship, the
Tantallon Castle, was docking at
Port Elizabeth. He is buried there at the South End Cemetery. ==Family==