Altree, Albert (1887-1973)

Transcription of Obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

ALBERT ALTREE: born at Cheslyn Hay in 1887, he early felt a call to the ministry. As a hired local preacher in Stafford he met the lady who has shared his joys and sorrows throughout a long and active life. Trained at Hartley College and accepted into the Primitive Methodist ministry in 1914, he served the following circuits: Saffron Walden, Gloucester, Diss, Calne, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Abertillery, Stalybridge (two terms), Penzance (Mount Street), Bolton (Higher Bridge Street), Littleborough, and Brynmawr, retiring in 1954. Albert Altree loved preaching and developed to the full his gifts as a preacher. The short, snappy, telling phrase studded his message, and the apt illustration lit up his theme. A friendly man with a pastoral heart, he loved people. For children especially he had a fondness, and children naturally came to him. In addition to a lifelong interest in literature, he had a man’s interest in sport, especially football and tennis, combined with a keen observation of nature. To walk through the park with him was an education, for he could name every bird and flower. Without a serious illness throughout his life, he was robust and active into his eightieth year. Failing eyesight and general weakness frustrated him towards the end, but he died triumphant in the faith he had adorned on 23rd February, 1973, in the eighty-fifth year of his age and the fifty-ninth of his ministry.

Family

Albert was born on 14 March 1887 at Cheslyn Hay, nr Walsall, Staffordshire, to parents Frederick James Altree, an iron puddler, and Elizabeth.

Census returns identify the following occupations for Albert.

• 1901 tilemaker
• 1911 axle lathe man

He married Mary Arrowsmith (1892-1977) in the summer of 1918 at Stafford. Birth records identify three children.

• Albert Ivan (1920-1976)
• Margaret Barbara (1921-1988) – a bank clerk (1939); married Edward R Keast in 1942
• Constance Hope (1924-1999) – married John W.O. Mapson in 1947

Albert died on 23 February 1973 at Penzance, Cornwall.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1914 Saffron Walden
• 1916 Gloucester
• 1918 Diss
• 1920 Calne
• 1924 Newcastle under Lyme
• 1929 Abertillery
• 1932 Stalybridge
• 1936 Penzance
• 1938 Stalybridge
• 1945 Bolton, Higher Bridge Street
• 1946 Littleborough
• 1950 Brynmawr
• 1954 Penzance (Sup)

References

Methodist Minutes 1973/132

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers