Groves, William (1880-1936)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

WILLIAM GROVES: was accepted as a Candidate in 1905, and after training at Hartley College worked in the London Mission till 1910, when he was sent as pioneer missionary to Nigeria. For five years he sought to win the confidence of the people; then a mass movement swept through the district until work was carried on in a hundred and nine villages and there was a large accession of members. The Government bore the cost of a permanent hospital. When the doctors forbade him to continue his work in Nigeria, he was appointed to Settle, where he died on May 14, 1936. 

He was a tireless worker, to whom the mass movement in Nigeria was a constant theme of rejoicing and of prayer.

Family

William was born in 1880 at Newbottle, Co. Durham, to parents Robert, a ,etal moulder (1881), and Hannah.

Before entering the ministry, William worked as a coal miner.

He married Barbara Brown Bishop of Leith, Edinburgh. The 1933 Methodist Who’s Who records they had one daughter.

William died on 14 May 1936 at Settle.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1907 London Mission SE
• 1910 Calabar WA
• 1914 London Mission House
• 1916 Nigeria
• 1922 London Mission House
• 1932 Nigeria

References

Methodist Minutes 1936/198

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers