Pritchard, Edward Ernest (1887-1963)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

ERNEST EDWARD PRITCHARD : born in Birkenhead in 1887. He volunteered for service overseas while still in Hartley College and in 1911 was appointed to Eastern Nigeria where he served for twenty-one years. During this time the District witnessed a Forward Movement which carried it from the banks of the Cross River three hundred miles to the north. In all this he played a prominent part, opening a number of churches and schools and laying the foundations for the Ituk Mban Hospital.

He quickly mastered the Efik tongue and became so expert as to rival the best tribal orators. A severe illness brought him near to death in 1932. Back in England, after four years of suffering nobly borne he served at Ossett, Market Weighton and Goole and, as a supernumerary, in the Birmingham Elmdon and South West Circuits.

Wherever he laboured, in Africa or in Britain, he was deeply loved, for he himself loved deeply. In all his work he had the devoted help of his wife, who was the daughter of the Rev. John Bradley and a Local Preacher. Their hearts and home were ever open to any in trouble; they showed extraordinary care for non-collegiate probationers. He kept up his studies in the Efik language, had recently published an Efik Grammar, and was helping in the revision of the Efik Hymnal when, on the same day, he and his wife were taken to hospital. She died unexpectedly the next day and, later, two major operations were performed in an attempt to save his life, but to no avail. 

Keeping his faith, courage, and gracious manner to the end, he died in the early hours of 21 April 1963, in the fifty-first year of his ministry and the seventy-sixth year of his life.

Family

Edward was born on 27 August 1887 at Birkenhead, Cheshire, to parents William Pitt Pritchard, a baker & shopkeeper (1901) and insurance agent (1911), and Sarah Lawton. His brother James was also a PM minister.

He married Muriel Emily Bradley (1887-1963) in the spring of 1913 at Pontefract, Yorkshire.

Edward died on 21 April 1963 at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital,  Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1911 Calabar, WA
• 1933 Nigeria
• 1935 Supernum
• 1936 Ossett Q St (Ac)
• 1942 Market Weighton
• 1951 Goole
• 1955 Birmingham (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1963/205

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers