Sidney Maurice Houghton (1899-1987) was born in Salford, Manchester to Joseph and Edith (née Edge) Houghton. Both his parents were ardent Methodists, and at one time it was thought their son would enter the ministry of that denomination. He had an early interest in books, inherited from his father.
He served in the Army for the last year of the First World War, involved in administrative and clerical duties in a Searchlight Unit on the Somme in France. Returning to England, he was much influenced by the lives of his wife-to-be’s parents (Strict & Particular Baptists) and family life, and came to love the ‘doctrines of grace’. After completing degrees at Manchester University, in 1925 he obtained a post teaching History in Rhyl Grammar School, where he was to remain for the next 35 years.
From 1960 until his death in 1987 he was the chief literary and editorial advisor to the Banner of Truth Trust. His ‘Reminiscences’ are published by the Trust in My Life and Books. S. M. Houghton is also the author of the Trust’s Sketches from Church History.