Hodges, John (1869-1937)
Early years
John was born in 1869 at Tredegar, Monmouthshire, to parents Joseph and Maria. Joseph, a shoemaker, was a circuit official and school superintendent.
John worked as a coal miner before entering the ministry.
His obituary records that John was brought into the service of Christ by an instantaneous and revolutionary act of conversion. He quickly began to serve in church and Sunday school, and many found Christ in his Bible class. He was active in the struggle for Trades Unions amongst the miners of South Wales, and might have found his sphere in the leadership of working men, but felt the call of the ministry. Although married and with a young family he offered and was accepted.
Ministry
John spent six years as Candidates Examiner.
Virile in mind, he could speak with authority on many subjects. In synods and on committees he was listened to with respect, for he was always wise in counsel and statesmanlike in his judgements. As a pastor he was loved in all his circuits. Manly and vigorous, he was always a leader. His devotional life and his fidelity to great principles inspired others.
Family
John married Hannah Martin (1867-1959) in late 1888 at Tredegar, Monmouthshire. Census returns identify nine of ten children.
- Frederick Stanley (1890-1893)
- Edith May (b1892)
- Alice Maud (1895-1974) – married Elvidge Waby in 1921
- Edna Blodwyn (1896-1985)
- Marion Annie (1898-1968) – married Alfred Bernard Green, a worsted manufacturer’s salesman (1937), in 1925
- Malcolm Byron (1899-1977)
- Phyllis Oriel (1901-1975)
- Kathleen Constance (b1903)
- Nancy Mavis (1908-1989) – married Ernest H Stevens in 1935
John died on 24 April 1937 at Silsden, Yorkshire.
Circuits
- 1894 Chichester
- 1896 Braintree
- 1899 Alford
- 1901 Leicester I
- 1904 Grimsby II
- 1912 Darwen
- 1918 Silsden
- 1923 Bolton I
- 1930 Heckmondwike
- 1935 Silsden (Sup)
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1923/852
Methodist Minutes 1937/207
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
Comments about this page
John Hodges and Hannah Martin are my great grandparents on my mothers side. Joyce Waby is the oldest daughter of Elvidge and Maud Waby, of Cleethorpes.
I was born in Grimsby, now living in Canada.
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