WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LIVERPOOL 



but on the Restoration this Act was adjudged to be 

 null, and St. Nicholas's became once more a chapel 

 under Walton. The following is a list of the 

 curates : 



c. 1563 

 oc. 1577 



1585 



oc. 1590 



1596 



1598 



? 1625 



c. 1634 



1643 

 1645 

 1662 



1670 



1688 



Vane Thomasson " M 

 James Seddon 767 

 James Martindale 768 

 Hugh Janion 769 



- Bentley 770 

 Thomas Wainwright m 

 Edwin Lappage 7 " 

 Henry Shaw 773 

 Joseph Thompson 7M 

 John Fogg 775 

 John Leigh 776 

 Robert Hunter 777 

 William Atherton 778 

 Robert Stythe 



Liverpool had by this time become so important 

 that the governing body thought they might claim 

 full parochial rights for the township. 779 After nego- 

 tiations with the rector and vicar of Walton, and the 

 patron, Lord Molyneux, an Act of Parliament was 

 procured ' to enable the town of Liverpool to build 

 a church and endow the same, and for making the 

 same town and liberties thereof a parish of itself, 

 distinct from Walton.' r80 Two joint rectors were 

 appointed, the first being the two curates then minis- 

 tering, and it was directed that 110 should be 



levied from the parishioners for each of them. 781 The 

 church built under this Act was St. Peter's in Church 

 Street, consecrated in 1704, which has since been 

 regarded as the principal church of the parish, and 

 was therefore appointed the pro-cathedral in 1880. 

 It is a plain building with wide round-headed 

 windows, consisting of a chancel with vestries, nave, 

 and west tower. Its chief merit lies in the woodwork, 

 and it preserves its galleries on three sides of the 

 nave, the general arrangement of the seating having 

 been but little altered since its first building. 7 It 

 is to be demolished as soon as 

 part of the new cathedral is 

 in use. 



The patronage was vested 

 in the mayor and alder- 

 men, such as had been alder- 

 men or bailiffs' peers, and the 

 common council. In 1836 

 the reformed corporation sold 

 the patronage to John Stew- 

 art, and about the same time 

 provision was made for the 

 union of the two rectories. 783 

 From the Stewarts the patron- 

 age was purchased in 1890 

 by the late W. E. Gladstone, 

 whose son, the Rev. Stephen 



E. Gladstone, now holds it. 784 There is no rectory- 

 house, but the gross value of the benefice is stated as 

 1,600 a year, largely derived from fees. 785 



GLADSTONE. Argent 

 a savage's head wreathed 

 ivith holly and distilling 

 dr pt of blood proper 

 'within a fiotuertd orle 

 gules all "with an orle of 

 martlets sable. 



7M Visitation Lists of 1563, 1564; 

 name crossed out in 1565. 



7*7 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 97. 



7 Ibid. 98. 



" 8 Ibid. He was also vicar of St. 

 John's, Chester. He died hi 1596; 

 p. 97. 



77 Ibid. 97, 98. He could not endure 

 the interference of the mayor and council, 

 and only remained two years. He it 

 called * Mr.,' and was therefore a graduate 

 of some university. 



771 Ibid. 98. He was also appointed 

 schoolmaster, 'until God send us some 

 sufficient learned man.' He was only a 

 ' reading minister,' as might be inferred 

 from thii ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, 

 App. iv, 13. Accordingly in 1616 the 

 mayor and burgesses considered ' the pro- 

 viding of a preacher to live within the 

 town'; Munic. Rec. i, 196. He contri- 

 buted i to the clerical subsidy of 1622 ; 

 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Che?.), i, 65. 



In 1609 he appears to have had an 

 assistant named Webster ; Raines MSS. 

 (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 298. 



The will of Thomas Wainwright, dated 

 26 June 1625, and proved in the following 

 October, shows that he had a small 

 library, including commentaries, Perkins 

 on the Creed, and Synopsis Papismi ; these 

 two books he left to Thomas son of his 

 half-brother Godfrey Wainwright. To 

 Mr. Hyatt he left Fulke upon the 

 Rhemish Testament, on condition that 

 he preached the funeral sermon. To 

 John Moore of Bank Hall he left his 

 watch. He also mentions his sisters, 

 Ellen Okell and Cecily Blinston, and 

 other relative*. He desired to be buried 

 'within the chapel of Our Lady and St. 

 Nicholas under the Communion table 

 there.' 



77 a Munic. Rec. i, 1 99. He is described 

 as 'minister and preacher.' 



77 s He contributed to subsidies 1634 to 

 1639 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 94, 122. He may have been the Henry 

 Shaw who was, in 1649, minister of St. 

 John's, Chester ; Plund. Mint. Accts. i, 

 208. One Henry Shaw, of Brasenose 

 College, Oxford, took the M.A. degree in 

 1629 ; Foster, Alumni. 



In 1633 the corporation ordered 'that 

 there shall be morning prayer as formerly 

 hath been ' ; also that the clerk should, 

 if possible, be ordained deacon, in which 

 case his wages should be raised by (if. 8, A; 

 Munic. Rec. i, 201. 



77* Picton's Liverpool, i, 92. In 1644 

 the Corporation provided a second minis- 

 ter, Mr. David Ellison ; Munic. Rec. i, 

 202. Thompson was shortly afterwards 

 placed in the rectory of Scfton. 



"7* Ibid, i, 203. He was son of Law- 

 rence Fogg of Bolton, educated at Brase- 

 nose College, Oxford ; M.A. 1646 ; Foster, 

 Alumni. He signed the 'Harmonious 

 Consent* in 1648. Refusing to take the 

 engagement, he had to abandon his charge 

 in 1651, Peter Stananought (afterwards of 

 Aughton) and Michael Briscowe being 

 appointed. Shortly afterwards John Fogg 

 was reinstated, and remained at Liverpool 

 until he was ejected for Nonconformity in 

 1662 ; he then retired to Great Budworth; 

 Picton, Liverpool, i, 105. In 1650 he 

 was described as ' an able, godly minister '; 

 Commonwealth Ch. Surv. 84. 



77* Munic. Rec. i, 322. The appoint- 

 ment was made by the corporation, as on 

 previous occasions ; but the rector of 

 Walton after some time endeavoured to 

 obtain the patronage. In this he was 

 defeated ; ibid, i, 322-3. 



777 Ibid, i, 323. He was described as 

 ' reverend, learned, and laborious ' ; ibid, i, 

 ^24. He had been incumbent of Knuts- 

 ford and Macdesfield ; Earwaker, East 

 Ches. ii, 505. In 1681 an assistant curate 



45 



was appointed to read morning prayers 

 daily (except Sundays and holidays). 



77* It was considered, on Mr. Hunter's 

 death, that two ministers should be ap- 

 pointed, to do equal duty and receive 

 equal wages, and both to reside in the 

 town ; ibid, i, 324. It appears that they 

 also served the chapel of West Derby. 



"79 Munic. Rec. i, 324-6. 



7 so 10 and 1 1 Will. Ill, cap. 36. The 

 rectors were to divide the duty and the 

 surplice fees. The tithes of the township, 

 on the then rector of Walton's death, 

 were to go to the corporation, in relief 

 of the assessment lor the rectors' stipend. 

 The rectors of Liverpool were to pay 

 one-sixth of the tenths and other ecclesi- 

 astical dues levied upon the parish of 

 Walton. 



Lord Molyneux's interest was indirect, 

 the separation of Liverpool from Walton 

 rendering his right of patronage of the 

 latter rectory somewhat less valuable. 



In 1786 an Act was passed 'for aug- 

 menting and ascertaining the income of 

 the rectors' ; 26 Geo. Ill, cap. 15. 



7 M Gastrell, Nttitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), 

 ii, 190-3 ; Picton, Munic. Rec. ii, 86. 



783 T^ building has never excited any 

 admiration. There is a peal of ten bells, 

 added in 1830. In 1715 John Fells, a 

 sea captain, gave 30 towards the expense 

 of forming a library in this church ; a list 

 of the books is printed in Mr. Peet's In- 

 ventory, 25-52. This work contains an 

 inventory of the plate, &c., and a full list 

 of the parish registers, with a reprint of 

 the earliest volume (1661-73), a ^ 8 a '' 8t 

 of the churchwardens from 1551. 



The church was used for a series of 

 musical festivals, commencing in 1766 ; 

 Picton, Liverpool, ii, 155. 



7 i & 2 Viet. cap. 98. 



7 84 Information of the patron. 

 7 M Dice. Calendar. 



