The Pepworth poem

     

An interesting curiosity in Watchtower collecting is a small volume published in the early 1920s called The Coming of the Kingdom.  It was credited to W H Pepworth.   

     The small book of 92 pages (in its original edition) is one very long poem, with an introduction, 26 parts, and a conclusion. It is all in verse. In previous years extracts of such a project might have occasionally appeared in Watch Tower literature, credited to writers such as Gertrude Seibert. But by the time Pepworth published his magnum opus the idea of verse as fillers in Watch Tower literature was basically out, although extracts would later be published elsewhere. But what makes this work particularly collectable today is that when originally published in 1922 it was to be endorsed by the Watch Tower Society’s president, J F Rutherford.

     There appears to be no mention of Pepworth or his work in the Watch Tower or Golden Age magazines of the day, but a copy was obviously sent to J F Rutherford. He wrote back and his letter was either reproduced or pasted in the flyleaf of the third edition of 1924. This is how it appeared:

     One of the opening pages also contained a positive reference (undated) from The Manchester City News.

“To all who are given to reflect upon the serious matters of the day, this work on ‘The Coming of the Kingdom’ may be strongly recommended. They will find much in the way of suggestions and inspiration, and doubtless the panacea which Mr. Pepworth holds out as the only possible one for the maladies of the age will be accepted with gratification. The volume is essentially one for thinkers, and the author must be congratulated upon his reverential handling of a profound theme.”

     William Henry Pepworth was born in Norwich, Norfolk in 1857 and died in 1940. He worked as an insurance clerk and later insurance cashier for the Prudential Insurance Company. He married Eliza Fallows from Manchester in 1881 and they had three daughters, Dora, Mabel and Elsie.

     From the late 1880s up to January 1915 Pepworth appeared regularly in newspapers of the Greater Manchester area for his involvement in various societies. These included the Manchester Microscopical Society, and the Natural History Society. He was a lecturer, librarian, president and vice-president at different times. On the religious front he appears with the Young Men’s (and then just Men’s) Bible Class, the Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society, and particularly the Bramhall Wesley Guild, acting as chairman, magazine editor, secretary, and sometime entertainer.

     He was an occasional writer. A series of articles on The Humorous Side of Nature appeared in the Stockport Advertiser throughout March 1906, and were later turned into one of his lectures at the Wesley Guild.

     There was often a cross-over between his interests in nature and religion. A regular talk he gave was on “God’s Other Book” - namely the book of nature.

     One of the last religious talks he gave at the Guild was on “Milton and the Bible” in February 1914, and the last talk of all there from this writer’s newspaper search was in January 1915 which accompanied lantern slides on botanical life.

     There was no suggestion anywhere of Pepworth writing poetry or verse.

     He then disappears from the Methodist Wesley Guild. It may have signalled a change in religious direction or it may have signalled that he retired from his work and he and Eliza moved to the south coast of Britain after their girls married. Sadly, not that long after the move, his wife Eliza died at the age of 51 in Bournemouth, Dorset, in November 1915 at the age of 51.

     We don’t know when he’d become interested in the Bible Student message, but Eliza’s grave marker in a Bournemouth cemetery reads:

In loving memory of Eliza, beloved wife of William Harry Pepworth, who passed away Nov. 16, 1915, aged 51. “She hath done what she could.” Mark 14:8.

     While not conclusive, the marker also includes a version of the cross and crown symbol, which characterised the Bible Student movement at that time.

     See: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/259935003/eliza-pepworth

     This suggests that at some point not too long before this Pepworth become a believer in Bible Student teachings. His own obituary in 1940, suggested he had been a Bible Student for nearly 30 years, although that may have been a bit of a guess.

     He was to remarry in 1923. His second wife was Mary J Lawrence born c.1878 so about 46 years old at the time of the wedding. She survived him along with “daughters” – from either his first marriage or hers from a previous relationship. The couple moved to the Isle of Wight and lived in Sandown and the third edition of Pepworth’s book was published in 1924 from a Sandown address. They were still there in the 1939 census. After his death in 1940 she lived on in the area until her own death in 1953. The name Lawrence (female) has been found in a Manna book with a birth date of December 12. This is the birth date for Mary Pepworth in the 1939 census, so it may well be that William Pepworth’s second wife was a Bible Student.

     Pepworth did not remain in the IBSA fellowship. His brief obituary was in an independent Bible Student publication. There was talk of republishing his poem in book form, but it never happened. So the original blue colored volume remains quite collectable.