Hudson, Ernest Charles (1889-1962)

Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum of Primitive Methodism

Transcription of Obituary in Minutes of Methodist Conference

Born at Eastbourne in 1889. His parents were Calvinistic Baptists. He could not accept their belief and found peace in the faith and fellowship of the growing Methodist Society that was eventually housed in the new St Aidan’s Church.

He gave up attractive business prospects for the claims of the Ministry and was trained at Hartley College, where he inherited the  Peake tradition of scholarship and was able to develop his natural feeling for the use of English language and appreciation of English literature.

His ministry began in East Anglia in 1916 and he served in the following circuits : East Dereham, Martham, Leeds, North Cave, Selby, Brownhills, Bolsover, Pickering, Thornley, Middlesbrough and Easingwold.

He loved rural Methodism. He conceived it his vocation to care for country causes and always held that it is in them that the vital springs of the Methodist Church are found. But he was equally at home in industrial areas and was keenly aware of the importance of the Methodist tradition and witness among the Durham miners.

He worked hard, making it his habit during the active  years of his ministry to be in his study by six o’clock every morning. He was a diligent student of the Bible and the preaching of Christ was the great concern of his heart. He made the public reading of the Scriptures a means of grace.

Upon his retirement he settled in Harrogate, gladly serving the surrounding circuits and taking active part in the worship and fellowship of the Church at Trinity.

He held all shoddy work in contempt, but he was a great encourager of those who sought to give their best.

He was greatest in his afflictions, manifesting-in personal bereavement and loneliness, and ultimately in intense physical suffering, courage and cheerfulness.

When  too ill to preach, he practised the more diligently the ministry of  intercession, and his gratitude to those who helped him was real and constant.

He died on 26 April 1962, in the seventy-fourth year of his age and the forty-sixth of his ministry.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1962

Family

Ernest was born on 23 November 1889 at Eastbourne, Sussex, to parents Alfred, a builder and contractor, and Lizzie.

Ernest worked as a decorator before entering the ministry.

He married Martha Curry-Wood (1890-1960) in the summer of 1920 in the Lanchester Registration District, Co. Durham.

Ernest died on 26 April 1962 at Harrogate, Yorkshire.

Circuits

  • Hartley
  • 1916 E Dereham
  • 1920 Martham
  • 1924 Leeds II
  • 1927 North Cave
  • 1930 Selby
  • 1934 Brownhills
  • 1938 Bolsover
  • 1941 Pickering W
  • 1944 Thornley
  • 1948 Middlesbrough
  • 1950 Easingwold
  • 1955 Harrogate (S)

References

Methodist Minutes1962/214

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

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