Guttery, Thomas (1836 - 1895)
Early years
Thomas was born in 1836 at Brierley Hill, Staffordshire to parents John Guttery and Margaret Higgs. He was baptised on 13 November 1836 at Brierley Hill. His father was a master builder. Both parents attended the Congregational church.
Thomas was converted aged 12. His education was mainly through self-improvement.
1n 1851, Thomas was working as a glasscutter.
Ministry
Thomas was a great champion of agricultural causes as a result of his experiences in the rural circuits of Oswestry and Leominster.
Thomas received a serious injury to his spine in a railway accident, which threatened paralysis, but he recovered sufficiently to accept an invitation to go to Toronto in Canada to take charge of the Carlton Street Church. He was very involved in the temperance movement in Ontario whilst in Canada. Ill health forced a return to England in 1879. Conference granted him a year free of circuit responsibility to recover his strength.
Whilst in Sunderland, Thomas was elected to the School Board of the town.
The journal of the Sundeland and Newcastle District Committee recorded that Thomas was one of the most distinguished and popular ministers of our Connexion, and both in this country and Canada he wielded a wide and attractive influence for good. His pulpit and platform gifts were brilliant and effective, and in their order have been unsurpassed in the history of the Church to which they were so freely and tirelessly devoted.
Literature
Thomas authored the following.
The Venerable William Clowes: a sketch
Family
Thomas married Emily Holland (1835-1903) in the summer of 1861 at Burslem, Staffordshire. Census returns identify one child.
- Arthur Thomas Guttery (1862-1920) – a PM Minister
Thomas died on 14 June 1895 at Sunderland, Co Durham.
Circuits
- 1857 Oswestry
- 1858 Tunstall
- 1860 Dawley
- 1861 Birmingham
- 1863 Leominster & Weobly
- 1866 Shrewsbury
- 1868 Wolverhampton
- 1871 Toronto (Canada)
- 1879 to England
- 1880 Sunderland ll
- 1885 Caledonian Road
- 1890 Southport ll
- 1894 Newcastle l
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1886 (portrait); 1896/226
PM Minutes 1896/18
H B Kendall, Origin and History of the PM Church, vol 2, p452
Joseph Ritson, The Romance of Primitive Methodism , 1909, p243
J G Bowran, The life of Arthur Thomas Guttery, 1921
W Leary , Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits , 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
Comments about this page
This page was updated on 12 April 2016 to add an article in the 1923 Christian Messenger.
Page updated on 22 November 2015 to add a transcription of an article in the 1913 Christian Messenger.
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