Robert Charlton was born November 12, 1882 at 143 Front Street, North Brancepeth Colliery, Brandon, County Durham. By age 18, he was working as an apprentice carpenter and living with his parents in the Village of Station Road, Houghton le Spring.
All that changed when he left home to commence his studies for the ministry in 1902. His first stop was the Wesleyan Church at Castleton Hall in Castleton, Derbyshire under the auspices of the Home Mission Board of England. When Castleton Hall closed he moved with his fellow students to Cliff College at Curbar, Derbyshire. The latter remains a Methodist College to this day.
In 1906 he immigrated to Canada and by 1907 was “Received on Trial” at Ebeneezer. Between 1908 and 1911 he attended Wesley College, Winnipeg and was “Ordained” in 1912 at Moose Jaw.
He married Helen Lottie Good on August 7, 1912 in Fillmore, Saskatchewan. Their first child, William Browell Charlton was born in Macklin, Saskatchewan on July 20th, 1913. Macklin Methodist was his first church. They stayed at Maklin unitl the following year when they moved to Lemberg, Saskatchewan to take over the Union church there. The posting at Lemberg saw the birth of their second child, Robert Charlton on April 11, 1918. In 1919 the family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, England where the Reverend and Mrs. Charlton took charge of the Newcastle Wesleyan Mission at Westgate Hall. While on a brief vacation to visit his parents, William and Mary Charlton at 26 Western Hill in Durham, Helen succumbed to heart failure (mitral regurgitation) on the Ides of March. It was the Ides of March.
Following the sudden death of his first wife in 1920, Rev. Charlton returned to Canada with Deaconess Frances Smurthwaite Frances McPherson – his second wife, and the two boys to minister to the Davidson Church in Davidson, Saskatchewan between 1921 and 1925.
Between 1926 and 1930 he was Minister of the Milestone United Church, Milestone Saskatchewan. In 1931 the family moved to Shawinigan Falls, Quebec where he became Minister of Trinity United Church. Here he stayed through his retirement in 1951, Frances’ death in 1953 and up until his passing on March 28th, 1956. Even after he retired he continued working, providing part time ministry to the congregation in Lake Megantic, near the Quebec/Maine border.
Sources for the above include reports by family members, most notably W. B. Charlton (who helped me start my genealogical research about 40 years ago), birth and census documents and files from the United Church Archives at Victoria College, Toronto. Most notable of the latter are minutes from the Montreal – Ottawa Conference 1956 which included a biographical sketch of Reverend Charlton’s working life.
Robert Charlton and Helen Lottie Good had two children:
- William Browell (Bill) Charlton was born on July 20, 1913 in Macklin, Saskatchewan. He married Della Jean Connell on May 21, 1941 in Alexandria, Ontario.
- Robert (Bert) Charlton was born April 11, 1918 in Lemberg, Saskatchewan.
Although Robert had two older brothers, John and William, it is unclear if he ever knew about them as they both died before he was born and he never mentioned them. Playing a much larger role in his life were his two sisters Minnie and Isabel pictured with him below in 1919.
