Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
BERNARD MONTAGUE SHEPHARD : born at Mexborough in 1901, being the son of the Rev. William (John) Shephard. Accepted for the Ministry in 1919, he entered Hartley College after serving a pre-collegiate year at Docking. He was a keen and brilliant student then and to the end of his life. He rendered sterling service in all his circuits, which included Selby, Nantwich, Barton-on-Humber, Lincoln, Tadcaster, Scarborough, Bradford (Woodhouse Grove), Ilkeston, Southport (North), and Runcorn, In six of these circuits he served five-year terms.
He possessed a very lively mind and heart, and was of a very sensitive nature. Conscientious to an extreme degree in all things pertaining to the work of the Ministry, he was thorough in pulpit preparation and pastoral work. His preaching was dramatic and compelling, marked by original thinking and the fruits of careful study. His sympathetic nature, and his knowledge of psychology, made him a tower of strength to his people in their troubles and a true son of consolation.
The last eight years of his life were darkened by recurring illness, but he battled on in the active work. The kindness of people at Marshside, Southport, and at Runcorn, did much to lighten the last tragic months before his death on 17th February 1956, in the fifty-fifth year of his age and the thirty-fifth of his ministry.
Family
Bernard was born on 4 February 1901 at Mexborough, Yorkshire, to parents John Shephard, a PM minister, and Emma Keziah Haywood.
He married Vera Warren (1902-1999) in the spring of 1930 in the Lincoln Registration District, Lincolnshire. Birth records identify one child.
- Esme Pepita Warren (1934-2015) – married Kenneth R Clark in 1957
Bernard died on 17 February 1956 at Runcorn, Cheshire.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1923 Supply
- 1925 Nantwich
- 1926 Barton on Humber
- 1929 Lincoln I
- 1933 Tadcaster
- 1935 Scarborough St Sep
- 1940 Bradford Woodhouse
- 1845 Ilkeston Bourne
- 1950 Southport N
- 1955 Runcorn
References
Methodist Minutes 1956/193
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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