Leadbetter, William George (1871-1955)
Early years
William was born on 16 March 1871 at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, to parents William and Emily. William, a fishmonger, was also a local preacher.
William was working as a fishmonger before entering the ministry.
Ministry
William’s time in the Rhymney Valley coincided with the Welsh Revival, into which he threw himself heart and soul.
William built churches or schools at Coventry and Collycroft, Blackwood and Bargoed, Harbertonford, and Sandy, Bedfordshire.
Weakness of voice and defective hearing compelled his retirement in 1927. This was a very keen disappointment to him, for he was passionately fond of preaching and had been singularly successful on some of his circuits. He settled in Bromsgrove, where he continued to preach as ability and opportunity permitted.
He served as a member of the Bromsgrove Urban District Council, a School manager, Chairman of the School Governors and a member of the Library Committee, to which he bequeathed his fine collection of books.
Literature
William authored the following.
At the sign of the shoe: a romance of the commonwealth
The story of Bromsgrove
Like unto leaven, or Master Desbrowe of Stonecliffe
Family
William married Emily Jane Crawford (1870-1938) in the summer of 1898 at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Census returns identify two children.
- Doris Crawford (1899-1988) – married Walter A Feltham in 1924
- Arnold Crawford (1904-1997) – a farmer (1955)
William died on 22 June 1955 at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1894 Horncastle
- 1896 Wakefield
- 1897 Woburn Sands
- 1898 Truro
- 1899 Dartmouth
- 1901 Rhymney Valley
- 1905 Coventry
- 1908 Bedford
- 1912 Wolverhampton I
- 1914 Radstock
- 1919 Cirencester
- 1922 Maidstone
- 1925 Craven Arms
- 1926 Bromsgrove (S)
References
Primitive Methodist Magazine 1924/76
Methodist Minutes 1955/148
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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