Sutcliffe, Crossley (1846 - 1902)

Methodist Missionary

1 August 1902 Death of Crossley Sutcliffe
British Newspaper Archive Bedfordshire Times and Independent

Background.

Crossley Sutcliffe was born in Walsden, Lancashire, the son of John and Susy Sutcliffe (nee Crossley).  He was one of nine children and the brother of Rev Alfred Sutcliffe, also a Primitive Methodist minister.  On the 1871/1881 census, he is living in Lancashire with his family and working as a cotton weaver and a warehouseman.   He began his ministry as an itinerant preacher in 1866 in Liverpool, then 1876 in Welshpool in 1878 in Chorley.

Ministry

In 1885 he moves to Bedfordshire with his wife and family, working as a Town Missionary.  He was based at the “Greyfriars Mission Rooms, Hassett Street.  Several local newspaper articles refer to his work in the town.  In September 1901, it is reported that Crossley is very ill.  It seems from later articles, he is suffering from advanced heart disease and that a fund was set up for him in the town to provide some income for him and his family.  In May 1902 he leaves Bedford to return to his home in Lancashire.  On 1 August 1902, his death in Blackburn and a write up of his work is reported in the Bedfordshire Times and Independent.  It states that the fund raised £200 and Crossley is described with affection, as visiting the poor who “understood so well their wants, their likes…or better how to help them”.  It was said he was a good preacher and, “as a frequent visitor of the sick, he always carried cheerfulness to the sufferer: while at the bedside of the dying, he was a comforter indeed.”

Family

Crossley married Grace Turner in 1869 in Haslingdon, Lancashire.

Children

  • Susy A Sutcliffe b 1870
  • John Sutcliffe b 1873
  • Arthur Sutcliffe b 1875
  • Alfred Sutcliffe b 1877
  • James Thomas Sutcliffe b 1879

Circuits.

  • 1866: Liverpool II
  • 1868-75: not shown
  • 1876: Welshpool
  • 1878: Chorley
  • 1879: disappears
  • 1885 – 1902  Bedford

References

William Leary’s Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers, 1990

Census records

Birth, Marriage, Death records

British Newspaper Archives: Bedfordshire Times and Independent and Bedfordshire Mercury

 

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