Beavan, Charles (1840-1913)

Transcription of obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by Arthur Beaven

Charles Beavan was born at Clehonger, near Hereford, May 23rd, 1840, and finished his earthly pilgrimage in calm assurance and peace at the Lawns Farm, Llanwarne, in the same county, on July 10th, 1913, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He enjoyed the priceless advantage of a godly parentage, both father and mother being devoted members of our Church. From his earliest years he manifested a religious spirit so marked that, when only eight years of age, his name was entered in the class-book as a church member. True, the continuity of his early religious experience was not wholly preserved, but when on the threshold of early manhood he re-consecrated himself to God and maintained his allegiance until the one “clear call” to the higher service.

At the time of his decease he was the oldest local preacher on the plan of the Kingstone Circuit, a position he had sustained with great acceptance and usefulness for fifty-three years.

He was also keenly interested in public affairs, for seventeen years he served on the Hereford Board of Guardians, was a strong and convinced Liberal, and at one time a vice-president of the South Herefordshire Liberal Association. But his chief interest centred in the affairs of his Church, among the most cherished memories of his public life being his appointment to represent his Circuit in the District Synod, and his election as delegate to the Derby Conference of twenty-seven years ago.

During the last two years his health perceptibly declined. He knew his end was near, but his heart was unafraid. On Monday, July 14th, in the quiet burying-ground of Llanwarne Church we laid him to rest.

Family

Charles was born on 23 May 1840 at Clehonger, Herefordshire, to parents William Beavan, a carpenter (1851), and Catherine Jones. His brother Arthur was a PM minister.

Census returns identify the following occupations for Charles.

1861 agricultural labourer
1871 master miller
1881 miller and farmer of 28 acres employing four men
1891 miller, farmer & local preacher
1901 farmer
1911 farmer

He married Ann Morgan (1841-1916) in early 1867 at Birmingham, Warwickshire. Census returns identify seven children.

Mary Ann (1867-1923) – married John Hambleton Brassington in 1893
Catherine (1869-1963) – married Jonathan Marston Brassington, a farmer (1901), in 1889
Elizabeth (1872-1932) – married Edwin Stanley Buckman, an egg and poultry dealer (1901), in 1896
William Arthur (b1873) – a grocer’s assistant (1891)
Clara Frances (1876-1891)
Eleanor (1877-1956) – married Sidney William Shorter, a manufacturer of ladies gowns (1911), in 1904
Charles Henry (1882-1909)

Charles died on 10 July 1913 at Llanwarne, Herefordshire.

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1913/914

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers