Carden, Henry (1850-1930)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1908
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1929

Early years

Henry was born on 28 December 1850 at Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire to parents Samuel and Mary. The 1851 census identifies Samuel as a turner and beer seller. Samuel was also a local preacher, having become a local preacher following the mission to Chalfont by Primitive Methodists from High Wycombe in 1837. Henry’s grandfather had been a supporter of the Congregational cause in the village.

Henry was ‘saved’ as a young boy and started to preach aged twelve; ‘the boy preacher of the circuit’. As a youth Henry trained for a life in business, drapery and grocery.

Ministry

During his first appointment at Hammersmith there were one hundred known converts and the mission became a self-supporting circuit.

In the Peterborough II circuit, Henry erected three new chapels, two of them for new missions. In total Henry superintended the building of seventeen chapels, seven of them in the Leicester II circuit.

Henry preached practically and promoted salvation by grace. Essentially he was a Methodist preacher in the old style.

Family

Henry married Eliza Jane Shadick (1846-1929) in the summer of 1875 at Gravesend, Kent. Census returns identify four of five children.

  • Alice Gladwell (1876- – married Albert Elijah Bassindale, a timber merchant (1930)
  • Florence Sophia (1878-1919) – married Frederick Hobson – a PM Minister
  • Percy Samuel (1880-1955) – a PM Minister
  • William Henry (1885-1952) – a shipping merchant (1930)

Henry died on 31 October 1930 at Hall Green, Birmingham.

Circuits

  • 1871 Hammersmith
  • 1872 London VII
  • 1873 Belfast II
  • 1874 Gravesend
  • 1875 Grays
  • 1878 Northampton
  • 1881 Hull IV
  • 1885 Leicester II
  • 1890 Willenhall
  • 1893 Peterborough II
  • 1899 Tottenham
  • 1902 Scarborough
  • 1905 Fulham
  • 1907 W Hartlepool
  • 1911 Peterborough
  • 1913 Bradford III
  • 1915 Swindon
  • 1917 Sheffield (S)
  • 1919 Birmingham (Ac)
  • 1922 Birmingham V (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1908/289; 1929/554 (Eliza)

PM Minutes 1931/289

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Comments about this page

  • This was an interesting article to come across, including the two photos! Thank you so much for posting it. Henry Carden was my paternal Great Grandfather. My paternal Grandparents were Alice Gladwell (1876), who married Albert Elijah Bassindale.

    By Anne Elliott (05/01/2023)

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