Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
ARTHUR BAXTER: born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, in 1891. He entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry in 1916 from Westgate Church in his native town, and served a pre-collegiate year in the Canterbury and Whitstable Circuit. After training at Hartley College, his time as a probationer was spent in the Isle of Man and in Colchester. Following Ordination there was a year at Hadleigh (Suffolk), then five years at Peterborough No. 1 Circuit. For the last two of the four years in Leeds (Holdforth Street) he was the Superintendent. Bristol (Whitehall) next called him, then four happy years at Worthing (Chapel Road) which were followed by a return to Peterborough, but to the No. 2 Circuit (Cobden Street) for a memorable term of six years. The last of his ‘active’ circuits was High Wycombe, and it was from there that, very unwillingly, but as a result of increasing bronchitis and asthma, he retired and came back, in 1947 to his wife’s home town of Whitstable.
Here he gave strong support to the Albert Street Church, and on the closing of this church and the amalgamation of the Society with St John’s, to which he became deeply attached, he continued to the end in Christian fellowship. The later years saw more and more restriction on his favourite physical activities, cycling, walking, outdoor watching of cricket and football, though he did tend his garden – working in short spells. He continued to read, spent much time in prayer, was a delightful comrade to visit, and kept very many of the friendships he had made in his ‘ Travels’ in good repair. His ministry had been most attractive to men, and his children’s talks – striking, lively, and persuasive – were remembered by many. Colleagues never forgot his quiet joy and wisdom and his massive common sense. Those who served the Circuit to which he retired were made aware of his desire for their success and the triumph of the work. On Sunday morning, 27 April 1969, as he prepared to begin a day on which he again intended to be in church, he suddenly died in the seventy-eighth year of his age and the fifty-third of his ministry.
Family
Arthur was born on 14 October 1890 at Carlton, Barnsley, Yorkshire, to parents James, a coal miner, and Emma.
The 1911 census returns records his occupation as bobbin mill hand.
He married Annie Jemima Joiner (1886-1978) in the summer of 1921 in the Blean Registration District, Kent.
Arthur died on 27 April 1969 at Tankerton, Whitstable, Kent.
Circuits
- 1915 Canterbury & Whitstable
- 1916 Hartley
- 1917 Bristol IV
- 1919 Douglas
- 1920 Colchester
- 1921 Ipswich
- 1922 Peterborough I
- 1927 Leeds II
- 1931 Bristol I
- 1933 Bristol Even
- 1934 Worthing & Shoreham
- 1938 Peterborough
- 1944 High Wycombe
- 1947 Worthing (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1969/205
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
No Comments
Add a comment about this page