Church, Robert (1819-1917)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1871
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1918

Robert was born on 14 February 1819 at Tottingdon, Norfolk. He was converted at the age of 16, but suffered much persecution in his village. One day, on returning home from work, he found that he and his mother had been evicted from their cottage.

Robert did not have a school education. He learned to read with the help of a Parish Clerk in a village some four miles away. He learned the rudiments of writing and arithmetic from a lady’s maid.

Ministry

Robert’s obituary records that as a preacher he was thoughtful and evangelical, as an administrator he was tactful, as a pastor he was a great heart. The poor looked up to him and were helped, the sorrowful looked up to him and were comforted, the dispirited looked up to him and were cheered.

Robert was a Deed Poll member of Conference. He last preached in February 1916, aged 97.

Family

Robert married Eliza Maria Gooch (1824-1876) in the summer of 1846 at Norwich, Norfolk. Census returns identify three children.

  • George Edward (1849-1921) – a schoolmaster
  • Sarah Maria (1851-1923) – married Arthur William Edwards, a PM Minister
  • William Robert (1861-1935) – a schoolmaster

Robert married Harriet Holmes (1826-1891) in 1877 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

Robert died on 13 Nov 1917 at Peterborough, Northamptonshire.

Circuits

  • 1842 Fakenham
  • 1843 Ipswich
  • 1845 Soham
  • 1847 Wangford
  • 1849 Lynn
  • 1850 Yarmouth
  • 1851 Docking
  • 1852 Ely
  • 1854 Brandon
  • 1856 Colchester
  • 1859 Cambridge
  • 1861 Wisbech
  • 1864 Aylsham
  • 1866 Stowmarket
  • 1869 Yarmouth
  • 1872 E Dereham
  • 1874 Fakenham
  • 1877 Ipswich
  • 1878 Cambridge
  • 1880 Crowle
  • 1883 Doncaster
  • 1886 Lynn
  • 1889 Lancaster
  • 1892 Beccles & Bungay
  • 1895 Swaffham
  • 1896 Oakham
  • 1898 Peterborough (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1871 (portrait); 1893/117 (Harriet); 1918/361

PM Minutes 1918/249

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

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