| Title | Raymond Preston, Rev. |
| Date | Undated |
| Location | Yeadon |
| Photo ID | R118 |
| Comment | Raymond Preston was born in 1861, the youngest of 10 children. His grandfather was Johan Preston, his father Samuel Preston, his mother was blind. Samuel drank, to help the family finances Raymond worked part-time in the mills from aged 8. Samuel died when Raymond was only 13, so the boy began full time work in the mills often working overtime illegally to support his mother. It was around this time he became a Wesleyan Methodist, by the time he was 19 he was preaching in the area. When he was 27 he married Sarah Baxter, an organist at Sunday School, they had 4 children. Raymond travelled all over the North preaching and was sent to Wales as an evangelist and then to London. he was asked to go to Australia for a year and stayed for 14, being ordained during that time. The family returned to England in the early 1920s, Raymond had become an enthusiastic cricket fan and player in Australia had had become friends with many prominent Australian cricketers. He was presented with the first cricket bat to be made of Australian wood. He had a house built at Rawdon next to Greenhill Chapel on Leeds Road and called it “Kirkhill”, it cost £625. Before too long he was travelling again, first to America, onto New Zealand then back to Australia where Sarah died in 1928. He was married again to a Catholic lady who predeceased him. After his death in 1950 he was buried next to Sarah in Australia. |
Consolidated by Jack Brayshaw. 29 January 2022.
Last updated: 29 January 2022.
