Rev Arthur Denman Martin
Member of The Magic Circle
Arthur Denman Martin Born in Portsmouth in 1894, the son of Joseph, who was a Master Mariner, and Elizabeth Martin. Both his parents were born in Poole, Dorset, whilst Arthur’s brothers, Josiah and Ernest also became Methodist ministers.
Martin entered Richmond College to train for the Ministry in 1914. Arthur Denman Martin married Madeleine Kempthorne in 1919 and the couple had 2 children.
Denman Martin was a member of The Magic Circle. Mr R Cooper of Wilstead, Bedfordshire remembered Denman Martin as ‘holding concerts for the good of each church’. He recalled the takings from a Harvest Festival sale being counted after which, Martin ‘held out his hands upside down and then turned them up again and the coins were in rotation of size across the palms of his hands’. The Derby Daily Telegraph described Martin as being ‘a first-class illusionist, paper-tearer and lightning cartoonist. He could play many musical instruments and act as any Dickensian character.. Mr Cooper noted that some people were against Martin’s entertainment work, ‘although every penny he made was given away for Church funds’.
Martin’s Conference obituary noted that ‘he had unusual gifts, but they were all consecrated to the glory of God and the service of the church’. The obituary however also describes a ‘diligent pastor’ whose sermons and ‘were the result of ‘careful thought’. It also describes him leading groups of young men to hold open-air services and other forms of service.
Arthur Denman Martin died in Plymouth on 28 December 1934. Following his death, those paying tribute included The Bishop of Plymouth and Isaac Foot, MP and Local Preacher
Denman Martin’s Circuits were:
1917 Daventry
1918 Waltham Abbey and Hertford Mission
1921 Poole
1923 Bedford St Mary
1925 Camborne
1928 Tooting Mission
1931 Plymouth Ebenezer
References and Sources
Ministers and Probationers of the Methodist Church 1932
Who’s Who in Methodism 1933
Census returns and Freebmd
The Western Morning News and Daily Gazette December 31 1934
Derby Daily Telegraph 29 December 1934
Methodist Minutes of Conference 1935
Methodism in Wilstead – R Cooper
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