1954-1955, Rev Reginald John King, Mayor of Leigh

1954-1955, Rev Reginald John King, Mayor of Leigh

Reginald King was the Baptist Minister who decided to practise what he preached when he sought election to Leigh Town Council in 1942.

Regarded as an outstanding preacher, who repeatedly attacked the moral and social evils of the nation and the town, he always maintained that religion should enter into every realm of human conduct and life and consistently urged that it was the duty of religious men and women to show an active interest in all that concerned the town in which they lived.

So it was, for him, a natural progression when he was returned as Liberal member for Lilford Ward in 1942.

He retained his seat until his death at the age of 61, following an attack of pneumonia, in December 1958. He served on the Library, Housing, Cleansing, Markets and Baths and Finance committees and of the Divisional Education and Divisional Health committees.

He was elected mayor in 1954 and his wife died shortly after their term of office.

A native of Bristol, Reginald King meant to become a solicitor but gave up the law for the church and after qualifying he served in the Scilly Isles. He later took up a ministry in the Cheddar Gorge, covering five Baptist churches with his headquarters in Bristol.

He came from Bristol to Leigh in 1932 in succession to the Rev J Emlyn Jones and during the First World War served as a chaplain to the Forces.

A gifted scholar and theologian with an exceptional vocabulary, he was a hard working minister who visited the sick of all denominations and showed a great interest in working among young people.

“No one turned to him for help in vain,” said one of his church officers.

Only days before he died on the 5^th December 1958 at his home at “Moorside” in The Avenue, Rev King announced his engagement to Miss Dorothy George, headmistress of the Infants Department of Lee Street Schools and a deaconess of Leigh Baptist Church. They were to have been married on December 30 and in the new year he was due to take up an appointment as Baptist Minister in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Rev King left a daughter, Dorothy. He was buried in Leigh Cemetery after a funeral service at Leigh Baptist Church.

Written by Gordon Sharrock

References:

Biographical cuttings – Reginald John King, available at Leigh Local Studies.

National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), Ancestry.com