Ellis, James Pilkington (1906-1965)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

JAMES PILKINGTON ELLIS: born in Lancaster in 1907, was trained at Hartley College, Manchester, and began his ministry in 1932 at Bletchley, Bucks., in the old Leighton Buzzard Circuit. He completed his probation at Leicester (Curzon Street), and went on to serve with zealous devotion and great acceptability in Jarrow, Gateshead South, The Hartlepools, Ashington, Seahouses, Millom, Kirkby Stephen, Appleby and Tebay. 

He was a gracious and kindly man, wise in his discernments, loyal and true in his colleagueships, diligent in all that he undertook to do. His wide-ranging sympathies attached him closely to his people, and within the bounds and bonds of all his Circuits he made strong ties of kinship and affection. He was distinguished for his pastoral concern, and warmly welcomed in the homes of all his people: they trusted him, and loved him, He was a man of integrity, completely dedicated to the ministry to which he was called and to which he brought unswerving fidelity and consistency. 

In the course of the years he developed his considerable administrative gifts, and his counsel was widely sought and greatly appreciated. His understanding of our constitutional practice and discipline, and his perceptive and penetrating mind, gave him insights of thought and action that lent wisdom to his leadership, His utterances were heard with respect. His judgments were valued. Underlying all his work as pastor, preacher, and administrator was the sense of his high calling as a Servant of the Word, to which he was simply faithful to his end, which, after much painful endurance, was in quietness and peace, in the fifty-eighth year of his age and the thirty-third of his ministry, on 23 June 1965.

Family

James was born on 8 October 1906 at Lancaster, Lancashire, to parents Richard Ellis, a joiner, and Mary Jane Pilkington.

He married Elsie Drew McPhail (1905-1989) in the summer of 1936 at Lancaster, Lancashire.

James died on 23 June 1965 at Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1932 Leighton Buzzard
• 1934 Leicester Curzon
• 1936 Jarrow
• 1939 Gateshead S
• 1946 The Hartlepools
• 1951 Ashington
• 1955 Seahouses
• 1960 Millom
• 1963 K Stephen &c

References

Methodist Minutes 1965/209

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers