Page 27 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

65 Rev. Lewis Atkins BROWN (1885-1961) (Elected 4.12.1922; resigned 1.9.1924.) Wesleyan
minister of the Dudley Circuit, which included King Street Methodist
Church, Dudley and Darby End Chapel, Netherton from 1921. He left the
club in 1924 on being appointed minister at Bletchingley Wesleyan
Church, Surrey. He then served at nearby Reigate Methodist Church
1926-28, followed by 4 years with the London North West Mission and 3
years with the Paddington Circuit before returning to Reigate in 1935. He
retired in 1938.
He was born in Portsmouth, son of a Wesleyan minister, and was sent
to Kingswood boarding school at Bath (founded by John Wesley to
provide an education for the sons of Methodist clergymen). He trained as a Wesleyan minister
at Didsbury College, Manchester 1904-07 then spent a year of probation in Glasgow and three
at Dalkeith, Edinburgh before serving as minister at St John’s Methodist Church, Arbroath 1911-
1915 (where he was a keen cricketer). He then moved to Blackburn but in 1917 he enlisted in
the Army as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. However after some months he was
made an Army chaplain with the rank of Captain. He was posted to the front where he was
seriously wounded in August 1918: a German shell exploded close by, killing his horse under
him, fracturing a leg and arm and giving him 21 shrapnel wounds to the body. He appears to
have come to Dudley after lengthy convalescence.

66 Francis (‘Frank’) WHITEHOUSE (1864-1941) (Elected 18.12.1922; died 4.3.1941 whilst still a
member.) Bill Poster. He was Principal of the family firm of C Whitehouse & Sons, advertising
contractors of King Street, Dudley, which he joined straight from school at a time when his
widowed mother was the proprietor. His late father William had been both Bill Poster and
Dudley Town Crier. The firm operated widely and Frank served as president of the Midland
Billposting Association. His children kept the business operating after his death. Frank was born,
married and died in Dudley, living first in North Street and then St James’s Road.

67 Henry (‘Harry’) BARNEY (1872-1946) (Elected 1.1.1923; resigned 30.5.1932.) Local Insurance
Manager; branch Manager of the Midland Plate Glass Assurance Co. of 200 Wolverhampton
Street, Dudley from 1907. This must have been part of the Prudential Assurance Society. He
continued as manager after it became the Commercial Union Assurance Co. in c.1930 until
retiring in 1932. He was succeeded by Solomon Wright (club member #199). He was born in
Wargrave, Berkshire, married in Bath, and came to Dudley about 1900 where he started in
business as a commercial photographer. During the First World War he was a Sergeant with the
Military Foot Police and received the Meritorious Service Medal for his service with the Forces
in France. He was first Chairman of the Dudley Bohemian Society, formed in 1924 and loosely
associated with the YMCA, whose objective was to advance the cause of adult education with
debates on problems of the day. (The Society continued at least up to the start of the second
World War.) For 20 years from 1926 he was also Secretary of the Dudley Patriotic Committee,
which raised funds to support serving and former soldiers.

68 George CARRINGTON (1873-1952) (Elected -.1.1923; resigned 19.7.1926.) Iron & steel
manufacturer. General Manager from 1913 of J & C Holcroft Limited’s Portfield Works, Dudley
Port, manufacturers of iron and steel bars and sheets, and a qualified mechanical engineer. He
was President of the Staffordshire Iron and Steel Institute 1918-20 and an active member of
Dudley and District Chamber of Commerce. He grew up in Brierley Hill. After leaving school at
the age of 14 he spent 6 years as an apprentice and stocktaker at Roberts & Cooper’s Ironworks,
Brierley Hill; followed by Assistant Rolling Mill Manager and Stocktaker at J Lysaght Ltd,
Wolverhampton (1893-98); Mill Manager at Coghlan Steel & Iron Co., Leeds (1898-1902) (during
which time he also studied at Leeds Technical School); Mill and Forge Manager at Sheepbridge
Coal & Iron Co., Chesterfield (1902-06); Manager of the ironworks, forge and rolling mill of John