Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
THOMAS BECKETT CAUKWELL: born at Ferriby, July 22, 1860. He received his early education at Hull Grammar School, from which he entered a solicitor’s office. Before the completion of his articled period, he heard the call to the work to which he devoted a long and vigorous life. He entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry in 1883, his first circuit being in Burnley. The last twenty-one years of his active work was spent in a memorable ministry at Walthamstow (High Street).
In all his circuits he was untiring in his efforts for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. His preaching reflected his passionate love of men and women as well as his own devotion to his Lord. While the spiritual work of the Church commanded his supreme interest, he was a capable man of business. He was keenly interested in social welfare, especially in the education of children. After his retirement in 1933, he removed to Cley-next-the-Sea, where, despite failing strength, he gave valuable service to the church. He entered into rest on October 8, 1939, in the sixty-sixth year of his ministry.
Family
Thomas was born on 22 July 1860 at Ferriby, Yorkshire, to parents John Dale Caukwell, a blacksmith, and Annie.
Before entering the ministry Thomas worked as a clerk.
He married Emma Fletcher (1858-1947) in the summer of 1887 in the Tadcaster Registration District, Yorkshire. Census returns identify three of four children.
- Harold Theodore Gladstone Beecher (1888-1951) – served in RAMC in WW1; a schoolmaster
- Cyril Arthur Beckett (1893-1972) – milk recorder (1920); emigrated to South Africa in 1920
- Roy Fletcher Bernard (1897-1980) – a schoolmaster (1939)
Thomas died on 8 October 1939 at Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.
Circuits
- 1883 Burnley
- 1884 Pudsey
- 1885 Halifax
- 1886 Kilburn
- 1889 Helmsley
- 1893 Silsden
- 1895 Mansfield
- 1897 Dalton
- 1898 Nottingham II
- 1905 Ripley
- 1909 Grimsby III
- 1912 Walthamstow
- 1933 London (Sup)
References
Methodist Minutes 1940/166
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
Comments about this page
The fourth child was also Roy Fletcher Bernard Caukwell born 1894 and died before the second Roy was born.
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