Killcross, William (1895-1962)

Transcription of Obituary in Minutes of Methodist Conference

Born in Runcorn in 1895. After being trained at Hartley College he entered the Ministry in 1921, and served in Grimsby, Loughborough, Coalville, Talke, Bury, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Fleetwood, Nantwich, Bury and Widnes.

Out of his real Christian experience he exercised through the years a fine pulpit ministry as an expository preacher, and gained a wide reputation as a master of the art of talking to children.

He had a talent for humorous versifying, and many friends cherish examples of his skill ; in his early ministry he also wrote and produced plays.

A friendly man, with a boundless energy, a great sense of fun and a genuine love for people, he was everywhere welcome in the homes of his people.

As a superintendent he showed that he had business ability and a sound grasp of circuit affairs and Methodist procedure.

As a colleague he was a man to be counted on.

In Fleetwood he initiated work in a new housing estate, and it was a great  joy to him when, a year before his death, a new church was opened there, though he was unable to be present.

He retired in 1961 after forty years of hard and active service ; but he was already in failing health, and retirement proved to be very different from his anticipation of it.

Nevertheless, he faced illness with great courage and undiminished assurance of Cod. His sense of fun continued to be lively, and visitors found  his Christian faith triumphant. Many people in many places remember him with joy, affection and gratitude to God.

He died on 8 May 1962, in the sixty-seventh year of his age and the forty-first of his ministry.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1962

Family

William was born on 29 December 1895 at Runcorn, Cheshire, to parents Walter Raine Killcross, a county court bailiff (1911) and Fanny. He was baptised on 19 January 1896 at Runcorn PM Chapel.

The 1911 census records William working as a solicitor’s clerk.

William married Margaret Hollins in the summer of 1925 at Birkenhead, Cheshire.

William died on 8 May 1962.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1921 Supply
• 1922 Grimsby I
• 1924 Littleborough
• 1925 Coalville
• 1927 Talke
• 1931 Bury I
• 1937 Loughborough
• 1941 Ashby de la zouch
• 1948 Fleetwood
• 1955 Nantwich &c
• 1958 Widnes
• 1961 Widnes (S)

References

Methodist Minutes1962/215

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers