REV. WILLIAM TRANTER  1778-1879

Window - Christ as the Good Shepherd

The life of William Tranter is commemorated in a stained glass window 
on the south wall of Salisbury Methodist Church in St. Edmund Church Street .  He was born on 1st May 1778 and died on 9th February 1879 .  The inscription reads “Rev. William Tranter (for 76 years a Wesleyan Preacher) who died on the 9th day of February 1879. Aged 100 yrs.”  

The Salisbury Journal, 15 February 1879 , announced:
“On the 9th inst. At West Harnham , Rev. W. Tranter in his 100th year being the oldest minister in the Wesleyan connection.”  

The Salisbury Times, 22 February, 1879 reported:
“Death of the Rev. W. Tranter – We regret to announce the death of The Rev. W. Tranter, the oldest Wesleyan minister in the world, at the patriarchal and venerable age of 100.  The rev. gentleman died at his residence at West Harnham on Sunday and his funeral took place yesterday.  He completed his 100th year of 1st May 1878 ; at which time his health, considering his age, tolerably good.  Mr. Tranter, according to the Minutes of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, was received into the full work of the Methodist ministry in 1803; but we believe he commenced his ministerial career, a year prior to his name appearing in the list, in the Salisbury Circuit.  In fact the rev. gentleman always persisted that he ought to have been credited with another year.  During a work of much usefulness and popularity, he figured prominently in mission labour; at one time having nearly a whole county to work on behalf a missionary enterprise.  He has been connected to several circuits, and was the chairman of one of the districts in which he was located, fulfilling his duties with energy and accuracy.  He was a powerful preacher and retained his faculties (almost undiminished) to the last.  As a remarkable fact we might mention that he published a discourse on “Nehemiah and his work” when over 90 years of age; and he even continued writing and preaching until within three or four years since.  Indeed we believe we are not wrong in stating that he attended the district meeting about two years ago, and delivered some forceable remarks upon an important subject that was under consideration.  The rev. gentleman was superannuated in 1846; and it was a singular occurrence that he commenced and concluded his ministerial career in Salisbury .  After his superannuation he retired to West Harnham , since which time, until a few years ago, he frequently preached in the Salisbury Wesleyan Circuit.  He was much loved and revered by his household and all who knew him, and he was a man, who in his lifetime had been instrumental in doing an immense amount of good.  He was a forceful, eloquent and persuasive preacher, of a kindly and benevolent disposition, and possessed a keen appreciation of humour.  Many anecdotes are told of him, and one of them we reproduce:  Several years ago a young local preacher, by name Mr. Soloman Gates, preached on a Sunday morning at the Fisherton Wesleyan Chapel.  The sermon was in every way an admirable one, and much appreciated; but in the evening Mr. Tranter appeared in the pulpit, and with a solemn face, announced for his text “Behold a wiser than Soloman is here”.  The members of the congregation could scarcely maintain their decorum; but the young man, at whose expense the joke was made, appreciated it as much as anyone, and afterwards, at the termination of proceedings heartily joined in the laughter.”  

The obituary in the Minutes of Wesleyan Methodist Conference 1879 reads as follows.
“(18.)   WILLIAM TRANTER; who was born in the parish of Little Dawley, near Madeley, Shropshire , May Ist, 1778.  He was converted to God when about nineteen years of age, through the instrumentality of his friend, the Rev. Valentine Ward, who took him to some religious meetings commenced in Dawley by the followers of John Fletcher.  A revival of religion ensued, and a Methodist Class was formed, Mr. Ward and Mr. Tranter being the first members.  Mr. Tranter found peace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ at the first meeting.  He gave himself fully to God, and his Christian principles were greatly consolidated by intercourse with the saintly Mrs. Fletcher.  He attended her public services at every opportunity, and her ministrations were greatly blessed to him.  He was, moreover, honoured with her friendship and wise counsels, which he highly valued.  He was also favoured, at a later period, with the acquaintance of the devout Lady Maxwell, whom he visited on her death-bed.  

Mr. Tranter entered the ministry in 1803, and was for forty three years in its full work.  He was eminently successful in winning souls to Christ, and building up the Church of God in the various Circuits in which he travelled.  As a preacher, he was plain, earnest, powerful, and impressive.  He took great pains in preparing for the pulpit, and some of his published sermons possess considerable merit.  As the Chairman of a District, and as Superintendent of a Circuit, he was remarkable for careful attention to all his duties; and as a pastor, for sympathy with the poor and needy of Christ's flock.  

In 1846 Mr. Tranter became a Supernumerary, and settled in the Salisbury Circuit, but he did not cease to work for God according to his ability.  Both in the town and in the villages around he continued to preach until within a few years of the close of his long and useful life.  He was able to be present at the District Meeting held in Salisbury two years ago, and although very feeble (having entered on his hundredth year), he spoke a few words with much feeling.  It was only comparatively recently that the naturally vigorous mental and bodily powers of this devoted servant of God failed; and even then, when visited by his ministerial brethren or Christian friends, be would become wonderfully animated, manifesting a lively interest in the cause he loved so well, and expressing his unshaken faith in the great Atonement.  A few days before his death the language of Job was quoted to him, ‘I know that my.Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin’ - here he took up the words, ‘worms destroy this body,’ ‘ yet’ was interposed, and he added, ‘in my flesh shall I see God.’ He paused, and then repeated with much emphasis, ‘In my flesh shall I see God.’ When prayer was offered that an abundant entrance might be granted ‘into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,’ he added, with marked earnestness, ‘Amen, Amen!’ During the following days he frequently repeated, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ On Sunday morning, February 9th, 1879 , he entered ‘into the joy of his Lord,’ in the one hundred and first year of his age, and the seventy-sixth of his ministry.”  

Rev. John Fletcher (1729-85) was appointed Vicar of Madeley in Shropshire in 1760, having been converted under the influence of the Methodists and ordained by the Bishop of Bangor.  “He exemplified in his own character the holiness he preached.  Herein lay the secret of his influence over the rough colliers of his parish. . . . That Wesley recognised his worth is seen by the fact that he designated Fletcher as successor, had he consented, as the leader of Methodism.”  Dictionary of the Christian Church  

John Fletcher married Mary Bosanquet in 1781.  She came from a community at Cross Hall, Leeds , and claimed the authority of women to preach.  At Madeley they were, in effect, a ‘clergy couple’ within the Methodist movement.  Mary contributed to the cultivation of a vital faith among her new neighbours and her reputation spread rapidly.  

William Tranter wrote of her in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine No.60  (1837):  “Tribes were seen going up from all the neighbouring places early on the Sabbath morning, for Mrs. Fletcher’s nine o’clock meeting, full of joy, or joyous expectation of having gracious manifestations from their Lord.  On a weekday evening service, it was not unusual to see the room crowded with attentive and delighted hearers, while this blessed woman was expounding, generally, some historic portion of Scripture...The effect produced was often truly astounding.  It was not uncommon to see two, three, or more Clergymen, pious and able men, from neighbouring and even distant parishes, among the congregations at these evening lectures.”    (from She Offered Them Christ, Paul W. Chilcote)  

In 1803-6, while on probation, William Tranter was stationed in Banwell, Northampton and Kettering and finally as the Home Missionary in Rutlandshire. He was received into full connexion at the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in 1807, when he as sent to Inverness .  There followed a year in each station at Aberdeen , Edinburgh , Sheffield, Sunderland and Bridlington.  His stations thereafter were:-  

1813 -14      Hexham
1815            Alnwick and Berwick
1816            Dewsbury
1817 -19      Pateley Bridge
1820 - 21     Clithero
1822 - 24     Lancaster
1825 – 27     Appleby
1828 – 30     Whitehaven Chairman of the Carlisle District
1831 – 33     Kendal                  ,,                 ,,
1834 – 35     Bacup
1836 – 37     Barnsley
1838            Ludlow
1839 - 41     Bedale
1842 – 43     Whitehaven
1844 – 46     Alston       

In 1846 he retired to Salisbury but continued to preach in the chapels of the circuit.  The Quarterly Meeting Minutes of 30th December 1875 and 2nd January 1879 , just before he died, record thanks to Rev. William Tranter, among others, for providing dinner for those attending.  

The Salisbury Times, 4th May 1889 , reports the re-opening of the Wesleyan Chapel, Church Street , after renovations and the installation of new memorial windows.  Referring to this window it says, “The central panel of this window represents Christ as the Good Shepherd, the other portions being floriated designs.  This window was generously given by Mr. John C. F. Roe, of the London Road , Salisbury , who is a relative of the late Mr. Tranter.”  In 1992, during further renovations, the window was moved from its original position on the north side of the church, where a new corridor was built, to the south side where better light enhances it.  

The stained glass windows at Salisbury Methodist Church were made by S. Belham and Co. of Buckingham Palace Road , London .
The designer was H. G. Murray, who subsequently took over the company on the death of Stephen Belham.
Both designer and maker supplied windows for St. Michael’s, Betchworth, Surrey .
Windows by Belham are also in St. Mary’s, Chiddingstone , Kent and St. Paul ’s, Hook, Surrey .
A successor of Stephen Belham, Michael Belham from Frome, visited  SMC in May 2006.