Clarke, Alfred (1868-1946)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1925
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1925

Early years

Alfred was born in 1868 at Manea, Cambridgeshire, to parents Sears and Emma. Sears, a farm bailiff (1871), was a local preacher for over fifty years.

Alfred made his great decision whilst still a boy. He worked in the Sunday School before becoming a local preacher. The opportunity for wider service came via the ‘Evangelists’ Home and he was sent to conduct missions in the Midland and Northern counties.

Ministry

Alfred’s obituary records that he was a diligent, conscientious worker in his circuits, showing himself an earnest and devoted man of God, interested in all the varied activities and responsibilities of circuit life. He was a diligent pastor, a keen student, and a wide reader. His spiritual insight made him an unusually capable expositor of the Scriptures.

Family

Alfred married Julia Anna Shute (1875-1954) in the summer of 1899 in the Shaftesbury Registration District, Dorset. Census returns identify two children.

  • Eric Alfred (1900-1982) – a pharmaceutical chemist (1954)
  • Frederic Sears Joseph (1906-1985) – an optician (1946)

Alfred died on 13 March 1946 at Poole, Dorset.

Circuits

  • Hartley
  • 1896 Motcombe
  • 1899 Alford
  • 1901 Coleford
  • 1902 Micheldever
  • 1907 Bradfield
  • 1909 Ryde & Ventnor
  • 1911 Stewkley
  • 1914 Banbury
  • 1918 Windsor
  • 1921 Droxford
  • 1924 Newport & Cowes
  • 1927 Sturminster
  • 1930 Leintwardine
  • 1932 Poole (Sup)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1925/225

Methodist Minutes 1946/142

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

 

Note: Eric and Frederic were registered under the spelling ‘Clark’

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