Anderton, John (1873-1944)

Transcription of Obituary published in the Minutes of Conference.

JOHN ANDERTON : born near Banbury in 1873. In early life he came under the influence of the Gospel. Hearing the call to preach, he became a Lay Pastor in the Primitive Methodist Church, labouring with untiring devotion for ten years at Weston-super-Mare. Here his special gifts found expression in youth work, and his love of sport gave him a big following. The strong note of evangelism in his preaching appealed to the younger business men, many of whom saw the way of life and rejoiced to walk in it. He was a leader also in civic affairs, and was elected to the Borough Council. At the unusual age of thirty-nine he entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry, and fulfilled his vocation with fidelity and zeal. He was a true shepherd of the flock, being greatly beloved in the circuits in which he travelled. A breakdown in health necessitated his retirement, and he returned to Weston-super-Mare, the scene of his earlier labours. These latter days, however, were clouded by the severe illness of his wife. Then came the shock of her passing, and he survived her by only one week. On 16th November 1944 he was called to his reward, in the seventy-first year of his age and the thirty-second of his ministry. ‘He being dead yet speaketh,’ and there are many who ‘rise up to call him blessed’.

Family

John was born on 9 April 1873 at Chorley, Lancashire, to parents Henry, a labourer and local preacher, and Sarah

Census returns identify the following occupations for John before he became a lay pastor.

  • 1891 link worker in West Bromwich

He married Leah Betts (1884-1944) on 5 May 1910 at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Birth records identify two children.

  • Ewart Samuel (1911-1985) – an insurance inspector (1911)
  • Dorothy Joan (b1915) – married Lawrence Henry Ball in 1945

John died on 16 November 1944 at Weston super Mere, Somerset.

Circuits

  • Lay pastor
  • 1912 Weston Super Mare
  • 1914 Birmingham V
  • 1918 Quinton
  • 1924 W Bromwich II
  • 1927 Lymm & Altrincham
  • 1933 Ashton under Lyne
  • 1938 Talke
  • 1941 Leek
  • 1943 Weston Super Mare (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1945/123

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Note: Many records including the 1911 census and 1939 register give his birth date as 1876, although his death record identifies his year of birth as 1873. Records also give his place of birth as Chorley, Lancashire, not Banbury Oxfordshire.

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