He studied during several years in a solicitor's office, but, resolving to become a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, he was appointed by the conference in 1831 to Glasgow.

There he laboured hard to free the chapels from the heavy debts with which they were encumbered, and by which their growth and development were effectually hindered.

He would tolerate nothing loose or irregular, and spared no pains to place the trust property of the Wesleyan Methodist Church on a secure basis.

From that time to the end of his life Bedford was one of the foremost men in his denomination, and his breadth of sympathy enabled him to exert a powerful influence upon the religious world in general.

A partial failure of health in 1872 led him to retire from the more onerous duties of his secretaryship, but he continued to give valuable counsel on chapel affairs and in other departments until his death.