Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
TOM MORRIS: born at Caergwrle, Clwyd on 26th October 1894. After a short period of teaching, which was interrupted by the outbreak of war, he entered the R.A.M.C. serving overseas, including Salonika. On demobilisation he was accepted for the ministry and sent to the Canterbury and Whitstable Circuit for a pre-collegiate year. He entered Hartley College in 1920. He served in the Stoke and Longton and Ramsor Circuits as a probationer and it was at the latter that he met Nellie Dennis whom he later married. After ordination he served in the following circuits: Blackburn III, Oswestry (Chapel Street). Bradford (Great Horton) (where he became Synod Secretary), Bolton (Bridge Street), and Leicester (East).
At Leicester he had the task of bringing together an ex-Wesleyan and an ex-Primitive Methodist Circuit and his patient understanding and friendly disposition did much to achieve this. Something of his ability as an administrator is seen in the fact that for all but the first five years of his ministry he was a Superintendent. His responsibilities presented him with opportunities to which he responded with enthusiasm. His preaching was carefully prepared and as a pastor he was always sensitive to people’s needs. Although he took his vocation seriously, he was full of fun and good humour, especially when giving his support to the local football team.
Tom held a high view of the ministry, and the brotherhood of the ministry meant a lot to him. He always followed events with keen interest, but latterly felt that the ministry was not what it used to be. Like many he befriended. he too had his own personal joys and sorrows, yet he was wonderfully sustained by the richness of his faith in Christ. He was greatly blessed with a wife, Nellie, who shared to the full his ideals and hopes, and supported him throughout their ministry together. As a supernumerary he continued as a much-loved chaplain of the Towers Hospital in Leicester and preached in the circuit for a number of years.
He died after a short illness on Christmas Eve 1980, in the eighty-seventh year of his age and the sixty-second year of his ministry.
Family
Tom was born on 26 October 1894 at Caergwrie, Flintshire, to parents John, a butcher, and Alice.
He married Nellie Florence Dennis (1900-1992) in late 1926 in the Uttoxeter Registration District, Staffordshire. Birth records identify three children.
- Dennis J (1928-1928)
- Eileen M (b1930)
- David T (b1935)
Tom died on 24 December 1980 at Leicester, Leicestershire.
Circuits
- 1919 Canterbury
- 1920 Hartley
- 1922 Stoke & Longton
- 1923 Ramsor
- 1925 Blackburn III
- 1932 Oswestry
- 1937 Bradford Great Horton
- 1946 Bolton Bridge St
- 1952 Leicester E
- 1960 Leicester (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1981/80
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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