Carr, William (1871-1952)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

WILLIAM CARR: born 1871. He entered the ministry in 1896, commencing his active service that year in the ex-Primitive Methodist circuit of Liverpool II. His circuits were chiefly in the Midlands. After forty-five years in the active ministry he retired in 1941 and made his home in Ludlow, Salop. He passed to the higher service on September 13, 1952.

In all his circuits he was deeply respected for his fine character and conscientious service. Denied the advantage of a theological training, he read so as to make his pulpit ministrations profitable to his hearers. His main strength lay in pastoral work in the homes of the people, where his friendliness and keen sense of sympathy to those in trouble are remembered by many. His prayers, both in pulpit and home, revealed a deep understanding of human need and divine sufficiency. Throughout his ministry he was ably supported by his wife. Together they worked in the cause of temperance and for the welfare of young people.

On his retirement he served the Ludlow Free Church Federal Council for nine years. His wife predeceased him by a few months. Her passing created for him a grievous sorrow. His resistance failed and he passed home in the eighty-second year of his age and the fifty-seventh of his ministry. He was a loyal colleague and friend, and a sensitive man whose one desire was to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before his God.

Family

William was born on 25 March 1871 at Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, to mother Jane.

before entering the ministry William worked as a railway goods clerk.

He married Elizabeth Frances Cain (abt1875-1951) in 1900 in the Isle of Man. Census returns and birth records identify three children.

William Douglas (1901-1903)
William Hesketh Cain (b1905)
Olive Frances (1910-2000) – married Thomas J Fewtrell, a loadstone quarry sales clerk (1939), in 1938

William died on 13 September 1952 at Ludlow, Shropshire.