DE VILLE, Edwin 1876 - 1949

Obituary from the Minutes of the Methodist Conference 1950, page 121

Born at Burton-on-Trent in 1876. He was accepted for the Ministry of the Wesleyan Church in 1899, and went to Headingley College for training.

In 1902 he commenced an itinerancy which ranged over the wide sphere of Methodism from St. Just in Cornwall to Montrose in Scotland.

He was an able preacher, concise and restrained in style, but arresting and powerful.

Studious and meditative, his sermons bore evidence of his knowledge of books and searching thought.

He was very modest and retiring. This was, in reality, only a facade, behind which was a cultured mind and a kindly and sympathetic nature. To those who knew him best was disclosed the deep wells of spiritual refinement from which sprang the chaste and quietly spoken words and deeds which characterized him.

He had for a hobby wood-carving and cabinet work, and became almost expertly proficient in the articles he made.

The grace of God was supremely manifested during the years in which he underwent repeated operations and suffered great pain and inconvenience. Without complaint, and always with buoyant fortitude, he lived in quiet faith and hope.

He passed away on 7th August 1949, at the age of seventy-two and in the forty-seventh year of his ministry.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1950

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