Reminiscences of Rotherham by Alderman Geo. Gummer, J.P.

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realisation of his hopes, dying some months before the opening day. My mother attended the services at the Mechanics’ Institute, and up to the date of her death, in 1898, was a member of the congregation at Doncaster Road Church. I have a vivid recolloction of Mr. Richardson, the first minister, who re ceived his education at the Rotherham College which formerly stood on a site in College road, the principal being the Rev. Dr.FaIding. He occupied the pulpit only a few years, being succeeded by the Reverend P. C. Barker, M.A., L.L.B. During the latter’s ministry I regularly attended the Congregational Sunday school, and was a member of the Bible Class, which he personally conducted. At the time of which I am writing I had a real affection for this church, and it was here that I met my wife, who also attended the Sunday school.

SORROW

A writer, whose work I occasionally read. says: Pitiable is the position of the man who has in unbroken continuity a class of very comfortable circumstances monotony of easy and happy influences. Very salutary is an occasional hour of serene sadness, indeed a good agony will sometimes yield a grand harvest.

Of Milton it is said that the root of his greatness lay in his grief. He made his deepest sorrow serve his noblest purpose.

My pathway in early life was sorrow-shaded. Only those who have suddenly descended from the highest joy to the deepest grief can understand folly the meaning conveyed by the following notices:

Marriages
GUMMER - JAMES July 11th, 1878, at the Congregational Church, Rotherham, by the Rev. P. C. Barker, MA., L.L.B., George, the eldest son of William Henry Gummer, Lyme Villa, Rotherham, to Frances Maude James, daughter of John James, New Ickles, and late of Cheltenham.
Deaths
GUMMER - September 2nd, 1879. at Percy street, Rotherham, Frances Maude, the beloved wife of Geo. Gummer, aged 23.

We are sometimes incapable of understanding the ways of Divine Providence, and it is difficult to see that such heartrending incidents are part of the Divine programme. This bereavement made the outlook of life look black to me; it seemed that everything was changed. The blow was so sudden and so un expected that for a time I was stunned, but time, that wonderful healer of wounds, and concentration on business and duty, enabled me to weather the storm.

THREE PASTORS

On the resignation of the Rev, P. C. Barker in 1879. another worthy of the Congregational Church, the Rev. Sydney Morant, accepted a call . As a preacher, few ministers showed such remarkable power and earnestness. He preached sermons in a manner that endeared him to all with whom he came in contact, and this, combined with his great intellectual powers, made his short pastorate noteworthy. Handicapped by a delicate constitution, his death occurred whilst a comparatively young man.

The Rev. Elkanah Armitage, a professor from one of the independent Colleges, succeeded Mr. Morant, to be followed a few years later by the Rev. J. F. Parmiter, whose pastorate extended over a period of several years. Attending a meeting of the Watch Committee with a deputation from the Free Church Council to protest against the apathy of the police in not instituting proceedings against the owners of sweet shops whom persisted in opening their premises for the sale of their commodities on the Lord’s Day, he was asked why he and his friends did not set the law in motion and thus endeavour to stop this practice. To the astonishment of those present, the rev, gentleman said they considered it would be a very unpopular step to take, and the Watch Committee were the proper authority to do it. Evidently he thought the odium could be better borne by the elect of the people, who, however, refused to see it in that light.

Whilst writing about the Congregational Church I may mention that the Grammar » next

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