Wilson, Harold Dunn (1893-1969)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

HAROLD DUNN WILSON: born at Stockton-on-Tees in 1893, son of the Rev. J. Bastow Wilson. After service with the British Expeditionary Forces in Salonika during the First World War, he was accepted as a candidate for the Primitive Methodist ministry and became a student at Hartley College. His active ministry began at Dartmouth in 1921 and included periods of service in Hastings, Kennington Park, Cross Keys, Bishops Castle, Worcester, Quarry Bank, London (Leyton), ending at Burton-on-Trent (Parker St.) in 1960. 

His was a dedicated ministry, marked by faithfulness in the proclamation of the Gospel, great pastoral concern, and skilful administration of church and circuit affairs. He brought to his people the fruits of his wide and careful reading, and, above all, of his rich experience of the grace of God in Christ. He took an active part in the wider life of the church and served for a time as Scripture Examination Secretary, an office he found congenial because of his own knowledge of and love for the Bible. He also served for some years as Secretary of the Primitive Methodist Orphan Home, work in which his social concern and love for people found a means of expression. 

Graciousness of spirit and true friendship characterized him throughout his ministry, and never more so than in his last years, for when he retired in Folkestone in 1960, he attached himself to a small village society, to the members of which he was a true father-in-God. After a brief but trying illness he died on 29 November 1969 in the seventy-sixth year of his age and the forty-ninth of his ministry.

Family

Harold was born on 22 September 1893 at Stockton on Tees, Co. Durham, to parents Joseph Bastow Wilson, a PM minister, and Sarah Dunn

He married Martha Elizabeth Freelove (b1893) in the spring of 1925 in the Woolwich Registration District, London. Birth records identify two children.

• John B (b abt1927)
• David Dunn (1933-1968)

Harold died on 29 November 1969 at Folkstone, Kent.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1921 Dartmouth
• 1922 Hastings
• 1924 Kennington Park &c
• 1925 Patrington
• 1929 Cross Keys
• 1933 Bishop’s Castle &c
• 1938 Worcester
• 1944 Quarry Bank
• 1950 London Leyton
• 1956 Burton on Trent, Parker
• 1960 Folkstone (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1970/179

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers