▶Date of birth:  6 March 1837        Place of birth: Girvan, Ayrshire

▶Father:  Robert Marchbank     Mother: Elizabeth Ross

▶Spouse(s): Elizabeth Gardner Thompson     Date(s) of marriage: 3 August 1866      Place(s) of marriage: Kendal

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Wesleyan Methodist minister); Mercantile clerk

▶Lifestory: The Revd. Henry Marchbank was a Methodist minister who served at first mostly in the north of England before accepting a posting to Guernsey, from which he moved to Cheltenham in 1895. He was born in Girvan, Ayrshire, in 1837, the second son of Robert Marchbank, and his wife Elizabeth (née Ross). In 1861 Marchbank lived at 26 Wellington Street in Glasgow with his widowed mother and his brothers and sisters: he worked as a Mercantile Clerk in the city. But the following year he entered into his life as a Methodist minister, serving from 1862 until 1864 as a junior minister in Kendal. In 1866 he married, to Elizabeth Gardner, eldest daughter of William Thompson, Cashier of the Kendal Bank: the couple had one son and three daughters.

For many years his life followed the pattern of many Wesleyan Methodist ministers, as he was stationed in a different place every two or three years, where he officiated, preached, lectured, and involved himself in local issues as far as he was able. His first appointment was at Wolsingham, Durham 1867-8, followed by Chesterfield 1869-71. Subsequent stations included: Saddleworth, Lancashire 1872-3, by which time he was a Superintendent Minister in the district, as he remained in most of his other appointments, Boston, Lincolnshire 1877, Hyde, Cheshire 1878-81, West Bromwich, Birmingham 1881-2, Middlesborough 1883, Birstall, Yorkshire 1886-8, Bradford (Wind Hill)  1889-91 (at the time of the 1891 census the family lived in Idle, Yorkshire), and Guernsey 1892-4.

In 1895 he was allocated as Superintendent Minister to Cheltenham, and he remained in the town until 1897; between 1896 and 1898 the household lived at the Wesleyan Superintendent’s residence, 27 Clarence Square, Pittville. From Cheltenham he moved on to St Austell in Cornwall 1898-1901, Ely, Cambridgeshire 1901-3, and Maryport, Cumberland 1904-7. He then settled in Carlisle as a Supernumerary minister. In 1911 he and his family lived at 65 Dalston Road, Carlisle, where he died in 1913, at the age of seventy-six, still a Supernumerary Minister in the Carlisle district. His estate at death was valued at over £2,160.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  Guernsey      Moved from Pittville to: St Austell

▶Date of death:  6 December 1913      Place of death: Carlisle

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes:        ID: 5635

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden