Waite, George (1815-1864)

Ministry

A transcription of the obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by G Obern is attached. He records the following.

“Brother Waite was a man of real piety, of a meek and quiet spirit, and his preaching abilities were respectable. In 1843 his wife died in the Lord. Soon after he was taken out by the Shefford Circuit. The spheres of his future labours were Petersfield, Wallingford, Andover, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Motcombe, Newbury, and Brinkworth. On these stations he was made a blessing in building up believers, and establishing the weak, and many were added to the societies. His health failing, in the year 1856 he was superannuated. He then removed to Aylesbury, where he resided about three years and was rendered a blessing. From thence he removed to Newbury, where he laboured according to, and perhaps beyond, his strength. He then removed to Lambourne, where he was useful and highly esteemed.”

Obern explains that the gap in the stations where he was not shown between 1839 and 1842 was a result of his first marriage taking place before the end of his probation.

Family

George was born on 27 May 1815 at Hoe Benham, Berkshire.

He married Martha Giltrow (1813-1843) in the spring of 1838 at Stanbridge, Bedfordshire. Census returns identify one child.

• Salome (b1841)  – married George Pickett in 1864

He married Elizabeth Short (1835-1904) in late 1856 at Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. Census returns identify two children.

• George Jesse Thomas (1857-1920)  – a national schoolmaster and organist (1911); died in Victoria, Australia
• Zilpah (abt1862-1938)  – married  Edwin Gosling, a commercial clerk (1901), in 1887; emigrated to Australia in 1912  

George died on 17 February 1864 at Lambourne, Berkshire.

Circuits

• 1837 Shefford
• 1838 Micheldever
• 1839 not shown
• 1842 Shefford
• 1843 not shown
• 1845 Wallingford
• 1846 Andover
• 1847 Lymington
• 1848 Buckingham
• 1850 Motcombe
• 1852 Petersfield
• 1853 Newbury
• 1855 Brinkworth
• 1856 (Sup)
• 1857 Aylesbury
• 1859 Newbury

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1864/354

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers