Bowman, David Mills (1875-1940)

Christian Messenger 1907

Early years

David was born abt 1875 in Scotland.

David entered Hartley College from the Wishaw circuit in 1898.

Ministry

Nearly all his ministry was in circuits in the great coal and iron areas, among people whose problems his early environment enabled him to understand. His mind was exceptionally keen, and he could not tolerate insincerity or slip-shod work. He served as secretary of the Doncaster and Barnsley District. He spent himself unsparingly in his service to the Church, and had a serious breakdown in health. His last years in the active ministry were spent at Bexhill where he laboured under the persistent handicap of ill-health. His suffering served only to bring out his courage; his bearing was serene and confident, his faith undaunted, his example a sermon more eloquent than words.

Family

David married Bertha Emma Shields (abt1873-1954) in the summer of 1904 at Kings Lynn, Norfolk. Census returns identify three children.

  • Joseph Herbert (1905-1972) – an Anglican clergyman (1940)
  • John Alexander Edmund (1907-1992) – a storekeeper
  • David Carlyle (1910-1977)

David died on 11 July 1940 at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex.

Circuits

  • Hartley
  • 1900 Mansfield
  • 1904 Nottingham IV
  • 1907 Alfreton
  • 1912 Hull VII
  • 1915 Kiveton Park
  • 1920 Old Hill
  • 1925 Brierley Hill
  • 1928 S Yorks Mission
  • 1933 Bexhill
  • 1938 Bexhill (Sup)

References

Christian Messenger 1907/183

Methodist Minutes 1940/184

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Comments about this page

  • There was also 4 th child a daughter named Margaret. She did not marry and continued to live in Bexhill with her mother

    By David John Bowman (12/07/2020)

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