Sharman, William (1842-1921)

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1898

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1922

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1915

Early years

William was born on 26 February 1842 at Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, to parents John and Elizabeth. John was a framework knitter. Both parents were Methodists.

William worked as a green-grocer’s assistant before entering the ministry.

William was converted at the age of sixteen under the ministry of Rev. Charles Henry Boden. Within a few months, he received a note to preach and four years later was ‘called out’ by the Melton Mowbray circuit.

Ministry

William’s obituary records that he was a good pastor, was welcomed in the homes of the people, and carried sane counsel and the consolations of the grace of God to the needy and sorrowing.

In the pulpit, he was not brilliant – flights of oratory were not in his line – but what was much more important and essential, he was an able preacher of the Gospel, and earnestly endeavoured to expound the central verities and the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. He had a cultured mind, with a fair understanding of the Hebrew and Greek languages.

Family

William married Mary Anne Fearn (1839-1915) in the summer of 1867 at Mugginton, Derbyshire. Mary published a book of poems under the title ‘Fern Fronds’ in 1896, and also wrote a poem about the Audley pit disaster in 1895.

Census returns identify four children.

• William Edwin (1868-1928) – a joiner/builder
• Edmund Ernest (1871-1874)
• Francis Beeston (1873-1953) – a clothier
• Charles Robert (1875-1938) – a clothier

William died on 17 December 1921 at Clowne, Derbyshire.

Circuits

• 1863 Sleaford
• 1864 Belper
• 1866 Ilkeston
• 1867 Nottingham I
• 1869 Church Gresley
• 1871 Leicester I
• 1873 Grantham
• 1874 Lincoln II
• 1877 Church Gresley
• 1880 Wirksworth
• 1882 Mansfield
• 1885 Hanley
• 1887 Lincoln II
• 1889 Staveley
• 1892 Coventry
• 1896 Banbury
• 1897 Leek
• 1900 Newark
• 1902 Derby (Sup)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1898/883; 1915/918 (wife); 1922/365

PM Minutes 1922/281

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers