Stacey, James (1818-1891) D.D.

James Spacey was twice President of the Methodist New Connexion Conference, Superintendent of the Irish mission, then Mission Secretary for the MNC.  The major work of his later ministry was at the ministerial training institution in Sheffield, Ranmoor College.

Family

James was born on 28th February 1818 in Sheffield to Benjamin Spacey, a cutler, and his wife Ann. According to the attached biography of James in Methodist worthies his father was an early member of the Methodist New Connexion. He did not receive any formal schooling, but had a lifelong passion for learning. He began studying to enter the ministry in 1837, having worked as a cutler.

He married Mary Ann Holland (1830-1879 ) in 1847 in Stoke-on-Trent.  They had  twelve children.

• Margaret Helen (1850-1911)  married 1872 John Robinson (1843-1901) a Methodist New Connexion minister
• Jane (1852- )
• William Holland (1853-1910)  A solicitor
• Mary Alice (1854-1944)
• Herbert Gleeson (1856-1950) A physician
• Charles Henry (1859-1945) A bank manager
• Gertrude (1860-1949)
• Edith (1863- )
• Kate (1865- )
• James (1866-1945) A bank manager
• Frederic George (1874-1923)  A physician and surgeon
• George William (1876-1949)  A Methodist New Connexion, United Methodist, and Methodist minister

Circuits

• 1839   Halifax
• 1840   Liverpool
• 1841    London
• 1842   Hanley (In Full Connexion 1843)
• 1844   Derby
• 1846   Ashton
• 1848   Belfast
• 1850   Huddersfield
• 1853   Halifax
• 1857   Halifax (Supernumerary)
• 1858   Sheffield South
• 1859   Sheffield South (Supernumerary)
• 1860   Sheffield South
• 1866   Sheffield West (Principal)
• 1876   Sheffield Ranmoor Tutor
• 1879   Sheffield West
• 1886   Sheffield West (Supernumerary)

He was:

• Irish Superintendent 1848-1849
• Irish Secretary 1849-1850
• President of Conference 1860 and 1881
• Missionary Secretary 1859-1862 and 1879-1885
• Ranmoor College Governor 1863-1864
• Ranmoor College Tutor 1863-1864 and 1876-1878
• Ranmoor College Principal 1865-1875
• Convenor of the Sheffield District Meeting 1881

References

Oliver A Beckerlegge, United Methodist ministers and their circuits: Being an arrangement in alphabetical order of the stations of ministers of the Methodist New … and the United Methodist Church, 1797-1932

Stevenson, George John. Methodist Worthies: Characteristic Sketches of Methodist Preachers of the Several Denominations, with Historical Sketch of each Connexion. Vol. IV London: Thomas C. Jack, 1885. pp 628-634

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Minutes of the Methodist New Connexion 1891  [Obituary] p 9