Instituted 



12 Dec. 1459 



9 Nov. 1465 



27 July 1481 . 



22 July 1485 . 



29 Oct. 1506 



29 July 1516 . 



2 Oct. 1528. 



c. 1558 . . 



1560 . . 



1562 . . 



SALFORD HUNDRED 



Name Patron 



John Booth m Lord La Warre, &c. 



Ralph Langley 304 R. Hatfield, &c. . 



James Stanley 305 T. Lord La Warre 



James Stanley 306 



MANCHESTER 



Cause of Vacancy 



exch. R. RadclifFe 

 prom. Bp. Booth 

 exch. R. Langley 

 d. J. Stanley 



Robert Cliffe, LL.B. 307 The King prom. Bp. Stanley 



George West 308 Sir T. West ... . . d. R. Cliffe 



George Collier, M.A. 309 . . . . Lord La Warre . . . res. Geo. West 

 Lawrence Vaux, B.D. 310 .... 



William Birch, M.A. 311 .... The Queen 



Thomas Herle, B.D. 318 .... 



writ was issued to allow Sir Richard West 

 to present to the church ; Dtp. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxvii, App. 177. Dr. Radcliffe was 

 Canon of York in 1456 and of St. Paul's 

 in 1458, Archdeacon of Sarum in 1465, 

 and Dean of St. Paul's in 1468, holding 

 these dignities till his death in 1471 ; Le 

 Neve, op. cit. iii, 203 ; ii, 383, 625, 313. 



808 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 97, 

 <)jb ; an exchange was made by which 

 Roger Radcliffe became rector of Adbolton, 

 John Booth resigning. The patrons of 

 Manchester were Sir Richard West Lord 

 La Warre (lord of Manchester), and 

 Thomas Uvedale, John Whittokesmede, 

 Richard Cooke, and Thomas Bailie, feof- 

 fees of the lordship to the use of Lord La 

 Warre. For the patronage at this time 

 see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 177. 

 John Booth son of Sir Robert Booth of 

 Dunham, who had been rector of Leigh, 

 held many ecclesiastical dignities, finally 

 becoming Bishop of Exeter, 1465 to 1478; 

 Le Neve, Fasti, i, 376, &c. 



8M Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 102; 

 the patrons for that turn were Richard 

 Hatfield and Nicholas Statham, by grant 

 of Lord La Warre and the feoffees named 

 in the last note. Ralph Langley was also 

 rector of Prestwich, 1445 to 1493. He 

 is said to have given the first chimes to 

 Manchester Church. He had a dispute 

 with his predecessor in respect of certain 

 goods claimed by the bishop ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Plea R. 34, m. 30. 



805 Lich Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 

 113^5 Warden Langley took the pre- 

 bend in St. Paul's vacated by James Stan- 

 ley, who had held it since 1458. The 

 new warden was also Archdeacon of 

 Chester, 1478 to 1485, and held the 

 family rectory of Winwick ; see Le 

 Neve, op. cit. 



806 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 120; 

 he was a clerk. He became rector of 

 Winwick in 1493, and wai also rector of 

 Walton on the Hill and Rostherne ; he 

 was Dean of St. Martin's le Grand, and 

 Archdeacon of Richmond (1500) ; he be- 

 came Bishop of Ely in 1506, and died in 

 1515. In the Stanley family poem he is 

 called ' a proper man,' but regret is ex- 

 pressed that he became a priest instead of 

 a soldier, not having the gift of conti- 

 nence. His illegitimate son, Sir John 

 Stanley of Hanford in Cheshire, was a 

 soldier of distinction, and became a monk 

 at Westminster ; Earwaker, East. Ches. i, 

 245-50. The bishop was fond of cock- 

 fighting down to the later years of his 

 life ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), i, 63. For a defence of his char- 

 acter see the Rev. E. F. Letts in Lanes, 

 and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vi, 161, &c. He 

 died at Manchester and was buried there; 

 his memorial brass remains in the cathe- 

 dral. There are notices of him in Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. and Cooper, Atben. Cantab, i, 1 6. 



7 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol. 

 55 ; the king presented because the patron 



had not then taken livery of his lands. 

 Robert Cliffe had in 1496 studied the civil 

 law at Oxford and Cambridge for eight 

 years ; Grace Bk. B. (Luard Mem.), 99. 

 He had been rector of Winwick from 

 1485 to 1493, and after leaving Man- 

 chester held benefices in Cambridgeshire ; 

 see Cooper, Atben. Cantab, i, 66, 67, for his 

 later career. The Lichfield registers state 

 that the wardenship was vacated by his 

 death, but this appears to be an error, as 

 letters from him written at Cambridge 

 are printed in Raines, Wardens, 47-50 ; 

 they are endorsed ' Mr. Warden's letters 

 about the tithe of the Moor, n Hen. 

 VIII,' and speak of an approaching meet- 

 ing of Parliament. The endorsement 

 may be erroneous, as Parliament did not 

 meet in 1520. He was adverse to the 

 king's divorce from Queen Katherine ; 

 Cooper, Ann. of Camb. i, 338 (quoting 

 Burnefs Records, I, ii, no. 22). 



808 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol. 

 59^. George West was probably a child 

 at his appointment, and is not even 

 described as 'clerk.' After his father's 

 death (1525) he appears to have refused 

 to proceed to holy orders, gave up the 

 wardenship in 1528, married and became 

 the ancestor of the Earls De La Warr, 

 and was made a knight in 1533. He had 

 also the church of Shepton Mallet, which 

 he resigned at the same time as Man- 

 chester ; L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iv, 211 9. 

 He died in 1538 ; see Raines, op. cit. 

 52-5 ; Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), v, 390. 



809 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol. 

 64^. George Collier was M.A. at Oxford 

 1510, and perhaps rector of Wickwar, 

 Gloucestershire, before 1535 ; Foster, 

 Alumni Oxon. ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 492. He was warden when the college 

 was dissolved in 1547, and retired into 

 Staffordshire during the reign of Edward 

 VI, being an adherent of the ancient 

 faith ; he returned to Manchester in the 

 next reign, and died there. Tradition 

 described him as a man ' of great bounty 

 and hospitality '; Raines, op. cit. 5562. 

 At the beginning of 1555 he was one of 

 those deputed to persuade John Bradford 

 to recant ; Foxe, Acts and Monuments 

 (ed. Cattley), vii, 182. In August 1556, 

 before the formal restoration of the col- 

 lege, he described himself as warden in 

 granting probate of a will at Manchester ; 

 Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 149. His 

 granting probate shows that he was Dean 

 of Manchester. The inventory taken 

 after his death is dated 12 July 1558; he 

 had property at Stone in Staffordshire, and 

 Robert Collier of Darlaston owed him 

 42; Wills (Chet. Soc. new. sen), i,i8-22. 

 81 No payment of first-fruits is re- 

 corded. A full biography is prefixed to 

 Mr. T. G. Law's edition of his Catechism 

 (Chet. Soc. new ser. iv). Vaux or Vause 

 was of the Blackrod family of the name, 

 and born about 1520 ; educated at Man- 

 chester and Oxford; B.D. (Corpus Christi 



195 



College) 1556 ; and made fellow of Man- 

 chester College. His career during the 

 reign of Edward VI is unrecorded, but as 

 an adherent of the old religion he prob- 

 ably retired into private life like the 

 warden. The tradition of the next cen- 

 tury allowed him to have been ' a man 

 well beloved and highly honoured by many 

 in Manchester, yea by the generality ; 

 and this was one reason why many there- 

 about were lother to be reclaimed from 

 Popery than about Rochdale ' ; Hollin- 

 worth, Mancuniensis, 81. On learning 

 the changes made by Elizabeth, Vaux at 

 once made up his mind, consigned the 

 muniments of the college and part of the 

 plate to Alexander Barlow and Edward 

 Standish of Standish, and left Manches- 

 ter. After a short time he escaped to 

 Louvain, but returned secretly to England 

 in 1565 and ministered in Lancashire for 

 a short time, publishing the papal pro- 

 hibition of attendance at the statutory 

 services. He was again at Louvain in 

 1567, and in 1572 became a canon regular 

 in St. Martin's there. In 1580 he was 

 sent by the pope, into England, but was 

 captured at Rochester. He was ex- 

 amined by the Bishop of London and 

 committed to the Gatehouse Prison at 

 Westminster, where he was in 1583 

 described as 'an old massing priest, a 

 Lancashire man born.' He was after- 

 wards removed to the Clink in South- 

 wark, and probably died there in 1585 ; 

 there was a story current that he had 

 been starved to death, and he is therefore 

 sometimes called a martyr. His Catechism 

 was published in 1567, and reissued fre- 

 quently ; and he wrote some other works. 

 See further in Wood, Athenae ; Raines, 

 Wardens, 62-70 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.; Gil- 

 low, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Catholics, v, 565; 

 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 364 ; Lanes, 

 and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. Hi, 1 84. 



811 He paid first-fruits 22 Aug. 1560 ; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Ree. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 409. He was of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, and then fellow of 

 Corpus Christi, 1548 ; a Protestant, 

 ordained by Bishop Ridley, he had a 

 licence to preach throughout the kingdom 

 from Edward VI in 1552, but retired 

 into private life or went abroad in Mary's 

 reign. Reappearing on the accession of 

 Elizabeth he was presented to Gateshead 

 and Manchester : the latter benefice, 

 however, he quickly resigned, being un- 

 willing, it is said, to agree to its spolia- 

 tion. He died in 1575, being then rector 

 of Stanhope in Durham ; Raines, op. cit. 

 70-5, where his will is given ; and 193 ; 

 also Cooper, Athen. Cantab, i, 562. 



812 First-fruits paid 27 May 1562; 

 Lanes, and Ches. Rec. ii, 409. He was a 

 Cambridge man, and seems to have been 

 appointed fellow of Manchester at the 

 beginning of 1559, being made a canon 

 of Worcester in 1561. He was a typical 

 dignitary of the time, alienating the 



