Biography of Rev Joseph Bentley

Joseph Bentley, son of John Bentley and Ann Tonge, was born on 24 August 1840 at Gawber in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Gawber was a hamlet in the parish of Darton, about 2 miles north-west of Barnsley. In later years Joseph usually gave his birthplace as Barnsley. His birth was registered by his mother on 18 September 1840 in the Gawber in Barugh Registration District. He was baptized at All Saints, Darton on 27 September 1840.

Joseph was recorded in the census of 30 March 1851 at Larchfield Street, Hunslet, Yorkshire. He was enumerated as Joseph Bentley, son of John Bentley, a scholar, aged 11 and born in Barnsley.

According to his obituary, Joseph was converted at the age of 18, sometime between 1858 and 1859. From 1864 to 1900, when he retired, he was a Wesleyan Methodist minister, serving on 17 different Circuits in the course of his career. His obituary states that: "His life was chiefly spent in the Circuits of rural Methodism, where he laboured with much energy and zeal. He was loyal to our discipline, and endeavoured to inculcate that spirit among the people to whom he ministered. His preaching was generally appreciated, and his genial disposition won him many friends."

His first station as a minister was at Andover in Hampshire where he stayed for nearly a year from September 1864 to June 1865. The Circuit Records contain payments to Mr Bentley for bringing his luggage to Andover and sending it on to his next station. There are also preaching plans which show that he followed the standard Methodist pattern of preaching at the different Wesleyan chapels on the Circuit on different Sundays, sharing the "rota" with the senior Minister on the Circuit and with lay preachers.

From July 1865 to June 1866 Joseph was stationed as the second Minister on the Circuit at Christchurch, Hampshire, under the Superintendency of Rev. Henry Keet. He seems to have had particular responsibility for the Church at Lymington, which may have been where he lived.

His next station, from 1866 to 1867, was as second Minister on the Circuit at Wimborne, Dorset. He probably had lodgings at Cranborne, as a minute from the Circuit's Quarterly Meeting in 1865 stated "young minister to reside still at Cranborne". The Superintendent Minister at Wimborne in 1866 was Rev. John Bissell. It is possible that he may have been related to Sarah Bissell, the grandmother of Joseph's future wife, Emma Munden. Many of Emma's ancestors came from the Cranborne area.

From 1867 to 1868 Joseph was Wesleyan minister at South Molton, Devon. An 1850 Trade Directory described South Molton as a well built and pleasantly situated market town between Barnstaple and Tiverton, with a population of about 5,000. It continued: "The principal streets are spacious and well paved, and contain several good inns and neat public buildings, and many handsome and well stocked shops." It also noted that the area was fertile and well cultivated and included many scattered farmhouses and outlying hamlets. These would have formed part of Joseph's Circuit.

Rev Joseph Bentley married Emma Harriet Munden, daughter of William Munden and Harriet Case Coles, on 20 August 1868 at the Congregational Church, Ringwood, Hampshire. Joseph was stated to be 27 years old, a bachelor, a Wesleyan Minister, resident in South Molton, Devon, the son of John Bentley, a merchant. Emma was recorded as a minor, aged 20 years, resident in Ringwood, the daughter of William Munden, an engineer. The witnesses were Joseph's Superintendent Minister on the Wimborne Circuit, Rev John Bissell; Emma's father, William; sister, Kate; half-brother, Frank; and first cousin, Annie Durant, plus one unknown name, John W Moody.

From 1869 to 1871, Joseph was Wesleyan minister at Helston, Cornwall. Joseph and Emma's first child, Ethel, was born in Helston in October 1870. The family were recorded in the census of 2 April 1871 living in New Road, Helston. Joseph was enumerated as Joseph Bentley, the head of household, a Wesleyan Minister, aged 30 and born in Barnsley, Yorkshire. The other members of his household were his wife, enumerated under her middle name of Harriet, their 6 month old daughter, Ethel, and two general servants, Elizabeth Williams, aged 19, and Elizabeth Caddy, aged 14. Joseph and Emma's second child, Mabel Annie, known as Mamie, was born in Helston sometime between September 1871 and December 1871.

Joseph was stationed at Northallerton in the North Riding of Yorkshire from 1872 to 1874. Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire, published in 1890, described Northallerton as "a small country town, depending almost solely for its prosperity on the agricultural produce of the district" and went on to say: "The Wesleyans erected their first chapel in 1796. This was superseded in 1865 by a more commodious structure in semi-Gothic style, built at a cost, including minister's house and school, of £3,250." This would have been the equivalent of a £160,000 building project today. Joseph and his family would have lived in the newly built minister's house. According to Bulmer, the school was a mixed day school and opened the year before Joseph arrived.

From 1874 to 1876, Joseph was Wesleyan minister at Lofthouse, another town in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Bulmer's 1890 Directory states that: "The village of Loftus or Lofthouse is pleasantly situated about 9 miles E.N.E. of Guisborough" on the North Yorkshire coast. The Directory describes the picturesque scenery of the area, which seems to have contrasted with its industrial character: "The land near the coast terminates in a bold ridge of cliffs, presenting a steep escarpment towards the sea, but falling away with a gentle decline towards the village ... Ironstone is abundant and is extensively worked by Messrs. Pease & Partners. The mines which adjoin Skinningrove were commenced by Losh, Wilson, Bell, & Co., about the year 1859, and in 1865 they were transferred to the present proprietors. The ironstone is won by handmining. The largest output was in 1881, when it reached 654,000 tons. About 750 hands are usually employed." Bulmer goes on to say that: "Since the opening of the iron mines there has been a very considerable increase in the population, and now there are within and around it upwards of 6,000 inhabitants." No doubt it was to meet the needs of this expanding population that, during Joseph's time in Lofthouse, the Wesleyans decided to build a large new chapel. The Directory records: "The Wesleyan Newton Memorial Chapel was built in 1876, at a cost of £3,564 [about £160,000 today]. It is a handsome brick edifice with freestone facings, and will accommodate 900 persons."

Joseph and Emma's third child, Vivian Macaulay, was born on 24 October 1874 in Robinson's Terrace, Lofthouse. Their fourth child, Ernest John, was born in Lofthouse sometime between July 1876 and September 1876. Their fifth child, Constance Munden, was born sometime between 4 April 1877 and 31 December 1877 at Ringwood, Hampshire, presumably at the home of her mother's father and stepmother, William and Mary Munden.

From 1877 to 1880, Joseph was Wesleyan minister at Spennymoor, County Durham. A photograph of Joseph exists, taken by the firm of J Yeoman & Co, Tudhoe Grange, Market Place, Spennymoor. The photograph has suffered badly from damp but, after digital enhancement, it reveals a handsome, bearded man with an aquiline nose and fine bonework. A companion photograph of Joseph's five children, by the same studio, was probably taken at the same time. Sadly, one of those children, Joseph's second daughter, Mabel, known as Mamie, was to die at Spennymoor on 12 January 1880, aged 8.

From 1880 to 1883, Joseph was on the Circuit at Holsworthy in Devon. Joseph and Emma's sixth child, Joseph Hugh, was born circa October 1880 at Holsworthy. Joseph was recorded in the census of 3 April 1881 living in Under Lane, Holsworthy. He was enumerated as Joseph Bentley, the head of household, a Wesleyan preacher, aged 40 and born in Barnsley. The other members of his household were his wife, Emma, and children Ernest, Constance and Joseph, together with a 16 year old servant, Emma Slee. The other two children, Ethel and Vivian, were away from home, staying with their two unmarried Munden aunts in Ringwood. Joseph and Emma's seventh and last child, William, was born at Holsworthy between 6 April 1883 and 30 June 1883.

Joseph's next station, from 1883 to 1886, was Camelford, a small town in north-east Cornwall, situated on the edge of Bodmin Moor and about six miles inland from the spectacular North Cornwall coastline. At the time of the 1881 Census, its population was just over 1500 people. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel was in Chapel Street and was built in 1810, with a Sunday School building opposite and an imposing-looking Manse (minister's house) to one side.

From 1886 to 1889 Joseph was Wesleyan minister at Worksop, a town of some 7,000 inhabitants in north-west Nottinghamshire, on the borders of Sherwood Forest. According to White's 1875 trade directory, the town was a centre of the malting trade. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel was in Bridge Street and was built in 1863.

Joseph's next move was to the Bakewell Circuit in Derbyshire from 1889 to 1892. Emma and the children were recorded in the census of 5 April 1891 at the Manse, Matlock Street, Bakewell but Joseph was not there. Instead he was to be found at Sower Square, Holsworthy, Devon. He was a visitor in the household of John and Ellen Stranger, who were his wife's sister and brother-in-law. He was enumerated as Joseph Bentley, a married Wesleyan minister, aged 50 and born in Barnsley.

From 1892 to 1894, Joseph was Wesleyan minister at Saddleworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a woollen manufacturing district, nine miles from Rochdale in Lancashire. Then, from 1894 to 1896, he was on the Attleborough Circuit in Norfolk. According to Kelly's 1883 Directory for Norfolk, the Wesleyan Methodist chapel was in Station Road and was opened in 1872 at a cost of £1,000. This equates to about £45,000 today. The Directory describes the church as being built of red brick with stone dressings and able to seat about 400 people. Services were at 9.45 am 2.45 pm & 6.30 pm on Sundays and 7.30 pm on Wednesdays.

Joseph moved on to the Wolverton Circuit in Buckinghamshire from 1896 to 1899. Whilst living in Wolverton, his son, Vivian, played for the Wolverton L & N W Football Club in the Southern League (the Premier League of its day). At the Annual General Meeting in 1897 Joseph was elected one of the club's Vice Presidents.

From 1899 to 1900, Joseph was Wesleyan minister at Watlington in Oxfordshire. His wife, Emma died during this time. Her death was registered in the March quarter of 1900 in the Henley registration district, Oxfordshire. Joseph's last station as a minister was at Raunds in Northamptonshire in 1900, where he retired.

Joseph was recorded in the census of 31 March 1901 living at 50 Dundonald Road, Wimbledon, Surrey. He was enumerated as Joseph Bentley, the father of Ernest J Bentley, the head of household. He was a Wesleyan minister, a widower, aged 60 and born in Barnsley, Yorkshire.

According to his obituary, the last years of Joseph's life were "shadowed by failing eyesight, which created much depression, but his faith in God and his trust in the atonement of Christ were unfailing." He died on 7 August 1903 at 103 Pelham Road, Wimbledon, aged 62. His death was registered in the September quarter of 1903 in the Kingston registration district. He was buried in Grave No C1-68 at Wimbledon Cemetery.

Joseph died intestate. Letters of administration of his estate were granted to his son, Vivian Bentley, commercial clerk, in the Principal Probate Registry, London, on 22 August 1903. Joseph's estate was valued at £265 18s (about £16,000 in today's terms).

Joseph's obituary appeared in the Minutes and Year Book of the Methodist Conference for 1904, the year following his death.