Young, Arthur Iestyn (1904-1981)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

ARTHUR IESTYN YOUNG: born at Tonypandy, South Wales, on 18th July 1904. He was the son of a miner and on leaving school served for a period of seven years in the colliery. Brought up in the caring and lively Wain Court Mission he became an accredited local preacher at the age of seventeen. He was trained for the ministry at Hartley College, leaving in 1928. He served in the following circuits: Frome, Southampton, Grimsby (I and Flottergate), Lincoln (Wesley), Bradford (Shipley), Derby (Derwent), Southampton, London (Blackheath and Lee), and Margate. 

Iestyn was a gifted and eloquent preacher of the Gospel. Preaching always without notes, he possessed a well stored, disciplined and scholarly mind. He was rightly proud of the many young men he had helped in their candidature for the ministry and in the work of local preaching. Amongst his many interests was a great enthusiasm for the Fellowship of the Kingdom Movement. A faithful and diligent pastor, he will be remembered for countless acts of personal kindness. He loved to be in the homes of his people. 

He was supported throughout forty-eight years of his ministry by his wife Edna, enabling him to offer a tireless and full-rounded ministry. In his final days Iestyn referred to his considerable suffering as ‘a trifling matter’ and he died full of faith and assurance on 28th August 1981 in the seventy-eighth year of his life and the fifty-third year of his ministry.

Family

Iestyn was born on 18 July 1904 at Tonypandy, Glamorgan, to parents Arthur and Elizabeth Ann.

He married Eileen May Back (1907-1997) in early 1934 in the Pontypridd Registration District, Glamorgan.

Iestyn died on 28 August 1981 at Fremantle, Southampton, Hampshire.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1928 Frome
• 1929 Southampton
• 1932 Grimsby
• 1936 Lincoln Wesley
• 1940 Bradford Shipley
• 1947 Derby Derwent
• 1951 Southampton
• 1956 London Blackheath
• 1963 Margate
• 1969 Southampton (S)

References

Methodist Minutes 1982/91

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers