Middleton, James Henry (1879-1960)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

JAMES HENRY MIDDLETON: born in 1879. He was brought up in village Methodism, and was always grateful not only for the influence of his parents but also for the sturdy loyalty of the stalwarts of the village chapel. After training at Hartley College, he travelled in the following circuits: Manchester, Gloucester, Nelson, Silsdon, Keighley, Otley, Whitchurch, Prees. He retired in 1949. 

Throughout his ministry he was a keen administrator and held a number of district offices. In all he undertook he showed a dedication of his gifts to his Lord. But above all he was a preacher, and in the pulpit drew on his many interests as well as his knowledge of people to illustrate the Gospel he loved to proclaim. He had a genius for friendship and excelled in his pastoral work. There are many homes where he is remembered with affection because of his gracious ministry in times of need. 

He passed peacefully away, on 8 June 1960, in his eighty-second year and the fifty-eighth of his ministry.

Family

James was born on 19 February 1879 at Edgmond, Shropshire, to parents John, a bricklayer, and Sarah.

He married Elizabeth Martha Peplow (1875-1944)  in the summer of 1906 in the Newport Registration District, Shropshire. Census returns and birth records identify three children.

• Eric Fletcher (1907-1987) – a baker’s clerk (1939)     
• John Clifford (1909-1991) – a Methodist minister (1939)
• Harry Kenneth (1912-1983) – motor engineer & garage proprietor (1939)

James died on 8 June 1960 at Yarm on Tees, Yorkshire.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1902 Manchester V
• 1904 Gloucester
• 1906 Nelson
• 1909 Silsden
• 1915 Keighley I
• 1924 Otley
• 1932 Whitchurch
• 1942 Prees Green
• 1949 Wem (Sup)

References

Methodist Minutes 1960/204

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers