Fryer, John William (1864-1940)

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1919

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1919

Early years

John was born in 1864 at Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, to parents George and Mary. His father was a local preacher for more than fifty years. The family moved to the neighbourhood of Sowerby Bridge, and it was on that circuit that John became a local preacher. His first sermon was preached at Greetland on 7 October 1883.

Before entering the ministry, John worked for two years as a teacher.

In January 1887, John became a hired local preacher at Pateley Bridge. He entered Manchester College in 1888.

Ministry

John’s obituary records that during his long and efficient ministry, he was a faithful pastor and a preacher of outstanding ability. To those who were privileged to know him initimately, he was a most interesting personality. The early days of his ministry aroused in the minds of the discerning hopes of a great pulpit career, but, being without personal ambition and detached from all thought of self-advancement, it pleased him to avoid as much publicity as an earnest discharge of his duties permitted. Always a keen student, he remained so to the end of his days.

Family

John lost his first wife after a long and trying illness. (She was possibly Ann Bailey, married in the summer of 1893 at Grantham, Lincolnshire.) Census returns identify two children.

• Elsie Marion (1895-1982) – married Harry Henshaw in 1919
• Herbert Arthur Bailey (1897-1972)

John married Rhoda Emma Martin (1880-1980) in the summer of 1912 at Chester, Cheshire. The 1911 census identifies that Rhoda was working for the family as a general servant in Chester. Records identify two children.

• Edmund William (1914-1985)
• Hilda May (1916-1986)

John died on 15 January 1940 at Bridlington, Yorkshire.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1889 Wakefield
• 1893 Scotter
• 1895 Bradford II
• 1899 Bradford VI
• 1900 Hull II
• 1902 Chesterfield I
• 1906 Chesterfield II
• 1908 Chester I
• 1912 Burnley I
• 1913 Dartmouth
• 1915 Ripley
• 1918 N Shields
• 1921 Helmsley
• 1922 Bedale
• 1926 Donington
• 1929 Brigg

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1919/816

Methodist Minutes 1940/171

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers