Born in Somerton, Somerset on 12th April 1816. James Bartlett served an apprenticeship as a shoe maker and was received into Bible Christian membership in 1836. He served as a Bible Christian minister 1840 - 1874 and is said to have converted the ten-year-old William Higman He is mainly known for the series of autobiographical letters he wrote to his wife Elizabeth in 1855, which give many fascinating details of his life before marriage. They were copied into a notebook, now in the John Rylands University Library, Manchester. He died in South Petherton, Somerset on 21st June 1881. His obituary in the Minutes of the BC Conference (1881) described him as "a loving and lovable man" who excelled as a pastor.
His son, Edward Charles Bartlett (1867-1936; e.m. 1890), was born in Timberscombe, Devon in 1867 and educated at Shebbear College. He entered the Bible Christian ministry in 1890 and served as Journal Secretary at seven Conferences. For his services during World War One as a chaplain to the Belgians in France, he was awarded the Order of the Belgian Crown. His later ministry was spent in circuits in the North of England. He died on 27 January 1936.
Itinerant, James Bartlett, 1816-1881', in Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society, Volume 56:1 (February 2007), pp10 - 20.
Entry written by: JB
Category: Person
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