GRUBB, Percy John 1869 - 1951

A son of the manse, was born at Driffield in 1869, and was educated at Bradford Grammar School and at University College, Aberystwyth.

He became a master at Rhyl School, and pupils who are now old men remember him with affection and gratitude.

After training at Didsbury he entered the ministry in 1896, his circuits including Southport, Rock Ferry, Clacton-on-Sea, London, Alderley Edge, Birmingham, Ilkley, Haworth and Oakworth, Tonbridge and finally Ramsgate, where his statesmanship in negotiation with the ex-Primitive Methodist Circuit led to a happy amalgamation.

To know him was to love him. He was a man of deep and strong convictions, withal of a gentle and gracious spirit.

He had an engaging gift of quiet humour, a legacy perhaps of his Irish ancestry. He was a scholarly preacher with a remarkable gift for exposition.

His wide reading of history, supplemented by travel in Europe and the Middle East, enabled him to deal most helpfully with the historical books of the Old Testament, by showing how the ancient situations are paralleled in modern times.

He served the Conference as Press Correspondent, and Handsworth College Committee as Secretary.

He was for many years Minute Secretary of the Connexional Sunday School Council.

As a pastor he will be remembered for his great kindliness of manner, a disposition which impressed itself upon everybody. His courage amid the anxieties and perils of war-time was most impressive.

In 1940 Ramsgate became a place of noise and terror. Invasion seemed imminent, and the town was largely evacuated. But he scorned to think of leaving, and his imperturbability made him a tower of strength to those who remained.

After months of patient waiting he was called home on Saturday, 27th October 1951, at the age of eighty-two, in the fifty-sixth year of his ministry,

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1952