Rumfitt, John (1831-1895)

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1881

Early years

John was born on 14 December 1831 at York to parents William Rumfitt and Ann Yewdall. William was a Deed Poll member of Conference. Prior to joining the ministry, John worked with his father as a joiner and cabinetmaker.

John was converted when aged 15. When aged 17, he was given a note to preach and accompanied Mr G Wade. Having proved himself useful and acceptable to the people, he went on full plan and spent four years as a local preacher. He received his call to the ministry to supply for the late William Green Bellham at Ramsgate and fully entered the ministry the following year.

Ministry

His obituary records that the pulpit was his throne. Here he was seen at his best, and here were spent his happiest moments. All else was made subservient to this; his mode of living, his reading, his praying, his visiting, his friendships, his recreations, all were arranged to minister to and to increase his power in the pulpit.

But while preaching was work in which he delighted, and for which he ‘spent himself’, he did not overlook the pastoral part of his office. He paid special attention to the sick, the needy and the dying. His general sympathetic disposition made him welcome in the sick room.

Family

John married Elizabeth Strickland (1825-1901) in the summer of 1857 at Selby, Yorkshire. Census returns identify three children.

• Anne Strickland (1858-1927) – married William Bentley, a coal merchant
• William Yewdall (1860-1936) – a bank manager
• John Flesher (b1863) – a Wesleyan minister, travelled to South Africa in February 1890.

John died on 24 October 1895 at Prestwich, Lancashire.

Circuits

• 1853 Deal & Dover
• 1854 Chatham
• 1855 Canterbury
• 1856 Pateley Bridge
• 1856 Pontefract
• 1858 Burnley
• 1860 Leeds ll
• 1862 Easingwold
• 1864 Bingley
• 1866 Keighley
• 1868 Pickering
• 1871 Thirsk
• 1874 Huddersfield
• 1877 Hoyland
• 1879 Tetney
• 1882 Manchester l
• 1886 Middlesborough
• 1890 Leeds lll
• 1894 Manchester lV (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1881 (portrait); 1896/464

PM Minutes 1896/29

H B Kendall, Origin and History of the PM Church, vol 2, p59

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits , 1990

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers