Readers of this Blog may have noticed, from some of the stories I have penned for it, my penchant for exploring the quirky little coincidences which I unearth during my researching.
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| Manchester Road Methodist Church,September, 2021 |
One such was the odd fact that two successive rectors of St. Clement’s, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester were born in Holcombe, a small village near Bury, Lancashire.
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| 9, St. Clement’s Road, September, 2021 |
Given that at least Holcombe is quite local, two successive Wesleyan Methodists Ministers being both born in the more distant Winchcombe, Gloucestershire is an even stranger coincidence.
Rev. Charles William Martin was followed by Rev. William Ernest Beet, both residing at 9, St. Clement’s Road.
They are recorded in Slater’s directory of 1909 and on the census of 1911, respectively.
Rev. Martin was born on the 13th May, 1862 the oldest child of John Martin, a tailor, and his wife Mary Ann (née Smith or Groves)
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| Interior of Manchester Road Methodist Church, 1950 |
He entered the ministry in 1888 initially serving in Staffordshire and the Croydon district of Surrey before moving first to St. Mary’s Church, Bedford in 1895 and thence to Lancashire.
He married Mabel Penzer Smith in the Wesleyan Church, Worsley, Lancashire on Tuesday, 19th April, 1898. The couple had a daughter, Catherine Elizabeth born in Stockport on 8th May 1905 and a son, Benjamin, born in the June quarter of 1910 while they were residing in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. One other child died young, and there were possibly further children born later than 1911. The 1911 census records the family at 46, Unthank Road, Norwich, Norfolk. In 1939, the national Register shows Rev Martin had retired and settled in South Wales. with his wife and unmarried daughter.
He died on the 22nd December, 1954 in St. David's Hospital, Cardiff, South Wales. After an inquest his death was ruled as an “accidental death” by the coroner.
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| Interior of Manchester Road Methodist Church, 1950 |
Rev. Martin had died of pneumonia brought on by a fall on some steps in a schoolyard close to his home at 44, Cornerswell Road, Penarth, South Wales. His wife, Mabel Penzer, had pre-deceased him in Penarth on the 2nd February, 1947 Rev.Martin left an estate, assessed at £4,528-17s - 4d (= £126,812)
Rev. William Ernest Beet M. A. was born on the 25th August, 1869, also in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. His parents were Dr. Joseph Agar Beet D.D. (Glas), a pre-eminent Wesleyan Methodist Theologian, (1) and Sarah Elizabeth (née Baugh) who was the daughter of Samuel an auctioneer and local Methodist Preacher of Wrexham, Denbighshire, North Wales. After schooling at Kingswood and Rydal Mount Shools in Colwyn Bay, North Wales he entered London University (graduating with an M.A. in 1893). He was ordained into the ministry in 1892
William Ernest married Matilda Vercoe Jeffery in the Redruth registration district of Cornwall in the December quarter of 1903. The couples only child, Ernest Agar (2), was born in Oldham, Lancashire on the 8th July, 1904. He followed in his father’s footsteps, also publishing works of Theology viz. “The Roman See in the First Centuries” in, “Essays for the times” in December, 1906 and in July, 1916 “A Thousand Years of Papal History”
In 1909 he was appointed as an examiner in Classics at the Didsbury College. Previously to this appointment he was a minister for the City Road Circuit (3) and recorded living at 30, Church Road, Urmston, Lancashire.
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| Frontage of Manchester Road Methodist Church, 2020 |
Pictures, Interior pictures of Manchester Road Methodist Church 1950 m 71952 and m 71953 by Newport Wesley C. - Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Archives http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
Remaining pictures from the collection of Tony Goulding
Notes:-
1) Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire on the 27th September, 1840, the son of a manufacturer of that city. Dr. Joseph Agar Beet D.D. (Glas) was a pre-eminent Wesleyan Methodist Theologian who published several volumes on the subject: among which were, commentaries on the Epistles of St Paul, Manuals of Theology, “New Life in Christ” and two which created some controversy “The Last Things” and “Holiness Symbolic and Real” He also went on a lecture tour in the United States. For 20 years from 1885 he was the Professor of Systematic Theology at the Wesleyan College, Richmond, Surrey.
2) Ernest Agar studied Physics at London University, became a teacher first at Epworth College in Rhly, Flintshire, North Wales and then at The Nautical College, Pangbourne, Berkshire. He published a number of books aimed at popularising the study of astronomy. (e.g., “The Stars Above”, ”Astronomy Old and New”, “A Guide to the Sky”, and “Teaching Astronomy in School”) He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1930. Ten years later he joined the British Astronomical Society, serving as its secretary from 1951 and becoming its President in 1962. He died on the 4th November, 1997 at the Beacher Hall Nursing Home, 42, Bath Road, Reading, Berkshire. His obituary for the Astronomy and Geophysics magazine of April 1998 was penned by none other than Sir Patrick Moore the famous astronomer and presenter of “The Sky at Night” for many years. Ernest Agar married late in life in 1946 to the matron (a state registered nurse) of his college, Maureen Margaret Townsend. They set up home together at South Cottage, Quirks Green, Ashamstead, Berkshire and lived there until Maureen Margaret died there on the 4th July 1980. He appears to have inherited his father’s liking for model railways and extended his modelling to making ships some of which are now in the National Maritime Museum.
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| Entrance to Manchester Road Methodist Church, 2020 |
3) Named from City Road, Davyhulme, but also including Stretford and Urmston, all in Lancashire.
I have to acknowledge I.Howard-Duff for some of the content of Ernest Agar's life story . His obituary of Ernest A. Beet appeared in the Journal of the British Astronomical Society Vol 108 No 2 and has been published on line by NASA.
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