Lacey, Ernest (1875-1951)

Transcription of Obituary in Minutes of Methodist Conference

Born at Loughborough in 1875, he entered the ministry of the Primitive Methodist Church from that town in 1899.

After training at Hartley College, the greater part of his ministry was spent in the north of England, and he was secretary of the Isle of Man District for two years.

During the first world war he was on active service on the Western Front for two and a half years as a chaplain.
He closed his ministry with a period of service in Douglas, Isle of Man, and in 1941 took up residence in the nearby village of Laxey, as a Supernumerary.

He was a Christian gentleman who thought well of his fellows. The influence of his life and character reached a wide circle.
As a preacher he was thought provoking and always carefully prepared. Preaching appointments were a sacred trust to him, and he discharged his stewardship loyally.

He was a beloved pastor. The homes of his people were ever open to him. He won their confidence and quite unconsciously enjoyed their respect and affection.

On the occasion of the Royal visit to the Isle of Man in 1945, his late Majesty, King George VI, singled him out from the crowd at Laxey and conversed with him about his work and life as a Methodist minister.

That was one of the proudest moments of his life. Modesty and graciousness were qualities that were characteristic of him.

After being in failing health for some months, he was called home on 21st August 1951 and ” the trumpets sounded for him on the other side,” in the seventy-sixth year of his age and the fifty-first of his ministry.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1952

Family

Ernest was born in 1875 at Loughborough, Leicestershire, to parents James, a hosier’s assistant (1891) and Elizabeth.

The 1891 census return describes Ernest as an errand boy in an office.

Ernest died on 21 August 1951. He was buried at Onchan, Isle of Man.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1899 Newcastle
• 1902 Bradford II
• 1905 Sheffield X
• 1907 Manchester XI
• 1911 Ossett
• 1918 Aldershot, CF
• 1919 Bishop Auckland
• 1920 Saltburn
• 1924 Buckley
• 1936 Douglas
• 1941 Laxey (Sup)

References

Methodist Minutes1952/120

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers