Shimmin, Francis Neil (1851-1937)
Early years
Francis was born in 1851 at Douglas, Isle of Man to parents James and Jane. James was a shoemaker. Francis was baptised on 12 October 1851 at Braddan, Isle of Man.
Francis was converted during a great revival in 1868. He worked as a painter before entering the ministry.
Ministry
Francis delivered the 1914 Hartley lecture, entitled ‘Permanent Values of Religion.’
His obituary records that Francis was a fine preacher, a wise administrator, and a faithful pastor. He was a man of honour who never stooped to anything mean or petty, but had a tender heart for the sorrows and frailties of men. He was useful in the councils of the Church, for he had an alert and well-disciplined mind, and a strength of character that would distinguish him in any community. He filled various District offices and was a Trustee of Hartley College.
Family
Francis married Phebe Jane Nixon (1852-1943) in the summer of 1879 at Tynemouth, Northumberland. Census returns identify five of six children.
- Ethel (b1881) – married Edward Wright, a schoolteacher
- Nellie (b1883) – married Holden Pickup, a PM Minister
- Francis Herbert (1884-1956) – a PM Minister
- Walter McNeil (1887-1955) – a civil engineer (1911)
- Arnold Nixon (1889-1961) – a commercial student (1911)
Francis died on 26 November 1937 at Nelson, Lancashire.
Circuits
- Sunderland
- 1874 Birkenhead
- 1876 Barrow in Furness
- 1878 Manchester III
- 1880 Manchester II
- 1883 Earlstown
- 1886 Southport II
- 1890 Bolton I
- 1892 Liverpool II
- 1896 Middleton
- 1901 Nelson
- 1905 Blackburn I
- 1909 Walkden
- 1913 Manchester XII
- 1915 Southport (S)
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1910/843; 1914/627
PM Minutes 1938/186
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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