Oakley, David (1871-1932)
Early years
David was born on 31 August 1871 at Walsall Wood, Staffordshire, to parents David and Emily. David, senior, was a bricklayer.
David commenced preaching at the age of sixteen. His progress was so great that he was appointed as a hired local preacher in his own circuit at the age of eighteen.
Ministry
Whilst at Kidderminster David built the George Street property at a cost of £3,500. He also secured a very valuable site for a church in Blackpool.
David served on the Candidates Examining Committee in two districts. His obituary records that though faithful where the routine of business was concerned he was in no sense a seeker after office, believing that his supreme work lay in the pulpit.
There was a sense in which his work in the pulpit claimed him, and claimed all of him. He was never happier than when his clarion voice was ringing forth the message of redeeming love which he proclaimed with no uncertain note. But though marked with evangelical fervour, his preaching never neglected the practical needs of men and women.
Family
David married Anna Eliza Holland (1875-1953) in the summer of 1898 at Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire. Census returns identify three children. David’s obituary suggests that David and Anna had two further children post the 1911 census.
- Ivy (1899-1986) – married Robert Grey Bevan in 1927
- Gladys (b1902)
- Muriel (b1904)
David died on 8 May 1932 at Hall Green, Birmingham, Warwickshire.
Circuits
- 1891 Bromsgrove
- 1893 Leominster
- 1898 Kidderminster
- 1906 Oswestry
- 1910 Douglas
- 1916 Blackpool
- 1927 Birmingham V
- 1931 Birmingham (S)
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1921/116
PM Minutes 1932/327
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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