James Austin Bastow

Who was James Austin Bastow?

James Austin Bastow was a Primitive Methodist Minister

James A. Bastow was born in Hunslet near Leeds in 1810 and was the eldest child of John Bastow, a weaver, and Mary Wade, As a youth he attended a Primitive Methodist church in Leeds, where he was converted and soon began to work as a lay preacher. He married Dorothy Smith on 11 November 1836. They had at least six children, three boys and three girls. Their eldest son Richard Austin Bastow became an Architect and emigrate to Australia. After Dorothy's death in 1869 he married Matilda Holden in 1883.

In 1832 he became a minister on the Preston circuit, and subsequently travelled in Bolton, Ireland, Darleyton, North Shields, Edinburgh, Bradford, Grimsby, Dewsbury, Newcastle upon Tyne, Westgate, Hexham, Durham, Alston, Carlisle, Gateshead, Heston, Middlesbrough and Motherwell.

James was seen as a diligent student and laboured hard to become rich in standard Biblical literature, the latest discoveries in science and the most recent exploration in Palestine.