Houldsworth, Thomas Threlfall (1909-1944)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

THOMAS THRELFALL HOULDSWORTH: born at Southport in 1910. He was trained at Hartley College and entered the Ministry in 1933. Only three circuits had the benefit of his ministry, but in each of them he was much beloved. 

He was a great reader, studiously mastering books though it should mean reading and re-reading. His sermons always showed prayerful preparation, and were preached with the zeal of one eager to proclaim the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Beloved alike by young and old, he was always a welcome visitor to the sick and the aged, and his work among the young people will bear fruit for years to come. Local preachers valued his friendly help. 

After preaching the triumphant resurrection message on Easter Day, he was suddenly taken from us a few days later, on April 14, 1944, in the eleventh year of his ministry and the thirty-fourth of his age.

Family

Thomas was born on 18 December 1909 at Southport, Lancashire, to parents Thomas Houldsworth, a blacksmith, and Jane Ann Smith. He was baptised on 4 January 1910 at North Meols Methodist chapel, Lancashire.

He married Gwendoline Dorothy Ince (1912-1985) in the summer of 1937 in the Barnet Registration District, Middlesex. Birth Records identify one child.

• David Threlfall (b1944)

Thomas died on 14 April 1944 at the North Stafford Royal Infirmary, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1933 Tiverton &c
• 1937 Wilts Mission
• 1940 Stoke on Trent

References

Methodist Minutes 1944/139

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers