Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
ARTHUR EDWARD MILLS: born in Swindon, Wiltshire on 17th August 1899. After working in the Borough Surveyor’s Office, he entered Hartley College in 1924. He served in the Primitive Methodist Church in the Stratford (London), Scotter, Dorking, Abergavenny, Bristol V, and Winterton Circuits. After Union, his circuits included South Shields, Halifax (North), Middleton-in-Teesdale, Nottingham (North), Clay Cross, Newcastle (Staffs), (Brunswick), Melton Mowbray, Chesterfield (Saltersgate), Tipton (Bell Street), Stour Vale, Stoke-on-Trent (Longton and Fenton), Darwen and Warrington.
Arthur was a quiet, self-effacing man who shunned the limelight, and in all his appointments he showed the qualities of a quiet humour, wisdom and determination. He was a very caring person who gave priority to visiting his people and was a very supportive colleague. He had an orderly mind and after studying gained a diploma qualifying him to be a teacher of shorthand and typing. From his father he inherited a gift of poetry, and he wrote a number of hymns. Three of his hymn services were published by the Epworth Press.
In all his activities he was supported by his beloved wife Doris who was his constant companion. They became known to a wide circle of friends through their holidays together at Methodist and CE Holiday Homes, where they often acted as host and hostess. After retirement, Arthur was for several years an active supernumerary in the Warrington Circuit. As a keen Free Church man he served as hospital chaplain and more recently and almost to the time of his death as secretary of the local Free Church Federal Council. When he retired he attended woodwork classes, and several churches have benefited from articles of furniture which he made and presented to them.
In January 1983 he suffered a slight stroke but made a good recovery. On the 18th August 1983, after spending a happy birthday in North Wales on the previous day, he died suddenly and peacefully in the eighty-fifth year of his age and the fifty-seventh year of his ministry.
Family
Arthur was born on 17 August 1899 at Swindon, Wiltshire, to parents William, a general labourer at railway works (1911), and Martha.
Arthur began work as temporary clerk with the Great Western Railway in November 1915.
He married Marjorie Lydia Morris (1908-1989) in the summer of 1931 in the Abergavenny Registration District, Monmouthshire. The marriage broke down and Marjorie married Hebert White in 1951.
He married Doris Beasley (1904-1994) in the summer of 1949 in the Stoke on Trent Registration District, Staffordshire.
Arthur died on 18 August 1983 at Warrington, Cheshire.
Circuits
- 1923 London Stratford
- 1924 College
- 1927 Scotter
- 1928 Docking
- 1929 Abergavenny
- 1930 Bristol V
- 1931 Winterton
- 1933 S Shields
- 1934 Halifax N
- 1936 Middleton in Teesdale
- 1937 Nottingham N
- 1940 Clay Cross
- 1944 Newcastle, Staffs
- 1947 Melton Mowbray
- 1949 Chesterfield Salt
- 1952 Tipton Bell St
- 1958 Stour Vale
- 1963 Stoke – Longton
- 1965 Darwin
- 1967 Warrington
- 1968 Warrington (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1984/75
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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