Fryer, John William (1864-1940)
Early years
John was born in 1864 at Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, to parents George and Mary. His father was a local preacher for more than fifty years. The family moved to the neighbourhood of Sowerby Bridge, and it was on that circuit that John became a local preacher. His first sermon was preached at Greetland on 7 October 1883.
Before entering the ministry, John worked for two years as a teacher.
In January 1887, John became a hired local preacher at Pateley Bridge. He entered Manchester College in 1888.
Ministry
John’s obituary records that during his long and efficient ministry, he was a faithful pastor and a preacher of outstanding ability. To those who were privileged to know him initimately, he was a most interesting personality. The early days of his ministry aroused in the minds of the discerning hopes of a great pulpit career, but, being without personal ambition and detached from all thought of self-advancement, it pleased him to avoid as much publicity as an earnest discharge of his duties permitted. Always a keen student, he remained so to the end of his days.
Family
John lost his first wife after a long and trying illness. (She was possibly Ann Bailey, married in the summer of 1893 at Grantham, Lincolnshire.) Census returns identify two children.
- Elsie Marion (1895-1982) – married Harry Henshaw in 1919
- Herbert Arthur Bailey (1897-1972)
John married Rhoda Emma Martin (1880-1980) in the summer of 1912 at Chester, Cheshire. The 1911 census identifies that Rhoda was working for the family as a general servant in Chester. Records identify two children.
- Edmund William (1914-1985)
- Hilda May (1916-1986)
John died on 15 January 1940 at Bridlington, Yorkshire.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1889 Wakefield
- 1893 Scotter
- 1895 Bradford II
- 1899 Bradford VI
- 1900 Hull II
- 1902 Chesterfield I
- 1906 Chesterfield II
- 1908 Chester I
- 1912 Burnley I
- 1913 Dartmouth
- 1915 Ripley
- 1918 N Shields
- 1921 Helmsley
- 1922 Bedale
- 1926 Donington
- 1929 Brigg
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1919/816
Methodist Minutes 1940/171
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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