Brookes, Henry (1846-1910)

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1910

Transcription of obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by W.B.C.

Henry Brookes was born in the Cheshire village of Bunbury in 1846. Wedgwood and other pioneers, seeking to establish a cause in the locality, made their home in the Radmore Green farmhouse, where he served. Removing to Crewe, he continued an employee of the L.&N.W. Railway Co. until near the close, of life. 

An advanced Radical, Henry Brooks was reliable and enthusiastic in every good cause. At twenty years of age he was converted at Hashington (Haslington). Joining Choir and School, he was twenty years superintendent at Henry Street School, seeing it grow from 100 to 400 scholars, and receiving, in 1906, the Diploma of Honour for twenty-six years’ continuous work. 

Chapel steward twenty-six years, and trustee from the beginning, he battled hard for the young cause, and had the joy of seeing established a vigorous church.

Henry Brookes was a loyal Primitive Methodist: proud of our history, loving our people, and devoted to the Church’s service. In the home his qualities were at their best. His Christly life and unbending integrity made him a precious possession in the locality. His last illness, long and distressing, ended September 21st, 1910, in perfect peace.

Family

Henry was born in 1846 at Bunbury, Cheshire, to parents Richard Brookes, who worked the land, and Mary Harding. He was baptised on 4 January 1846 at Bunbury.

Census returns identify the following occupations for Henry.

• 1861 cowman
• 1871 labourer in foundry
• 1881 steel manufacturer
• 1891 caster of steel
• 1901 general labourer

He married Hannah Greenwood (1838-1919) in early 1866 in the Nantwich Registration District, Cheshire. Census returns identify five children.

• Henry (1868-1931) – a carpenter (1911)
• Joseph (1871-1948) – a shop manager (1911)
• Lucy (b1874) – married Ernest Arthur Rowlands (1911), a moulder, in 1905
• Arthur (1876-1943) – a millwright (1911)
• Ada (1880-1945) – married Arthur Butler, a steel moulder (1911), in 1909

Henry died on 21 September 1910 at Crewe, Cheshire.

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1910/988

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers