A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Name 



William Sawrey, MA. 197 . . 



John Paler » 8 



James Martin, M.A. 199 . . 



Augustine Wildbore, D.D. 2 * . 



•I 



James Starkie, M.A. 201 . 



Isaac Ambrose, M.A. 203 

 George Thomason 203 . 

 William Cole, B.A.- 04 . 

 Thomas Stanhope, M.A.- 

 Seth Bushell, D.D. 206 . 

 Thomas Birch *> 7 . . 

 Samuel Peploe, M.A. 208 

 Samuel Peploe, D.D. 209 



Patron 



Henry Bold . . « 

 The Queen. 



Rt. Parkinson . . . 



Sir Richard Hoghton . 



Sir R. Hoghton . . 



The King . . . . 



Sir R. Hoghton . . 



The King . . . . 



Cause of Vacancy 



■J. T. Wall 



i 



res. W. Sawrey 

 d. J. Paler 



res. A. Wildbore 



Sir R. Hoghton 



jt 



Sir C. Hoghton 

 The King . . 



cess. W. Cole 

 res. T. Stanhope 

 res. S. Bushell 

 d. T. Birch 

 prom. Bp. Peploe 



In 1590 it was reported that the vicar, 

 who was 'no preacher,' had ' by corrup- 

 tion ' only 20 marks a year out of the 

 vicarage revenues ; S. P. Dora, Eliz. xxxi, 



47. 



197 Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 21. He 

 appears to have had two presentations, 

 one from the queen and another frum 

 Henry Bold of North Me<_>N ; Smith, 

 op. cit. 46. He compounded for first- 

 fruits <; Feb. 1592-3. He was also rector 

 of Windermere 1594-1610. 



lw Act Bio at Chester, foL 37 ; 

 'preacher of the Word of G >d.' Parkin- 

 son presented by virtue of a grant from 

 Richard Hoghton. John Paler was buried 

 at Preston 16 Apr. 1621, the entry in the 

 register describing him as *a notable 

 labourer in the Lord's vineyard.' An 

 inventory of his goods (Smith, op. cit. 47) 

 shows that he had a considerable library, 

 his books being worth £14 101. 



lw Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 72. He 

 was a king's preacher. Martin paid first- 

 fruits 29 May 1 62 1. He graduated at 

 Orford (M.A. 161 1) and Cambridge ; 

 Foster, Alumni. He was deprived for 

 simony in 1623. Some ten years later 

 he made bitter complaint of his treatment, 

 alleging chat his wife and son had starved 

 to death in the street ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 

 1633-4, pp. 7, 11, 39. His character- 

 sketch of his enemies, who were Puritans, 

 is printed by Fishwick, op. cit. 180—2. 

 Martin seems to have been regarded as of 

 unsound mind. 



The institutions from this time have 

 been compared with those recorded at the 

 P.R.O. as printed in Lanes, and Chei. 

 Antip Notes. 



900 The history of the vicarage from 

 1623 to 1626 is obscure, the proceedings 

 concerning Martin causing difficulty. The 

 records of the Chester registry show that 

 Alexander Bradley, B.A., was presented 

 by the king, * by lapse,' on 21 June 1623, 

 and John Inskip on 6 July following. 

 The latter sought institution, but does not 

 appear to have obtained it ; Act Bk. at 

 Chester, foL 73^, y6b, and at end of 

 volume, Augustine Wildbore was pre- 

 sented by Sir Richard Hoghton on 

 3 Mar. 1625-6, the vacancy being due to 

 the ' deprivation of James Martin, last 

 vicar' ; but on 1 Dec. following he was 

 presented by t'e kin?, 'patron for this 

 turn by reason of the outlawry of the 

 patron or by lapse.' The first-fruits were 

 paid 20 Feb. 1626-7. Some entries re- 

 lating to John Inskip, with an abstract of 

 his will (1632), are printed by T. C. 

 Smith, op. cit. 51. 



Wildbore was educated at Sidney-Su=°ex 



Coll., Camb. (M.A. 1614, D.D. 1633). 

 He was appointed a king's preacher ; 

 was vicar of Garstang in 1 62 1 , of 

 Preston in 1626, and of Lancaster 

 1630, vacating Preston. He was a strong 

 Royalist and was expelled from his bene- 

 fices by Parliament in 1643. Hc died in 

 1654. See the full account by H. Fish- 

 wick in Garstang (Chet. Soc), 149-53. 



201 Act Bk. at Chester, fol. gib, 116A. 

 First-fruits paid 25 Nov. 1630. The 

 king's nomination was said to be due to 

 the outlawry of the patron, lapse, or 

 simony. James Starkic was in 1636 ad- 

 monished by the High Commission Court, 

 probably for some nonconformity ; Cal. 

 S. P. Dom. 1635-6, p. 485. In 1639 he 

 was promoted to the rectory of North 

 Meols(q.v.). 



707 This noteworthy vicar of Preston 

 was the son of Richard Ambrose, vicar 

 of Ormskirk, where he was baptized 

 in 1604. He was educated at Brasenose 

 Coll., Oxf. ; B.A. 1624, M.A. Camb. 

 1632; Foster, Alumni. Incumbent of 

 Castleton, Derb., 1627 ; Clapham, 1629 ; 

 king's preacher in Lancashire, 1631; was a 

 zealous Presbyterian and member of the 

 classis 1646, signing the 'Harmonious 

 Consent ' in 1648 ; became vicar of Gar- 

 stang in 1654 and was ejected for non- 

 conformity in 1662. He died in Jan. 

 1663-4. He published various religious 

 works, including Looking unto Jesus, 1658. 

 See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Wood, Athenae ; 

 Garstang (Chet. Soc), 154-176. Am- 

 brose was still vicar of Preston till 1657, 

 when he released to Sir Richard Hoghton 

 all right in the vicarage ; De Hoghton D. 

 During part of the time (165 5 on) 

 William Brownsword was in charge of the 

 parish but was not styled vicar; he was 

 afterwards of Kendal. See articles by 

 Rev. B. Nightingale in Preston Guardian, 

 9-30 Apr. 1910. 



M » Plund. Mint. Accts. (Rec. Soc Lanes, 

 and Ches.), ii, 189. One of this name 

 was educated at Oxford ; B.A. 1659 ; and 

 afterwards held various benefices 5 Canon 

 of Lincoln 1683-1712 ; Foster, Alumni. 



204 Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 216, 222. 

 Educated at Corpus Christi Coll., Camb. ; 

 B.A. 1640; Fishwick, Preston, 185. In 

 1662 he was willing to conform to some 

 extent, but was ejected from Preston or 

 left it voluntarily. Next year, however, 

 he accepted the vicarage of Dedham ; 

 Smith, op. cit. 59. He had previously 

 held Kirkby Lonsdale and Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne. 



205 Stanhope was educated at St. John's 

 Coll., Camb. ; Admissions (ed. Mayor), 

 i, 111 ; M.A. 1660. He is said to have 



86 



acted afterwards as chaplain at Hoghton 

 Tower ; Smith, op. cit. 60. His ion 

 George became Dean of Canterbury 

 1704 to 1728. 



806 Educated at Oxford ; M.A. 1654., 

 D.D. 1672 ; Foster, Alumni. Some 

 notice of this -vicar has been given under 

 Euxton, of which he was curate in 1650. 

 Conforming at the Restoration he was 

 very tolerant of Dissenters, and became 

 popular at Preston and Lancaster, where 

 he was vicar from 1682 till his death in 

 1684. His epitaph describes him as 

 devoted to the English Reformed Church, 

 and faithful to the two Charleses in very 

 difficult times ; Smith, op. cit. 61-3, 

 where his will is given j Wood, Athenat $ 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



m Act Bk. at Chester, fol. 158. 

 Neither vicar nor curate is recorded in 

 the visitation list of 1691, but James 

 Bland, curate, was 'conformable' in 

 1689 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 iv, 230. Birch's will is printed in Smith, 

 op. cit. 68. 



He was not liked by some of the more 

 influential of his parishioners, who com- 

 plained that he did not reside and that 

 he disparaged the Prayer Book. Bishop 

 Stratford made inquiry and wrote to the 

 mayor, showing that some of the charges 

 were untrue and other matters would be 

 reformed. In particular the vicar was 

 willing to restore the daily prayers in the 

 church ; hoc. Glean. Land, and Chet. ii, 

 6, 9. 



* 08 The Hoghton family were Noncon- 

 formists, and from a letter among the 

 De Hoghton D. it appears that Sir 

 Charles Hoghton gave the nomination of 

 Birch's successor to the mayor of Preston 

 and others. It is not clear, however, 

 that they selected Peploe, who was a 

 zealous Whig, afterwards warden of Man- 

 chester 1718, and Bishop of Chester 1726, 

 when he resigned Preston. Peploe is 

 said to have owed these promotions to 

 his courage in reading the prayers for 

 King George at the time when the 

 Jacobite army was actually in possession 

 of Preston. He was also very energetic 

 in prosecuting Roman Catholics. See 

 further in the account of Manchester 

 Church. He died in 1752. 



John Stanley was presented 13 Apr. 

 1726 by the king, but there does not 

 seem to be any record that he was insti- 

 tuted ; he at once accepted a rectory at 

 Liverpool. 



m Son of Bishop Peploe, whom he 

 succeeded also as warden of Manchester 

 in 1738 ; see the account of the church 

 there. He resigned Preston in 17+3 on 



