Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
FRANK CLIFFORD CORP: born in Cardiff in 1896. At the age of sixteen he heard the call to preach and was described by a local newspaper as the “Boy Preacher of South Wales”. In 1915 he joined the Welsh Regiment and in 1919 he was mentioned in despatches, Returning to civilian life, he resumed his preaching, and in 1926 offered as a candidate for the Primitive Methodist ministry.
He was sent into circuit in Bolton and received part-time training at Hartley College, He travelled in the following circuits: Liverpool III, Chester, Hull (Holderness Road), Hull (East), Manchester (Openshaw), Ashton-under-Lyne, Falkirk and Edinburgh (Nicolson Square). He retired to Penarth in 1966 and was a strength and inspiration to the circuit as well as to churches of other denominations where he continued to exercise a greatly valued pulpit ministry.
He is remembered with great affection in all his circuits, not only as a preacher but also as a wise and understanding pastor with a rich sense of humour that was never malicious but often a saving grace in difficult situations. His life came to an end on the Feast of the Epiphany, when the church prays “that we which know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead”. None who had the privilege to know Frank Corp could doubt that he entered into it. He died on the 6th January, 1973, in the seventy-seventh year of his age and the forty-seventh year of his ministry.
Family
Frank was born on 21 August 1896 at Cardiff, Glamorgan, to parents Alfred G. Corp, a ships cementer and local preacher, and Edith.
Frank worked as a clerk at the time of the 1911 census.
He married Ethel Holden (1900-1947) in late 1922 at Cardiff. Birth records identify one child.
- Dennis (1923-1976) – a primary school headteacher
He married Margaret Ann Carr (1899-1995) in late 1950 at Manchester, Lancashire.
Frank died on 6 January 1973 at Penarth, Glamorgan.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1926 Bolton II
- 1930 Liverpool III
- 1934 Chester, George St
- 1940 Hull, Holderness Rd
- 1942 Hull East
- 1946 Manchester Higher Openshaw
- 1951 Ashton Under Lyne, Stamford St
- 1956 Falkirk &c
- 1962 Edinburgh, Nicholson St
- 1966 Penarth (Sup)
References
Methodist Minutes 1973/138
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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