Morgan, Thomas Wilfrid (1886-1956)

Christian Messenger 1914

Early years

Thomas was born in 1886 at Grimsby, Lincolnshire, to parents Arthur and Mary. Arthur was a fisherman.

Thomas spent his early life among the North Sea fisher-folk. His early interest in the sea and ships never left him, and in later years he occasionally spent his holidays at sea on steam trawlers, often in Arctic waters. He received his training at Hartley College and entered the Primitive Methodist ministry in 1910.

Ministry

In Lincoln, particularly, his ministry was very fruitful. There he was well known as a forceful preacher, and the results of his work remain. While in the Potteries he showed considerable administrative ability, and a number of renovation and re-building schemes owed their success to his zeal. In his later ministry his pastoral work was dominant. He loved visiting, was always ready to help folk in a practical way at home among people of every type.

Since in early life he had seen much of the damage caused by drink, he was a keen temperance advocate. For two years as a chaplain during the first World War he served in France, Egypt, and Palestine. He remained an Honorary Chaplain of the Regular Army between the wars, and re-joined the forces in 1940 for chaplaincy duty in this country. During the period before D-Day he visited isolated gun-posts on the south coast and later took many short services for troops embarking for the Normandy beaches. Many men who did not return must have heard from him a last word of commendation to God and the message of Eternal Hope.

He became a supernumerary in 1955, and immediately accepted the pastorate of three villages in the Tonbridge circuit, where he became known for his cheery and friendly visits and real sympathy in times of trouble.

Family

Thomas married Olive Diffey in early 1947 at Swindon, Wiltshire.

Thomas died on 20 August 1956 at Brenchley, Tonbridge, Kent.

Circuits

  • Hartley
  • 1910 Sheffield I
  • 1911 Plymouth
  • 1914 Leake
  • 1918 Forces Chaplain, Aldershot
  • 1920 S Wales Mission
  • 1921 Wallingford
  • 1923 Lincoln I
  • 1929 Newcastle-u-Lyme
  • 1934 Stoke on Trent
  • 1937 Leytonstone
  • 1940 Chaplain H.M. Forces
  • 1945 Swindon prospect Place
  • 1949 Horncastle
  • 1951 Alford
  • 1955 Tonbridge (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1957/189

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

 

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