Mayles, John (1857-1926)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1916
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1916

Early years

John was born in 1857 at Sharpenhoe, nr Streatley, Bedfordshire to parents William and Ann. The 1871 census identifies William as a publican.

John attended a Primitive Methodist Sunday school in his native Bedfordshire and came into membership at Leicester. His natural talents for business were sharpened by a period of commercial life in London. At the time of the 1881 census, John worked as a hosier’s warehouseman.

Ministry

His obituary records that John knew the homiletical art and was skilled in it. He found enjoyment in making sermons and a rarer pleasure in preaching them. The pulpit was a sacred place to him, demanding the best, the best in prayerful anticipation and in the solemnity of speech. He was particularly keen to plead the causes of home evangelisation and the African missions.

In 1914 John became Connexional Secretary to the Church Extension Fund. Joined with that Office were the roles of Deputy Missionary Treasurer and Secretary of the General Chapel Fund.

Family

John married Edith Maria Boitoult (1859-1934) in the summer of 1886 at Dartford, Kent. Census returns identify three children.

  • Ethel Marion (1887-1954) – a teacher (1911); married Frederick John Curtis, a cinema manager (1954), in 1946
  • William Boitoult (1888-1977) – a bank clerk (1911)
  • Horace Gordon (1890-1962) – a bank clerk (1911)

John died on 11 July 1926 at Worthing, Sussex.

Circuits

  • 1882 Tottenham
  • 1887 Hull IV
  • 1888 Chichester
  • 1891 Walthamstow
  • 1894 Aldershot
  • 1896 Manchester III
  • 1902 Birkenhead
  • 1905 Liverpool
  • 1909 Worthing
  • 1914 London
  • 1917 Wandsworth
  • 1923 Worthing (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1916/832; 1926/623

PM Minutes 1927/261

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

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