Atkinson, William (1880-1974)

Transcription of Obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

WILLIAM ATKINSON (B): born at Tebay in Westmorland on 2nd June, 1880. He served his apprenticeship as a joiner, then after training at Hartley College entered the Primitive Methodist ministry in 1908. After probation at Deal he served in the following circuits: Leicester, Stanstead, Camborne, Wigton, Maryport, Whitehaven, Crook, Glossop and New Mills. Then as an active supernumerary at Oldham and Southport. In 1946 he moved to Carlisle where he served as a hospital chaplain. He was a keen bowler, being elected as an honorary member of the Carlisle West End Bowling Club. In 1968 he returned to Aspatria where he had lived while in the Wigton Circuit. The nearby village of Prospect had been the home of his bride, Miss Sarah Laidler. Increased feebleness limited his activities, but he was constantly giving thanks for the great joy and privilege of serving in the Methodist ministry. Much of his active ministry belonged to the period of large congregations and frequent conversions, the memories of which were a source of radiant comfort in his closing years. Intense interest in visiting characterised his ministry. This he regarded not merely as a duty, but a real joy, entering deeply into the feelings and lives of his people. His preaching evidenced wide and deep reading. He was one of the best-known and loved of the senior ministers in the Carlisle District. He died on 26th February, 1974 the ninety-fourth year of his age and the sixty-sixth of his ministry.

Family

William was born on 2 June 1880 at Tebay, Westmorland, to parents George, a grocer, and Mary.

He married Sarah Jane Laidlow (1883-1980) in the summer of 1912 in the Cockermouth Registration District, Cumberland.

William died on 26 February 1974 at Aspatria, Cumberland.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1908 Dover
• 1910 Leicester I
• 1912 Camborne
• 1916 Wigton
• 1919 Maryport
• 1925 Whitehaven
• 1929 Crook
• 1933 Glossop
• 1938 New Mills
• 1943 Oldham (Sup)

References

Methodist Minutes 1974/128

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers