Brooks, George Frederick (1870-1898)

Transcription of Obituary In the Primitive Methodist Magazine by B. Senior

THE Bradford First Circuit (Central Hall), has just had a great loss in the death of Mr. George Frederick Brooks, which took place on August 11, at the age of twenty-eight. Few young men have been more devoted to the cause than he. From a scholar in the Sunday School he became a teacher,  then the secretary, and in his early teens he became a member of the Church. He was for two years the circuit steward (perhaps the youngest in the Connexion). Twice he was sent to represent his circuit at the District Meeting, and at the time of his death he was treasurer of this important trust estate. His quiet gentlemanly manner won for him the esteem of all. His whole soul was in the work at the Central Hall. When quite a boy he collected a considerable sum for the erection of new schools, in pennies, and, when the Central Hall was erected later on, his zeal and devotion were more than manifest by what he gave and did. It is a mysterious Providence that a young man wlth such promise should be taken from us, but, thank God he was ready for the call. During his last illness he suffered much, but was wonderfully sustained. Last Saturday he said to me, “It is all right.” I visited him six or seven times during the last week, and found him resting in the Lord and waiting patiently for Him. The last few days he suffered most, and on Thursday morning, the 11th of August, he quietly passed away. On Saturday afternoon a most impressive funeral service was held in the Central Hall, conducted by the Rev. B. Senior, assisted by the Rev. W. Mainprize, Mr. J.H. Neal, and Mr. S. Field, the circuit steward. The interment took place at Scholemoor Cemetery, when the writer and Rev. W. Mainprize conducted the service. “Lead, kindly light,” was sung at the grave by the choir, and a large number of people attended the funeral. On Sunday night, the 14th, a special memorial service was conducted by the writer, and an impressive sermon preached from 2 Corinthians V. 1. Short addresses followed by the Rev. Joseph Brooks (uncle of the deceased) and Mr. J.H. Neal. The choir sang “Crossing the Bar,” “Abide with me,” and “Lead, kindly light,” and the organist played the “Dead March in Saul.” Our dear brother, who was only twenty-eight years of age, had a remarkable ancestry. His grandfather was a member of the Primitive Methodist Connexion for thirty-eight years, and a local preacher thirty-six, and his grandmother, who is still living in the Horncastle Circuit, is in her ninetieth year, having been a member of the Connexion seventy-one years, and a local preacher sixty-three. She is, I think, the oldest local preacher in the Connexion. His father, who is a most highly devoted local preacher with us here, has been a member thirty-five years and a local preacher thirty-three, and for a number of years he has been the superintendent of our Sunday School. His mother has been a member thirty-eight years. His uncle is an esteemed Congregational minister. The deepest sympathy from the Church and all classes has been shown; to his widow, mother and father, and relatives, also his partner in business, Mr. Forrest. May the Lord comfort and bless them all under this bereavement.

Family

George was born in 1870 at Langton, Lincolnshire, to parents Robert Horswood Brooks and Jane. Robert worked the land in Lincolnshire, but on the family moving to Bradford became a railway guard and later a railway inspector.

George worked as a clerk at the time of the 1891 census.

He married Elizabeth Charlesworth (b abt 1864) in late 1891 at Bradford, Yorkshire.

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1901/230

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

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