Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
PERCY WILLIAM HASSAM: born in Rochester, Kent, 1889, accepted into the Primitive Methodist Ministry in 1915 and trained in the Livingstone Medical College. After serving two years in Truro he was able to fulfil an ambition to serve as a missionary in Southern Nigeria. Unfortunately his service in the Church overseas was restricted to one year because of his health.
He returned to England and served in Teignmouth, South Yorkshire Mission, Droxford, Melton Mowbray, Hull (11 years), and Leeds (Ventnor Street). His ministry at Bourne Chapel, Hull, during devastating enemy action drew from him courage by which people were fortified.
Mrs Hassam lost her sight as a result of blast from a bomb which fell near their home. Percy Hassam laboured on and established the Bourne Eventide Home for aged and homeless people. Failing eyesight compelled him to retire from circuit work in 1950. In the year following he accepted an invitation from the committee of the League of Prayer to become its General Secretary. He served the League with remarkable energy and initiative for fifteen years. In 1960 he became President of the Southport Holiness Convention, an office he held until the time of his death on 23 September 1965, at Apsley Guise, in the seventy-seventh year of his life and the fiftieth of his ministry.
Family
Percy was born on 23 October 1889 at Strood, Kent, to parents William, a cement labourer (1891), and Emily.
Before training for the ministry Percy worked as an insurance agent (1911)
He married Mabel Myra Jeffery (1888-1964) in late 1908 in the Medway Registration District, Kent. Birth records identify five children.
- Hilda Helen (1909-2005) – married Bernard R Bax, a minister, in 1932; married Eric A Joerin in 1946
- Lilian M (b1912) – married George M Twyman in 1943
- Daisy Mannering (1913-1999) – a companion and domestic help (1939)
- Percy Philip (1918-2008) – fitter
- Peter J (b1927)
He married Mary Elizabeth Bowden in late 1964 in the Lothingland Registration District, Suffolk.
Percy died on 23 September 1965 at Apsley Guise, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.
Circuits
- Livingstone Medical College
- 1918 Truro
- 1920 W Africa
- 1921 Teignmouth
- 1922 S Yorks Mission
- 1924 Droxford
- 1930 Melton & Oakham
- 1934 Hull Lambert St
- 1937 Hull N
- 1939 Hull Anlaby
- 1945 Leeds Ventnor St
- 1950 Chatham (Sup)
References
Methodist Minutes 1966/191
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
No Comments
Add a comment about this page