A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Name 



Edward Moreton, D.D. ' . . . . 



Joseph Thomson ' 



Edward Moreton 



John Bradford, D.D. ' 



Jonathan Brideoak, B.D. * . . . 



Richard Richmond, M.A. ' . . . 



Richard Hartley ' 



Thomas Egerton, M.A. ' . 



Richard Rothwell, M.A. " . . . 



Richard Rainshaw Rothwell, M.A ' . 

 f Roger Dawson Dawson-Duffield, 

 JLL.D.," Count Dawson-Duffield 



Englebert Horley, M.A." . . . 



Edward Horlev, M.A. " . . . . 

 George William Wall, M.A. " . . 



Patron 



fThe king 



i Lord Molyneux. 



(The king . . 



(The king 



(Anne Mosley . 

 Lord Molyneux 

 Ric. Legh of Lyme 

 John Clayton . 

 Lord Cardigan . . 

 James Rothwell 

 The bishop 



[Marquis de Rothwell 



Cause of Vacancjr 



d. T. Legh 



cxp. E. Moreton 

 reinstated 



[d. E. Moreton 



res. J. Bradford 

 d. J. Brideoak 



[d. R. Richmond 



d. T. Egerton 

 d. R. Rothwell 



d. R. R. Rothwell 



I'd. R. D. Dawson- 

 [ Duffield 



d. E. Horley 



d. E. Horley 



Of the earlier rectors little is known ; Dr. Anthony 

 Molyneux, 1536-57, was the most distinguished. In 

 I 541, in addition to the rector and two chantry 

 priests there were only two others recorded in the 

 parish, Hugh Whitfield and Robert Ballard, paid re- 



spectively by the rector and Sir William Molyneux," 

 but eight clergy appeared at the visitation in 1548. 

 Besides the parish church there was the chapel at 

 Great Crosby to be served. Even in 1554 com- 

 paratively little change was shown, the rector. 



* He was instituted thrice, and twice 

 paid first-fruits. The institutions from 

 this time are given from the books, 

 P. R.O. in Land, ami CJiei. Antiij. Notei^ 

 i, ii. The king claimed the patronage, 

 and the second Lord Molyneux, who came 

 of age about 1 640, seems also to have 

 claimed it ; at Croxteth are three sepa- 

 rate presentations— Samuel Hyde on 25 

 June, 1659 5 David Lloyd, 5 Nov. ; and 

 Edward Moreton, 8 Nov. ; Croxteth D. 

 Gen. iii, 14-16. Moreton was ejected by 

 the Parliament in 1643, but reinstated in 

 I 660, immediately after the Restoration. 

 He was a son of William Moreton, of 

 Moreton near Conglcton, and a fellow 

 of King's Coll, Camb. \ rector of Tatten- 

 hall, and prebendary of Chester; * not 

 evenly sharing good fortune and bad,' 

 says his epitaph in the church, * but 

 to either equal.' His son William be- 

 came bishop of Kildare and Mf.iih. 



The Hearth Tax returns show that 

 the rectory had fourteen hearths in 1666 ; 

 Lay Subs. Lane. "J". 



^ His name should probably be expunged 

 from the list of rectors, as he had no legal 

 title. He was described by the commis- 

 sioners of 1650 as *an able and godly 

 minister, painful in his cure' ; Ccmmof!- 

 •wealth Ch. Surw (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Chcs.), Sv He had been previously 

 stationed at Liverpool, and was a friend 

 of the Moores of Bank Hall. Calamy 

 describes him as an Oxf. man, but it 

 may be noted that a Joseph "Thomson 

 of Langtree near Wigan, a relative of the 

 Rigbys of Burgh, went up to St. John's 

 Coll., Camb., in 1622 ; Kenyon MSS. 

 (Hist. MSS. Com.), 26, 30, 55. After 

 1660 he appears to have continued 

 as curate at Sefton, for he signed the 

 minutes down to 1669 ; Trans. Hist. Sec. 

 (New. Sfr.\ xi, 9;. He afterwards lived 

 at Ormskirk, using, so it is related, his 

 private means liberally for the relief of 

 ejected Nonconformists ; Halley, Lanes. 

 Pw!t.i-.ii-., ii, 190, 135. He was buried 

 at Ormskirk in 167 1. 



' There was in this case a double 

 presentation ; in that of Chas. II, who 

 claimed by lapse, Bradford is called 'ex- 



chaplain in ordinary* ; Pat. 27 Chas. II, 

 pt. iii, n. 3. A 'caveat' was issued to 

 the bishop on behalf of Anne Elcock, of 

 Fulford near York, widow of Anthony 

 Elcock, D.D. 



*This was an exchange, Sefton and 

 Bexhill. Jonathan Brideoak was also 

 rector of Mobberley in Cheshire, where 

 the register has the following entry : — 

 * Mr. Jonathan Brideoak, B.D., and a 

 long time fellow and also Junior Bursar 

 of St. John's College in the University of 

 Cambridge, came down into this country 

 and after the death of Mr. James Stanley, 

 late rector of this parish of Mobberley 

 (who died April the 8th, I 674), he married 

 Mary Mallor)', widow of Tho. Mallory, 

 gent : (July the 16, 1674) of the Old 

 Hall of Mobberley. By which said Mary 

 his wile the said Mr. Jonathan Brideoakc 

 had the presentation of this church of Mob- 

 berley as true and undoubted Patroness, 

 and in August in the year 1678, he the 

 said Mr. Jon. Brideoake made an ex- 

 change of the living of Bexill in Sussex 

 (which was at that time given him by his 

 brother Dr. Ralph Brideoak, late dd.. 

 Bishop of Chichester) with Dr. Bradford 

 for his living of Sephton in Lancashire. 

 He the said Jon. Brideoake died at Mob- 

 berley the 6th of April, 1684, being Low 

 Sunday. So that it appears he was Rector 

 of Mobberley nine years and about 3 quar- 

 ters and of Sephton five years and a halfe. 

 He was buried the ninth day of April, 

 1684, in the Coll. Ch. of Manch. in 

 the Procession way over against the 

 Pulpit, the ancient Buriall place of that 

 family, from Chetham Hill, near Man- 

 chester in Lancashire.' 



*Also rector of Walton. The patron 

 presented by grant from Caryll, Lord 

 Molyneux. In the Chest. Act Book 

 Lord Molyneux only is named. A com- 

 mission was issued for an inquiry as to 

 the right of patronage, the University 

 of Camb. having presented William Need- 

 ham, M.A., Emmanuel Coll. ; there are 

 numerous letters concerning this in Raines 

 MSS. xxxviii, 475, &c. 



'There was another dispute as to the 

 patronage, Mr. Egerton of Warrington 



64 



and Mr. Hartley of Ireland having been 

 presented. The matter was argued in 

 Sefton church on 7 March, 1721-2, 

 with nine clergymen and nine laymen on 

 the jury, and the decision was in favour of 

 the former ; entry in the Register Book, 

 and N. Blundell, Diary^ 184. 



^Rector of Warrington till 1723, when 

 he was appointed to Cheadle, holding this 

 with Sefton until his death ; from 1746 

 a curate represented him at Sefton. 



^Son of the patron. He died 18 Sept. 

 1801. 



^Son of the previous rector. For 

 some reason the rectory remained vacant 

 for eight months, when the bishop col- 

 lated Mr. Rothwell, who was himself 

 the patron. He was of Brasenose Coll., 

 Oxf. He died suddenly on Easter Sun- 

 day (5 April), 1863, aged ninety-two. 



He was celebrated as a reader of the 

 Church service ; a memoir with portrait 

 is given in Cartte and Gordon's Sefton^ 85, 

 &c. Among other things this account 

 states that about 1830 'it was customary 

 for the two daughter churches in the 

 parish to be closed at the three festivals 

 Easter, Whitsunday, and Christmas Day, 

 and for their clergymen and parishioner* 

 to repair to the parish church and officiate 

 at its services.' 



10 He was educated at Corpus Christi 

 and Downing Coll., Camb.; M.A. 1841, 

 LL.D. 1862; kt. of the order of St. 

 Charles ; count of Monaco ; author of 

 Remarks on Foreign Titles, Sec, He held 

 the sinecure rectory of Calcethorpe, and 

 had been vicar of Great Eversden. 



11 Died 21 May, 1883. He was of 

 Queen's Coll., Oxf.; M.A. i860; vicar 

 of Lever Bridge, Bolton, from 1867 to 

 1871. He edited the records of the Mock 

 Corporation of Sefton. 



12 Of Emmanuel Coll., Camb.; M.A. 

 1851. Incumbent of St. Chad's, Stafford, 

 1855; vicar of Eaton Socon, 1861. 



^ Previously vicar of Bickerstaffe ; edu- 

 cated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxf. ; M.A. 

 1869; author of The Students' Prayer 

 Bookf Sec. He died in 1906. 



^^ Clergy List of 1541-2 (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 16. 



