Young, Ernest George (1904-1996)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

ERNEST GEORGE YOUNG: born in Porth, South Wales, on 7th April 1904, was the eldest of three. On leaving school he worked at the coal face with his father and wanted to become a mining engineer. However, he was to follow his grandfather in entering the Methodist ministry. He enjoyed the fellowship of the local chapel and, encouraged by the minister, he became a lay pastor in Stoke Newington. Ernest served as a pre-collegiate probationer in the Chatham and Gillingham circuit, where he met Elisabeth, the daughter of the minister, who was to become his very dear wife. 

After training at Hartley College, and having offered for overseas service, he went on to Kingsmead College for a year. In July 1930 he went to Nigeria and was joined there in 1932, after their marriage, by Elisabeth. They served in the Eastern Nigeria District for 16 years during which time Ernest was superintendent minister of the Ikot Ekpene Circuit and Manager of its 80 schools. One of his former pupils who went on to become the Bishop of Ikot Ekpene paid the warmest of tributes to Ernest’s influence upon his life. After Nigeria, they served in the Norton-Radstock, Midsomer Norton, Winchester, and Portsmouth and Southsea circuits, and returned to Midsomer Norton on retirement in 1969. 

Wherever he served he was a dedicated colleague and friend to ministers and lay people alike. He was gifted in administration and his pastoral care and strong preaching are still remembered. Ernest’s experience as a miner led to his being invited, whilst minister in Midsomer Norton, to visit the local coal mine. This resulted in a warm rapport with the miners. In retirement he was a member of the Midsomer Norton Male Voice Choir and played a keen game of bowls. He died, following a long and very happy retirement with his devoted wife, on 3rd October 1996, in the ninety-third year of his life and the seventieth year of his ministry.

Family

Ernest was born in 1904 at Porth, Glamorgan, to parents Frederick James Young and Letitia Hammond Clarke.

He married Elisabeth Ellen Ridley (1910-2008) in the summer of 1932 in the Winchester Registration District, Hampshire. Elizabeth was a daughter of Rev. J.T. Ridley

Ernest died on October 1996 in the Bath and NE Somerset Registration District.

Circuits

• 1925 Chatham
• 1927 Hartley
• 1929 Birmingham Sellyoak
• 1930 Nigeria E
• 1948 Norton Rad
• 1955 Midsomer Norton
• 1957 Winchester
• 1964 Portsmouth &c
• 1969 Midsomer Norton

References

Methodist Minutes 1997/57

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers