Lees, David Samuel (1869-1949)
Early years
David was born in 1869 at Hammerwich, nr Burntwood, Staffordshire to parents David and Mary. His father, a coal miner, was a local preacher for over fifty years.
At the age of eighteen, David was given a note to accompany his father to his appointments by Rev Joseph Shenton, under whose guidance David became a student of good books and a sound thinker.
Ministry
At Ludlow, David’s first superintendent was Rev Alfred Smith, who had baptised him as a child.
Most of David’s ministry was served in the West Midlands and Lancashire. His obituary records that David was a true lover of all things beautiful and true in literature and the world about him, he was even more a lover of his fellow men. It was this human sympathy which in circuit after circuit endeared him to so many. Although he held at various times the positions of Secretary and Chairman of his District, his keenest interests were in the day-to-day activities of his own circuit. With a mind well furnished by wide reading and a spirit refined by discipline and prayer, he fulfilled a ministry of great fruitfulness.
Family
David married Elizabeth Mary Jones (1877-1926) in late 1898 at Hereford, Herefordshire. Census returns identify three children.
- Dorris Ivy (1900-1976) – married Roland Samuel Petch in 1932
- David Samuel Caundell (1904-1931)
- William Ewart (1907-1975)
David died on 12 September 1949 at Swanage, Dorset.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1890 Ludlow
- 1892 Hereford
- 1894 Stratford
- 1896 Bishop’s Castle
- 1900 Shrewsbury
- 1903 Stafford
- 1906 Cross Keys
- 1912 Huddersfield
- 1916 Southport I
- 1923 Blackburn II
- 1927 Birmingham III
- 1932 Cwm
- 1935 Southport N
- 1939 Hereford (S)
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1919/782; 1926/588 (Elizabeth)
Methodist Minutes 1950/125
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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