Winterburn, Fred (1875-1960)

Christian Messenger 1919

Obituary

FRED WINTERBURN: born at Methley, Leeds, in 1875. He had a good heritage of a Christian home, and thus encountered his Lord in early life. He was accepted as a candidate for the Primitive Methodist Ministry, and after being trained at Hartley College, he was appointed in 1897 to his first circuit, Barnard Castle, as assistant to the President of the Conference. Thus began an active ministry of thirty-seven years which was maintained throughout at a high standard. He travelled in the following circuits: Selby, Northampton, Middlesbrough, Long Eaton, Hull, Sunderland, Wakefield, and Huddersfield. Here he retired in 1934, but for ten years he continued to exercise an influential, if less active, ministry of preaching, of pastoral visitation, and gracious hospitality in the home. He was a shrewd, cautious Yorkshireman. His opinions, slowly formed, were held as firm convictions. He was an omnivorous, reflective reader, with a particular interest in philosophy. He had distinct musical and artistic gifts, and also loved his garden. But above all he was a Methodist minister, a thoughtful and studious preacher, a sympathetic pastor, and an able administrator. His last years were spent at Cambridge, where he gave unremitting devotion to his invalid wife. He died very suddenly on 12 January 1960, in the eighty-fifth year of his age and the sixty-third of his ministry.

Family

Fred was born in 1875 at Methley, Leeds, Yorkshire, to parents Levi and Selena. Levi was a coal miner (1881) and later a general shop-keeper (1901).

Fred married Mary Jane Spence (abt 1872-1960) in the summer of 1901 at Hull, Yorkshire. Mary died two weeks after Fred on 26 January 1960. Birth Records identify one child.

  • Thomas Fred (1911-1983) – an architect (1960)

Fred died on 12 January 1960 at Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.

Circuits

  • Hartley
  • 1897 Barnard Castle
  • 1898 Selby
  • 1901 Northampton I
  • 1904 Middlesbrough
  • 1908 Long Eaton
  • 1912 Hull II
  • 1917 Selby
  • 1920 Sunderland II
  • 1924 Wakefield
  • 1930 Huddersfield
  • 1934 Huddersfield (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1960/191

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

 

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