Wyld, Clement Herbert (abt1864-1932)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1908
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1924

Transcription of Magazine ‘Sketch’

Mr. Clement H Wyld, the chancellor of West Hartlepool Circuit, owes much to Primitive Methodism, and is constantly striving to discharge the debt. Though born in South Africa, where his father served as school teacher, his earliest recollections are of Grimsby and its earnest Methodism. To that town and those influences he owes his religious standing and his excellent wife, whose hearty co-operation enables him to do so much for the church of his choice. In many capacities in the P.M. Church he has won distinction. He fills many positions in the church, and the duties of each are honourably and successfully performed. His is a local preacher, Sunday School superintendent, choir master, class leader, trust treasurer, circuit steward and secretary of the Darlington and Stockton Local Preachers’ Training Committee. His class is the largest and best attended in the circuit, conducted on old-fashioned lines, and has recently furnished the circuit with four acceptable local preachers.

J.P. Langham

Family and other information

Clement was born abt 1864 at British Kaffraria (Cape Colony), South Africa, to parents Samuel and Elizabeth. Samuel was a schoolteacher. On returning from South Africa the family spent some time in Burnley, Samuel’s birthplace, before moving to Grimsby.

In Grimsby, Clement attended Garibaldi Street Sunday School, and joined the Bethel Society. He won a teaching scholarship for three years in succession to the Royal College of Science, London.

Census returns give the following occupations for Clement.

  • 1881 pupil teacher
  • 1891 certified assistant schoolmaster and science teacher
  • 1901 schoolmaster (board school) and science teacher (technical college)
  • 1911 headmaster – elementary council school

For eleven years Clement was the honorary secretary of the local Association of the National Union of Teachers, and was twice elected its President.

As a preacher, his sermons were fresh, and full of nerve, and he gripped his audience by his sentencious phrase, rich fertility of illustration, a deep vein of that “holy tender something called sympathy,” and a never failing presentation of the cross.

For fifteen years, up to the time of his death, Clement was Connexional Lay Secretary.

Clement married Sarah Elizabeth Lancaster (1866-1956) in late 1889 at Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Census returns identify three children.

  • Lucy Elizabeth (1890-1911)
  • Samuel Robert (1893-1963) – a junior clerk (maritime insurance) (1911); a local government officer (1956)
  • Alice Clementina (1901-1998) – married William Watson in 1924

Clement died on 2 May 1932 at West Hartlepool, Co. Durham.

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1908/614; 1924/319; 1932/560

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

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