Rev John Muirhead 1868 - 1937
Baptist, Church of England and Catholic Clergyman
Scottish John Muirhead was educated at the University of Edinburgh and Bristol Baptist College. He spent 10 years on South Island, New Zealand as a Baptist Minister where he married Minnie Pratt and had a daughter, Dorothea Hinemoa. After his return to England in 1905 he was ordained into the Church of England at Ripon. He was a curate in Stalybridge for many years before converting to Catholicism and becoming the Priest in Charge on the Isle of Islay until 1925. He then returned to the Church of England, and after a brief spell as Reader at Waddington Hospital, John took up his last post as Vicar of Mansergh. John was a controversial preacher, rebuking parishioners at weddings for paganism, insisting on outdoor funeral services for victims of infectious diseases and introducing dawn services at harvest time to make farm workers attend. John and Minnie retired to Worthing where Minnie had family connections and their daughter had a thriving business as a dance school proprietor.
Biography
John was born on 20th April 1863 in Saltoun, East Lothian to farmer, John Muirhead (1826 - 1881) and his wife Eliza Williamson (1843 -1918). John had four siblings, Alexander L (1863), George H (1864), Margaret (1866) and Francis Richard (1871). John's father died in 1881 and the family went to live with Eliza's parents in Edinburgh. John worked as a clerk in his grandparents' fruiterers.
By 1891, John was a student of Theology at Edinburgh University. He lived with his brothers and sister near his grandparents' shop. John was a student at Bristol Baptist Missionary College and was appointed to the ministry at Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand in about 1896. It was in Dunedin, Otago on 12th September, 1898 that John married Mary Ann (Minnie) Pratt. Their daughter, Dorothea Hinemoa Muirhead, was born on 13th July 1899 at Heene, Helena Street, Dunedin, New Zealand. John also ministered at Invercargill, New Zealand before returning to England.
In 1906 in Ripon, John was ordained into the Church of England and took up a curate's role at Stalybridge, Manchester, His daughter, Dorothea, was schooled at St. Elphins' School for Church of England Clergy in Darley Dale, Derbyshire.
In 1915, Minnie's half sister, Minerva Rachel Henderson, married George Claude Meyer at St. Botolph's in Heene, John officiated at the service, giving his title as Senior Curate, Christ Church, Moss Side, Manchester.
In the Newcastle Daily Chronicle on Friday the 14th May, 1920, the following surprising report appeared:
Received into Catholicism
The 'Tablet' stated that the Rev. John Muirhead and Mrs Muirhead were received into the Catholic Church on The eve of the Ascension at St. Aleysius Church, Oxford, by Father Charles Plater. Mr. Muirhead had recently resigned the living of St. Columba, Lonmay, Aberdeenshire.
John then became Priest in Charge of the Isle of Islay from 1920 - 1925.
to be continued