1887 – 1894 Rev Henry Ward Price
Born in 1855 in Woodham Ferrers, Esssex, Rev Ward Price’s father is described as a ‘Schoolmaster/Independent Minister’. The family moved to Billericay when Henry was about 5, and he spent his formative years there whilst his father ran a boarding school. Henry studied at New College London and became minister of Queen Street Congregational Church, Chester in 1880, leaving to become Wycliffe’s new minister in 1887.
Upon arrival in Stockport, he lived at 110 Wellington Road North, and then 23 Wellington Grove. Married to Sarah Emily (known as Emily), they had four children, three of whom were born in Stockport. Described as “highly respected – genial, frank and kindly”, he helped establish the Nonconformist Choir Union (now the Free Church Choirs) and was a member of the committee of Stockport’s Industrial School “and many other benevolent institutions”.
In January 1891 he instigated meetings with the Congregational District Committee and local ministers to found a new church that became the Great Moor (Buxton Road) Congregational Church.
In June 1894, he was suffering health problems and took a trip to Norway in the hope it would help. Sadly it did not, and on 19th November he tragically died of an intestinal obstruction at the age of 40.
“His sudden and untimely death has thrown a deep gloom over local Nonconformist circles”
Stockport Chronicle November 21st 1894
The funeral consisted of a procession to Wycliffe where the pulpit etc. was draped in black silk. A well-attended service was followed by a procession to Reddish Cemetery (Willow Grove) where he was buried. There was much support for his widow, Emily, and four children, the youngest just two, with 20 local ministers offering their services free for six months so she could still receive the stipend. Emily did not remarry and remained in the Stockport area.
Revs Blake, Ward Price, and Thornton are all commemorated on a plaque praising their dedication and contribution to Wycliffe. The entry for Rev Price reads:
“Rev Henry Ward Price – who ministered to this Church from 1887 until his death in 1894. A faithful servant of the Most High well beloved by his friends. An impressive and convincing Preacher, and earnest in the work of the Sunday School. Temperance. Giving Truth and Justice.
He was cut off in the prime of his manhood and called to be with HIM in whose service he had laboured so faithfully.”
1895 – 1906 Rev William Andrew Blake Returned
Rev Blake was invited to return to Wycliffe in 1895. He had moved from Southport to briefly become a Mission Preacher in 1889. This coincided with the death of his eldest son Willie aged just 16. At the end of that year, he moved to Upper Clapton Congregational Church, Hackney where he remained for six years. Whilst there, his daughter, Lilian May was listed on the 1891 census as being a ‘Medical Student’, a rare calling for women at that time. She qualified in 1895 and opened her own medical practice at 22 Greek Street when they returned to Stockport.
Rev Blake resumed his role on 8th September, with Wycliffe described as his “early love”. He lived at 22 Heaton Road with his wife Frances, and two grown-up children, Mary Elizabeth and Ernest. They went on a “holiday tour in the United States” in 1898.
In 1899 plans for Wycliffe’s jubilee year were underway, with an ambitious drive to build a new school building adjacent to the church. Having overseen the major extension works in 1875 – 6, and the building of a new chapel in Crewe, Rev Blake must have been well placed to deliver the project. The new school eventually opened in 1902.
In 1904-5 he was elected the President of the Congregational Union.
Being “one of the oldest ministers in Stockport”, he took ill in January of 1906 and passed away on 16th July following “a painful illness patiently borne”.
Mr. Pinn quoted in the Centenary History of the Cheshire Congregational Union by Powicke in 1906 said “he maintained a stainless Christian character, won in a singular degree the love and regard of the members of his church and congregation, and not of them only, but of all who were privileged to come into contact with him, and exercised a ministry, earnest in purpose, fervent in spirit, rich in spiritual power, and helpful to those who attended it. He frequently wrote articles for magazines and hymns and pieces of poetry. He compiled a ‘Manual for Ministers’, containing most appropriate services for baptisms, marriages, burials &c., and was the author of a book on the Revelation, entitled ‘Christ and Patmos: the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave.’ “.
His entry on the memorial plaque reads:
“Rev W. A. Blake who was Pastor of this Church from 1874 until 1886 and in 1895 again resumed the Pastorate until his death July 16th 1906. During his Pastorate a wing was added to the Church and a new Lecture Hall and Class Rooms were erected. He exercised a Ministry earnest in purpose, fervent in spirit, rich in spiritual power, and unfailingly sympathetic and helpful.”
He is buried with his son Willie in Duke Street Cemetry, Southport (coincidentally, the same Cemetery as Rev Thornton), with his wife Frances who died the following year.