Lightfoot, Charles Henry (1854-1936)
Early years
Charles was born on 20 October 1854 at Barnard Castle, Co Durham to parents John Lightfoot and Martha Burnup. John was a PM Minster. Charles was baptised in 6 November 1854 at Barnard Castle.
Charles received his first class ticket when he was eleven, and in boyhood took part in prayer meetings and bore his testimony at lovefeasts. The call to preach came when he was twenty.
For ten years, Charles worked in contractor’s and lawyer’s offices, a training in the school of commerce and law which laid the foundations and fostered the business aptitudes that subsequently made him a successful manager of men.
Ministry
Charles was a musical genius and the entertainments given with his wife, an excellent reciter, replenished the coffers of many a struggling church.
His obituary records that his preaching was evangelical and had behind it a deep and rich personal experience of the presence and power of his Saviour. All who knew him recognised in him a Christian gentleman, genial, generous, lovable, wise in counsel, clear in judgement, prompt in action, a man of honour and principle.
Family
Charles married Mary Elizabeth Nichols (1862-1912) on 4 June 1883 at West Ham, Essex. Census returns identify three children.
- Hugh Blair (1890-1946)
- Harold John (1892-1921)
- Lilian Ida (b1896)
Charles died on 12 March 1936 at Halstead, Essex.
Circuits
- Sunderland
- 1878 London VIII
- 1881 London XIII
- 1882 Gravesend
- 1883 Croyden
- 1886 Dartford
- 1887 Halstead
- 1890 Whickhambrook
- 1893 Braintree
- 1897 Forest Gate
- 1899 Peterborough I
- 1906 Retford
- 1909 Derby
- 1913 Barnard Castle
- 1918 Lowick
- 1922 Braintree (S)
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1912/914 (Mary); 1913/520; 1914/378
Methodist Minutes 1936/194
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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