Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
PERCY HOLMES: born at Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent, on 14th April 1891, from which area he entered the Primitive Methodist ministry in 1917. His training at Hartley College was interrupted by being called out to supply in the Cradley Heath and Dudley Circuits. He subsequently served in the following circuits: Manchester, Lavender Hill, Oldham IJ, West Hartlepool, Hull (VII and Lambert Street), London (Forest Gate), London (Tooting), Knighton, Manchester (Pendlebury and Swinton), Tavistock (Wesley) and Stratford-upon-Avon. On retirement he lived for some years in Stratford and Stoke before finally making his home in the Methodist Home for the Aged at Colwyn Bay.
Percy Holmes was very proud of his Methodist heritage and never lost the wonder of his call to the Methodist ministry. To preaching he gave great attention and recorded in one of his addresses on completing fifty years as a preacher: ‘For myself I am thankful to have been a Methodist preacher and to have been the recipient of God’s gift of heart and mind and voice. It has been a wonderful experience.’ He employed all his gifts of business acumen and musical talents in the service of the Church.
The most rewarding periods of his ministry were at Tavistock and Stratford. As chaplain to the prison at Dartmoor he helped many people and under the influence of his friendship at least one man was converted from a life of crime and violence to a life of preaching and Christian service. In the Stratford Circuit he enjoyed the demands and challenge of re-building until his health broke down.
He always had great joy in the company of Methodist people and his closing days at Astoria were consequently extremely happy. He never missed an opportunity of fellowship with his ministerial brethren and delighted in Fraternals and Synod meetings. He died in hospital at St. Asaph after a brief illness on 10th March 1978 in the eighty-seventh year of his life and the sixty-first year of his ministry.
Family
Percy was born on 14 April 1891 at Penkhull, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, to parents Thomas, a hardware dealer and sub-postmaster (1911), and Sarah.
Before entering the ministry Percy assisted in his father’s business.
He married Emma Lowe in the spring of 1921 at Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.
Percy died on 10 March 1978 at St Asaph, Clwyd, Wales.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1917 Cradley Heath
- 1918 Dudley
- 1919 Manchester
- 1920 Lavender Hill
- 1924 Oldham II
- 1928 W Hartlepool
- 1931 Hull VII
- 1934 Forest Gate
- 1937 Tooting
- 1941 Knighton
- 1946 Pendlebury &c
- 1947 Tavistock Wes
- 1951 Stratford
- 1956 Stratford (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1978/81
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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