Welbourne, George (1811-1850)

Ministry

A transcription of the obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by Thomas Crompton is attached. He writes as follows about George.

“As to his intellectual character, it may be said that he possessed a mind of more than ordinary strength. His studies had not been very various; but he had much native talent, and withal, what may be fitly designated uncommon mental nerve. All who were well acquainted with him know that he did not observe great niceties in his remarks on some occasions, when satisfied of their truthfulness. Though some of his phrases and illustrations lacked good taste, yet, inasmuch as they possessed strength, and point, and appropriateness, he betrayed not the least fear or delicacy in putting them forth, even in the presence of persons of quite different casts of mind and habits. He was a man of impassioned feeling, lively imagination, and great fluency of speech; and his mind found congeniality and scope in imaginative exercises, while his thoughts were often dressed in a garb of figures, similes, and lengthened comparisons, which were generally appropriate and pithy.”

The obituary records that George’s mother died when he was about six, depriving him of a religious role model. He fell into bad ways. He  had religious stirrings on at least two occasions and became a ‘backslider’ on each occasion before his final conversion after which he put all his energies into work within the church.

Family

George was born on 14 October 1811 at Hessle, nr. Hull, Yorkshire, to parents George and Hannah. he was baptised on 1 December 1911 at Hessle.

He married Jane Parker (b abt1823) in October 1840 at Brigg, Lincolnshire. Census returns identify four children.

• George Parker (1842-1918) – a machine fitter and shopkeeper (1871)      
• Charlotte Parker (1844-1902) – a domestic servant (1861); married James Bray, a labourer (1891), in 1888   
• John Parker (1848-1910) – a mechanic (1891)          
• Dinah Annie (1850-1879)     

George died on 1 October 1850 at Hessle, Yorkshire.

Circuits

• 1836 Hull
• 1842 Scarborough
• 1843 Swinefleet
• 1845 York
• 1847 Pontefract
• 1849 Burnley
• 1850 Colne

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1851/11

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Note: 

1. The surname is spelt with a final ‘e’ in Leary. Other records spell the surname without the final ‘e’, or as Welburn
2. The marriage took place in October 1840, not 1841 as stated in the obituary.