Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
ARTHUR HENRY BRYANT: born in New Tredegar, South Wales, on 8th August 1906. He was the son of Thomas H. Bryant, a Primitive Methodist minister who was well-known in the south-west of the country. His mother was Welsh and some of the fire in Arthur’s preaching probably stemmed from this Celtic origin. He heard the call to Ministry in 1926, and was accepted as a candidate in 1927, entering Hartley College in 1928. He responded whole-heartedly to college life enjoying the rich friendships that he formed, and finding full activity for his busy mind. Professor A.S. Peake influenced him very much, and his abiding love of psychology and philosophy he attributed to the tutor in these subjects, Mr. Atkinson Lee. At the same time he was a very active member of the college concert party, being able to play the violin and having a repertoire of monologues which were always humorous and acceptable.
Leaving college in 1931 he served his probation in the London Mission (East and Canning Town) and came to love the people of the East End of London. He was so successful in this work he was asked to remain, which he did, for a further seven years. During this period, he married Vera Taylor about six months before going to Lydney in the Forest of Dean Mission where his father had served some years before. The end of the war saw them invited to the Darlington (North) Circuit but not for long as he was needed to meet an emergency in the London Mission (South-East) and he worked there for two years before returning to Darlington. He then served in the folowing circuits: Manningtree and Harwich, Leigh-on-Sea, London (Sydenham and Forest Hill), Spennymoor, and Bishop Auckland where as Superintendent he left records bearing testimony to his effectiveness and efficiency.
After completing forty years in active work, he decided to accept an active supernumerary appointment at Hampsthwaite in the Harrogate Circuit. Then in 1974 he retired to Shrewton near Salisbury. He continued to preach with great acceptance in the circuit, but his strength began to decline after an attack of pneumonia from which he never completely recovered. His wife, Vera, supported him in all he did, and cared for him with great devotion in his final illness, and Susan, his daughter, brought him increasing happiness. Here was a man of no pretences whose only wish was to serve his Lord as a preacher of the Gospel and a minister in the Methodist Church. He died suddenly on 11th March 1979 in the seventy-third year of his age and the forty-eighth year of his ministry.
Family
Arthur was born on 8 August 1906 at New Tredegar, Monmouthshire, to parents Thomas Henry Bryant and Margaret Hannah Williams.
He married Vera Taylor (1906-1995) in the spring of 1942 at Gloucester, Gloucestershire.
Arthur died on 11 March 1979 at Shrewton, nr Salisbury, Wiltshire..
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1931 London East
- 1933 Canning Town
- 1942 Forest of Dean
- 1945 Darlington N
- 1952 Manningtree &c
- 1955 Leigh on Sea
- 1959 London Sydenham &c
- 1962 Spennymoor &c
- 1966 Bishop Auckland
- 1971 Harrogate (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1979/63
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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