Burroughs, John (1808-1892)

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Primitive Methodist Magazine 1865

Early Years

John was born on 27 June 1808 at Old Dalby, Leicestershire. His parents, James and Elizabeth, were Wesleyans; his father a local preacher.  At the age of 13, John went into service on a farm with a cruel master who mocked his religion. He drifted away from the church. In 1826, John heard the preaching of John Benton and John Wedgwood and was converted. He re-joined with the Wesleyans and became a local preacher. Later he was invited to join the Wesleyan Ministry, but a sense of mental unfitness, together with his natural modesty, made him shrink from it. After marriage, John moved to Hull. Here he was asked by the Sailors Institute Church to become their minister and again approached by the Wesleyans to become a travelling preacher. However John found his future in a Primitive Methodist revival in Hull.

Ministry

John was recognised by William Clowes for his usefulness and was called into the PM Ministry at the age of 30.

John’s obituary records; ‘His leading desires in circuit work were peace and prosperity. And he faithfully and prudently lived in the spirit of the former, and laboured and prayed for the latter and not without considerable success. The hundreds of members added to his circuits, as well as the old chapels enlarged and new ones built, were his seals and crowns of rejoicing.’

Family

John married Ann  Cooper (1786-1860) on 10 June 1833 at Sculcoates, Yorkshire.

He married Ann Banks (1814-1880) in Hull in the summer of 1865.

John married Sarah Anne Spenceley (1830-1918) in Hull in 1882.

John died on 6 June 1892 at Beverley, Yorkshire.

Circuits

• 1839 Hull
• 1840 Whitehaven
• 1841 Alston
• 1844 Brompton
• 1846 Whitby
• 1848 Stockton
• 1849 Northampton
• 1851 Maidstone
• 1853 Barton on Humber
• 1855 Hornsea
• 1857 Howden & Selby
• 1858 Selby
• 1860 Alford
• 1862 Winterton
• 1864 Pocklington
• 1865 Scotter
• 1867 Louth
• 1870 Driffield
• 1872 Barton on Humber
• 1875 Patrington
• 1878 Hull l (Sup)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1865/513 (portrait); 1860/758 (1st wife);1893/489

PM Minutes 1892/27

The Primitive Methodist, 1892/438

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

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers