Taylor, Henry (1861-1945)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

HENRY TAYLOR: born at Pontefract on 14th September 1861. He began to preach at the age of twenty-one, and some years later was accepted as a Connexional Lay Evangelist by the Primitive Methodist Church. His truly pioneer work in the Doe Lea Valley Mission and Hemsworth revealed the man he was. 

In 1904 he entered the Ministry and, apart from a term in Burnley, the whole of his active ministry was spent in Yorkshire. He retired in 1928 and, after a period of active supernumeraryship in York, settled in Scotland in 1934. 

He had a keen sense of humour, and his influence over young people was most marked. There was no parade of his methods and no mistaking the genuineness of his friendship. He was gentle and kind to the aged, the suffering, and those sorely tried. He brought sunshine into many dark places and peace to many a troubled heart. A great organizer and a worker who never neglected his duty, he was a preacher with a living message which bore fruit in the conversion of many. 

The last few days of his life were passed in great pain, but his radiant spirit and faith were brighter than ever. He passed to his reward on 25th February 1945, in the eighty-fourth year of his age and the forty-fifth year of his ministry.

Family

Henry was born on 14 September 1861 at Pontefract, Yorkshire, to parents Henry, a tailor and draper and PM local preacher, and Sarah. He was baptised on 3 October 1861 at Pontefract by William Bennett.

Henry worked as a joiner before becoming a PM lay missionary (1881).

The 1933 Methodist Who’s Who records that Henry was Chairman of Hemsworth School Board and Education Committee.

He married Annie Alice Goodson (1863-1943) in early 1891 in the Berkhampstead Registration District, Hertfordshire. Census returns identify one child.

• Dorothy (1897-1983) – married Thomas E Nichol in 1927

Henry died on 25 February 1945 at Liff, Angus, Scotland.

Circuits

• 1896 Lay Missionary
• 1904 Hemsworth
• 1905 Sheffield I
• 1908 Burnley I
• 1912 Keighley II
• 1915 Shipley
• 1920 Sheffield IV
• 1924 Sheffield Mission
• 1928 York (Sup)

References

Methodist Minutes 1945/131

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers