Slack, Jabez, William (1889-1942)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

JABEZ WILLIAM SLACK: born at Tideswell, Derbyshire, in August 1889. He entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry in 1916, following theological training at Hartley College. 

From the beginning he was a man to be relied upon, kindly, wise, of sound judgment, with capacity for control. In his proclamation of the Lord he loved he was clear, incisive, passionate, and winning. His intellectual interests were wide as life, and even through his long and painful illness he continued to grow. Nothing that concerned the well-being of his fellow-men was outside his province. Steel-true, blade-straight, his loyalty to others was a part of his loyalty to his Lord, and there was no bitterness in him, even when his spirit was sorely tried, 

Six or seven years ago the blow fell that later snatched him from active service. Henceforth his witness was that of a man gasping for breath, fighting for life and a measure of health, though to the end he cherished the thought of returning to his ministry. His sanity, his gaiety, and his sense of humour rarely failed him. A gallant soul, full of knightly courage and courtesy—of a surety, when he passed over all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.

He died on March 7, 1942.

Family

Jabez was born on 20 August 1889 at Tideswell, Buxton, Derbyshire, to parents William Middleton Slack, a printer & stationer (1890), and Ellen Slack. He was baptised on 27 August 1889 at Tideswell.

The 1911 census return records Jabez as a letterpress printer compositor machinist.

He married Hilda Beatrice Smith (1895-1959) in the summer of 1920 at Margate, Kent.

Jabez died on 7 March 1942 at Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1916 Poplar
• 1918 Stratford
• 1920 Ramsor
• 1924 Burnley I
• 1926 Lincoln I
• 1931 Southampton
• 1935 Alston
• 1936 Bradwell
• 1939 Dunstable (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1942/148

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers