Roe, Harvey (1854-1934)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1914
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1914

Early years

Harvey was born in 1854 at Cheddleton, Staffordshire to parents Thomas Armishaw Roe and Mary Rowe. His brothers, David and Bryan, were Methodist Ministers in America and Africa.

Ministry

Harvey was disappointed at his failure to enter the work in Africa. A shipwreck, that shattered for a time his wife’s health, compelled him to return home before he could reach Fernando Po.

In the early days of his ministry, Harvey served as the leader of forlorn hopes. He saved Newtown from disaster, his appointment to Worcester saved PM honour in that city; at Torquay and Watford he made substantial progress in raising the PM Church profile.

Harvey created the Harrow and Northwood Mission. Without capital, or comrades, or organisation, he built a powerful circuit in a locality where Primitive Methodism was unknown.

His obituary records that Harvey was a man of strong personality, who carried through the tasks assigned to him with zeal and thoroughness. His preaching was evangelistic, and he had the unbounded joy of witnessing a great host of conversions. He was an organiser and an administrator of exceptional power and skill. As a leader he won the admiration of those who were outside the Church, and the confidence and affection of those who were within.

Family

Harvey married Elizabeth Annie Cottrell (1863-1942) on 8 January 1884 at Eccleshall, Staffordshire.  They were married in a congregational chapel, under the rites of the Wesleyan Church, by his brother David, a Wesleyan Minister. Census returns identify three children.

  • Annie May (1885-1972) – married Harry Aldridge, a PM Minister
  • Harold Thomas Cottrell Harvey (1886-1949) – a PM minister; emigrated to Canada in 1911
  • Eric Hartley (1904-1952)

Harvey died on 7 December 1934 at Harrow, Middlesex.

Circuits

  • Sunderland
  • 1878 Silverdale
  • 1880 Oldhill
  • 1882 Newtown Church
  • 1884 Macclesfield
  • 1885 St George’s Bay
  • 1886 Worcester
  • 1889 Lichfield
  • 1895 Watford
  • 1901 Torquay
  • 1902 Northwood
  • 1909 Birmingham
  • 1918 Bromley
  • 1920 Berkhampstead
  • 1923 Harrow (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1914/506

Methodist Minutes 1935/201

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Ye Olde Family Tree on Ancestry.com

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