Harry Brearley,
BEM, written up by Douglas Barrett Wilkinson
In about 1960,
attending Bridge Street Church, in the centre of Leeds, I was concerned to
purchase a vehicle to use in open air preaching around Yorkshire, and to find
someone to teach me to drive; I praise the Lord that both were accomplished. Harry Brearley became a good friend and
driving instructor, and we worked together for many years.
When he was eighty-two,
we met in October 1986, at his home at Prestatyn, North Wales, to record his
autobiography, for the Cassette Library I worked for as MD. We had not met for some twenty-two years.
The night before travelling, I noticed Psalm 66:16, “Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you
what he has done for me.” The very
quotation he normally chose to introduce his testimony - he needed little
prompting on this occasion. Although
limited in eyesight and mobility, he still witnessed on the beaches, in market
places and churches of the area. Often,
as he told this story, tears ran down his cheeks.
He was born in 1904, in a
rough quarter of Leeds, called “Little Hell”.
There was no school for him … and at the age of 12, he turned to crime,
caught by the police for petty theft, he was sent to a Reformatory School. It had little effect, and he was apprehended
for gambling in the street and swearing.
Court and a fine, led to bigger things.
He watched neighbours’ houses so that he could burgle them. People and the police were on the look-out
for him, and he hid in various lodging houses.
Finally, in 1922, it was a case of join the Army. The Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment proved
too strict for Harry – so he robbed the canteen and went AWOL. With others he robbed a shop on Crown Point
Bridge, was arrested, sentenced to Armley Jail, before being transferred to a
military prison, and Discharge with Ignominy.
Even without a prison record, work was hard to find; home life was
miserable, not helped with his parents being Spiritists.
Again he joined the Army,
using his mother’s maiden name – the West Yorkshire Regiment. In trouble again he was placed in the very
hard York Prison. By using his brother’s
name, and a forged Birth Certificate, he yet again enlisted in the Army – the
Eighth King's Irish Hussars, at Canterbury.
More trouble with the Police and a Discharge with Ignominy. In 1929 after much difficulty, he found work
with Leeds Cleansing Department emptying trash bins. His mother told him to find a girl and settle
down, so he drank in the “White Swan” pub, where all the lads and lasses
went. Here he met Clara Winifred – Clara
one night to his mum, Winifred the next night.
Father was sent to spy on her to assess her: “My, he’s got a girl all
right – she’s a real one; she’s a blond, and can drink him under the table!” When she became pregnant, they had to get
married in 1930. They fought like a cat
and dog – not caring for each other.
They went down to his mother’s house to play cards, gamble, and
drink. One night they caught the last
tramcar home. At 6.15 the next morning
someone knocked them up, to say his mother had collapsed and died of heart
failure. The mother had a brother called
Herbert, who was a Christian, so Harry asked him to arrange a funeral service
at his church. “Have you ever been to
church? Have you ever opened a
Bible? Has your mother ever been to
church? You just can’t treat God like a
convenience. Well I’ll arrange a
Memorial Service.”
At the Methodist Church
they had Communion during the Memorial Service, and when the bread came round,
his wife said, “Don’t touch it, we don’t know what it is!” Uncle Herbert said they were having a
Campaign in a few weeks, would he come; Harry said he’d have nothing to do with
it, but his wife promised to attend and bring Harry. When she told him, he slapped her across the
face, “Don’t you promise to take me anywhere, where I don’t want to go! If it lasts after 8 o’clock, when I want to
go for a drink, there will be trouble.”
They were Cliff College Students on Trek, who made the Gospel plain
from the words of the Bible: that Jesus had died for our sins. Before the end of the meeting, Harry and his
wife went forward to the Communion Rail, and gave their hearts to the
Lord. They could not hold themselves back. Harry said he could not go for a drink,
because he had given his heart to the Lord.
They had been heavy smokers, but on the way home their cigarettes would
not light. They decided that it was
wrong for them to smoke. Living for the
Lord became their passion, with a particular call to preaching in the open
air. Debts were paid off, and they were
introduced to Bridge Street Four Square Church in Leeds (where I met Harry and
Winifred).
Harry and Win realized that
they did not have a Bible. So they
prayed, and at work, he was sent to clear a house – number 8, Clarendon Avenue -
of belongings piled in the yard. Among them
was a large Bible with copious notes on the Return of the Lord Jesus, written
by its owner – a subject which interested Brearley greatly. He then drove the horse and cart with one
hand, and carried the precious book in the other, for seven hours. He was pleased to tell his workmates the reason
for the prize: his conversion to Christ.
Prayer for some kind of
vehicle led him to anticipate a fine car: in fact it was a tricycle built for
selling ice cream from two large tubs – which were cleaned and used to carry
leaflets. It was hard work, peddling up
hills with this “Stop Me and Buy One” with a handy megaphone. Next, he purchased a second hand furniture
van, and had texts painted on the sides.
A bout of flue laid him low; the Minister traced his whereabouts via
Harry Toft, a Church member, and an International Rugby Player – this led to
financial help and a box of groceries – they were down to the last crust of
bread. Harry was then taken ill with the
child’s disease of scarlet fever and placed in an isolation hospital. Winifred was unable to draw any money to pay
the bills, but Pastor T.H. Jewitt was able to visit the hospital and arrange
the necessary transaction. Once well,
they were back serving the Lord – and getting into many scrapes.
Preaching in a mission
church on the text from Jeremiah 51:20: “Thou art My battleaxe”, he
inadvertently pointed in his wife’s direction.
She promptly stood up, and humorously shook her fist at him, much to
everyone’s amusement.
At open air meetings they
often played a popular recording of a singer called Jo Stafford, singing: “It
is no secret what God can do, what He’s done for others, He can do for you”. When they returned for a second week, a lady
came out of the Post Office and said, “Get that woman to sing that song
again.” She pointed to Win, who had been
quietly singing along with the record, and was virtually tone deaf. [The interesting story
behind this song: Stuart Hamlin, a well-known radio personality, visited Billy
Graham, the Evangelist, and his team in their hotel. After a long talk, he trusted the Saviour for
salvation and immediately phoned his friend John Wayne, the film star. When
Hamlin used these words, Wayne said, “You’ve got a song there.”]
A fellow, perhaps drunk,
came up to Harry and threatened to floor him if he did not stop preaching. Starting to take his jacket off, Harry told
him he had been the heavy weight champion of his regiment. The man quietly
left.
A wealthy American
businessman supplied them with an ample supply of extremely tasteful,
well-designed leaflets.
Their pitch in Vicar Lane,
Leeds, was outside Brown’s Wine Merchant’s.
One Christmas the owner came out and demanded that they stopped. “Every time you start preaching my shop
empties. When you stop it fills up
again!” He returned with a Police
Officer, but Harry showed them his police permit. Inside the shop the man drew a gun: “Get him
out of this shop, or I’ll shoot him!” So
Harry took the Police advice and moved further along the street. This placed them by a set of traffic lights,
and every time a tramcar waited for green, there was a fine audience –
sometimes folk gave them requests for hymns on the record player.
An old man would blaspheme
when Winifred offered him a leaflet.
Harry jokingly called him Win’s “Boyfriend”. There came a three month period with no sight
of him. When he showed up it was to
request a leaflet: he had been ill in Hospital.
“All I could see, as I lay in bed, was your husband preaching the Gospel
in rain and snow, all kinds of weather.
I gave my heart to the Lord.”
One vehicle was a 15 cwt
van with Bible quotations on the side, and full sized coffin surmounted with a
wreath, at the back: inscribed, “Is this the end?” When he visited a friend in hospital, it
caused many wry comments – such as, “The van’s come for you Brother.”
In Dewsbury, preaching to a
good crowd, the Police moved him on, following a complaint. “Come on Brother, we’ll go to the cemetery
and preach to the dead – they will listen to us.” They did, but there was no one in sight. Twelve years later, at a Convention at Bridge
Street Church, a man approached Harry: “I know you, and you know me. Do you remember preaching at Batley Cemetery,
when it was pouring down? Well me and
my wife were listening behind the curtains, and we gave our hearts to the Lord,
that day; we both serve as Readers in the Church.”
About this time, the Leeds
City Elders realized that a centuries old law granted every Englishman the
right of one square foot of ground on which to stand and express his views. The answer was to place a square sectioned stone
block in every park in the city. With
some irony, Harry was given the task of choosing the locations, and seeing it
through. I visited the one in Crossflatts
Park, Dewsbury Road.
Eventually the Second World
War came along, and he was conscripted into the Army. There was discussion apropos which regiment
he should “return” to. The 8th King's Irish Hussars was chosen. The
posting was to France. In the retreat
towards Dunkirk, they were surrounded and cut off. Thirteen of them took an Army lorry and found
their way south to Marseille. An Arab
cattle boat crew offered to take them home, but whilst helping with the 600
horses in the hold, Harry realized they were sailing eastwards. Six days later they disembarked at Haifa, in
Palestine, and joined General Wavell’s army.
This led to the campaign in Ethiopia, then Palestine, and finally Mount
Olympus in Greece. On the battlefield
here, they were surrounded and overwhelmed by the Germans and taken
prisoner. In the Prisoner of War camp,
situated at Korinthos (where the apostle Paul had founded a church), many of
his friends died of dysentery; there was a lack of medical assistance. Another colleague died from consuming a large
amount of hot bread, which he had stolen.
The Germans said, “Leave him there, we can’t burry him, we have no
Padre.” A man called Duff Cooper went to
complain: “I want my friend buried.” “If
you can find a man qualified to bury him, you can.” Duff said he had seen Harry preaching often
in Leeds, he could take a funeral service.
So the Germans made Harry the “Bible Puncher”, the Padre for the camp.
The British prisoners were
marched from Greece to Austria – they were shot if they stopped for food - they
were not formally registered as POW’s.
Stalag 17 A, at Wolfsburg,
was the destination, where Swedish Authorities made the official register as
POW’s (Prisoners of War). In charge was
a man by the name of Stinker Steiner: “I hear you’re the Padre, can you
preach? You’re the Padre until one is
captured.” He gave Harry a copy of
“Hymns Ancient and Modern” often called “Hymns Ancient and More Ancient”– the
official Church of England hymn book at the time; which Harry still had. He didn’t know a lot, but God helped him, and
they had some glorious times. The first
sermon was on Mark 5, The Raising of Jairus’s Daughter, and the Healing of the
Woman with the Issue of Blood. After the
message one man gave his heart to the Lord.
The Germans commanded him to hold a Bible Study every Wednesday. A violent man called Andrew knocked his Bible
from his hand, every time they passed.
One night Harry told him that if he did it again, he would forget he was
a Christian, and take his coat off to him.
To Harry’s amazement, Andrews agreed to attend the Bible Studies, but on
condition that he could choose the passage to study. “One Chronicles, the first five chapters”,
which are lists of Jewish names. Harry
was stumped, but the Lord gave him a word.
One midnight, Harry’s friend Pop Harley (an Australian), woke him – they
were housed in three stable blocks – there was a rumpus and shouting. With the Germans threatening to shoot them,
if it didn’t stop – shots were being fired.
“Harry! Andrews is shouting out to the Lord.” Harry went to the Commander – being the
Padre, he was the only prisoner allowed to speak to him. On being questioned, Andrews said he wanted
to know the Lord. So after a chat they
both knelt down, and he gave his heart to the Lord. Before he was taken away to a punishment camp,
Harry gave him a scribbled note of his home address in England. There was no more news of him until after the
War: Winifred received a letter from Eastbourne, where Andrews lived. It was from his mother – eighteen years a
Pentecostal Believer, her husband a Baptist Lay Preacher – how thankful she was
that after 18 years praying for him, to learn of his conversion.
A man arrived carrying a
huge Bible. When asked where he had
found it, he replied, “On the battlefield at Mount Olympus”. It was there that Harry had been wounded in
the leg – for the rest of his life he suffered a weeping scar. The Bible had Harry’s Leeds address on the
flyleaf. “You can have it for some
cigarettes. I’ve had many blessings from it, but I’m not a Christian.” Harry did not smoke, but was to take a Bible
Study with the Officers, on “Daniel’s Image”, and they often gave him some
cigarettes. They did, and these he gave
to the man, who was called Sanderson.
Harry told him he could keep the Bible, if he came to their Bible
Studies. He did, and many years later it
emerged that Sanderson was the Band Leader in the Salvation Army at
Basingstoke, still carrying Harry’s Bible.
Pop Harley lent him his, until the people at Bridge Street Church sent him
a new Schofield Bible, from which he was able to preach and take Bible Studies,
and lead Prayer Meetings. At one of
these, a New Zealander gave his heart to the Lord.
There was a division of
barbed wire in the camp: to separate French and British POW’s. As Brearley walked by it one day, someone
called his name, “Our Pastor wants to speak to you.” The German Commander was agreeable to them
holding joint Bible Studies, in alternate camps, using an interpreter. They had marvelous times and men were saved. Eventually a recognized Pastor was captured,
and Harry was no longer required. This
was a Church of England Chaplain, a British Army Officer called Ledgerwood, but
unfortunately a Modernist in his beliefs.
Harry was sent out of the
Camp to do hard manual work. About this
time a Red Cross parcel came for him; it contained two bars of soap – a rare
commodity. When the Commandant found
out, he wanted one, and when Harry refused, the German drew his gun. Another Officer came in and asked what the
rumpus was about. “You’re a Christian,
aren’t you? What are you doing fighting
us – it’s voluntary in your country?
I’ll get you out of this Camp.”
At this second Camp, food was short; but a man was a good shot with a
catapult. He only managed to kill sparrows
– still a lovely meal. When the dog was
missing there were suspicions. In the
end, Harry decided to escape, and contacted the Resistance Underground
Movement. A prisoner called Lock was
dressed as a woman, and they escaped pretending to be a courting couple;
unfortunately they were caught in a curfew, and placed in the slam-bin.
On one occasion, he had
just left the toilet block, when it was blown to pieces by an Allied bomb –
probably dropped by a low flying De Havilland Mosquito aircraft. He had several similar escapes, for which he
thanked God for His protection.
Later, the prisoners were
travelling - standing tightly packed in a cattle truck. When it stopped a guard would stick his
bayonet through a knot hole near the bulkhead.
The first time this happened, it pierced a man’s face, so they took turns
at standing there. Harry’s turn came,
and he stood reading his Bible. This
time an eye looked in, and this guard asked him what he was doing in the Army,
as a Christian. Christians in Germany
had no option. But he kindly attended to their needs with warm soup, and visits
to the toilets – the truck was awash with sewage.
They were sent to Auschwitz
Extermination Camp, and were made to dig the graves for thousands of Jewish
people killed in the Gas Chambers. Next
they were taken to a POW Camp near the Cilician Border. The War was drawing to a close, and the
advancing Russians took no prisoners – they shot the Germans, and gave the
British a very hard time. Better still
though; the Americans were overrunning the German forces.
When he arrived home, Harry,
normally a large man, weighed only 5 stone, 9 pounds – 36 kgs. The medical diagnosis was that there was no
hope of recovery; but Pastor Miles laid hands on him for the prayer for
healing, and he recovered well. The
Seacroft Hospital Doctor could not understand it, but discharged him on special
rations. Harry resumed his work for the
Lord: preaching in the open air, and joined with a young man – Stephen
Fisher. They had little blessing in
missions at North Shields, and Middleborough.
Stephen went home and founded his own car repair centre in Horsforth. Winifred joined him, and the blessing started,
with people being saved.
He found numerous
occupations: Leeds City Highways Department, as a Ganger/Charge Hand; Auty
Brothers, as a labourer on the Seacroft Housing Estate – when asked if he could
lay a drain, he demonstrated that he could, and was quickly promoted to Foreman
(he knew no Mathematics, but a man from Leeds University called at his home,
and offered to bring his Maths up to scratch, for the reading of Plans); and
later he worked on the Intake Estate.
In one of these jobs, as
they were demolishing a house, Harry fell from scaffolding onto a sofa – which
broke his fall to some extent, and may have saved his life, but he badly
injured his back. He wore a steel brace,
and a special collar to protect his neck.
One morning as he woke, he felt that God wanted to heal him, and as he
prayed his back was restored. The
Doctor insisted on a small pension for Harry, who still has the brace as a
souvenir.
The Labour Exchange/Job
Centre found him a possible employment: working for the Government as a
chauffeur, at a complex in Lawnswood.
The Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture told him that people with a
prison record could not be considered.
When he explained his predicament – severe, but long-time-ago, incarcerations,
followed by his conversion to the Lord Jesus, she advised him to write a full
record of events. Firstly, he had to
fulfill a Campaign in Holyhead with Evangelization Society, and another with an
Assemblies of God Church. The job was to
start on the 13th of October.
A generous fiscal gift greatly encouraged, and helped him; a not
uncommon experience, when folk saw his van with Bible quotation painted on the
side. His meeting with the Chief
Constable, a man by the name of Barnet, and a fine Christian, eventually
resulted in a full list of his crimes, convictions, Court appearances, and
imprisonments. He needed three extra
sheets of paper to complete the long list; but with no convictions since 1932
until the present (1953). Harry was
amazed to be offered the job. His Boss
was a Believer, and told him: “Take as much time off as you need, to do your
preaching.” He had missions in Rugby at
the AOG Church, and at the Bible Pattern Church, Bradford. When his equipment failed, a financial gift
bought him a new van. He was given an
established post, on the Staff at Lawnswood, where he remained until 1960.
One morning, Christmas
1968, his wife called to him that he had a letter from the Prime Minister – he
thought it was a joke. But it was to
inform him that Her Majesty the Queen had awarded him a British Empire
Medal. This was often given to ordinary
people, who had done good work in their employment. Unfortunately, the Queen had a previously
arranged engagement, but his Boss arrange for the Earl of Scarborough to make
the presentation at Lawnswood, in 1969.
All food, drink and photographs would be paid for. “You have to wet the medal with a strong
drink.” Winifred replied, “Oh no we
won’t; we’ve brought our own orange juice.”
How did he come to be recommended
for the BEM? The theory was that he
drove an interesting Jewish visitor to the British Government, who was a member
of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament), round the Jewish sites in Leeds – mainly
Synagogues. They had interesting
discussions on the Book of Ezekiel the Prophet, and the Old Testament/ Jewish
Bible in general. He sent Winifred a
beautiful set of photographs of his country.
In retirement, Harry continued
preaching at markets and Race Meetings.
In 1975, Win became ill; curtailing his preaching activities, as he
looked after her, until her promotion to Glory in 1981.
Harry Brearley, BEM, is a great believer in Christ Jesus’s Return, as
foretold in First Thessalonians chapter four, commencing at verse thirteen:
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about
those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we
who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly
not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Harry recommended several
fictional books by Sydney Watson: “In The Twinkling of An Eye”, “Scarlet and
Purple”, “The Mark of the Beast”, and “The Coming King”.
