There is a touch of smooth piety and elegance in the name of St.
James. It sounds refined, serious, precise. Two of the quietest and
most devoted pioneers of Christianity were christened James; the
most fashionable quarters in London are St. James's; the Spaniards
have for ages recognised St. James as their patron saint; and on the
whole whether referring to the "elder" or the "less" James, the name
has a very good and Jamesly bearing. An old English poet says that
"Saint James gives oysters" just as St. Swithin attends to the rain;
but we are afraid that in these days he doesn't look very minutely
after the bivalve part of creation: if he does he is determined to
charge us enough for ingurgitation, and that isn't a very saintly
thing. He may be an ichthyofagic benefactors only--we don't see the
oysters as often as we could like. Not many churches are called
after St. James, and very few people swear by him. We have a church
in Preston dedicated to the saint; but it got the name whilst it was
a kind of chapel. St. James's church is situated between Knowsley
and Berry-streets, and directly faces the National school in
Avenham-lane. "Who erected the building?" said we one day to a
churchman, and the curt reply, with a neatly curled lip, was, "A
parcel of Dissenters."
Very few people seem to have a really correct knowledge of the
history of the place, and, for the satisfaction of all and the
singular, we will give an account of it, in the exact words of the
gentleman who had most to do with the building originally. Mr. James
Fielding deposeth:- St. James's was erected by the Rev. James
Fielding and his friends. The occasion of its erection was this--
Vauxhall-road Chapel, in which Mr. Fielding had been preaching four
or five years, had become too small for the accomodation of the
congregation worshipping there, and it was thought advisable to open
a subscription for a new and larger building. The first stone of St.
James's was laid by Mr. Fielding, May 24th, 1837, and the place was
opened for divine worship in January, 1838, under the denomination
of "The Primitive Episcopal Church," [that beats the "Reformed
Church,"--eh?] by the Rev. J. R. Matthews, of Bedford, who was a
clergyman of the Established Church. The building was computed to
seat about 1,300 people. The cost of the place was about 1,500
pounds. After the opening, Mr. Fielding commenced his ministry in
the new church--the congregation removing from Vauxhall Chapel into
that place of worship. Not long afterwards Mr. Fielding had a severe
attack of illness, and was laid aside from his work. From this,
together with the urgency of the contractors for the payment of
their bills, it was thought advisable to sell the premises. The late
vicar of Preston, Rev. Carus Wilson, in conjunction with his
friends, offered 1,000 pounds for the building. This was believed to
be considerably under its real value, being 500 pounds below the
cost amount. However, under the circumstances it was decided to
accept the offer. The transfer of the premises took place in April,
1838. Mr. Fielding continued his ministry in Preston in several
other places for thirteen years after the erection of St. James's.
The late John Addison, Esq., of this town, says, in a document
written by himself, which we have before us, and which is entitled
"Some account of St. James's Church, in the parish of Preston"--"A
body of Dissenters having erected a large building, capable of
holding 1,100 persons, and having opened it for public worship under
the name of St. James's Church, but, being unable to pay the
expenses, offered it for sale. The building being situated directly
opposite the Central National School, and in the immediate
neighbourhood of the infant school and Church Sunday schools, a few
of the committee of the National school thought it desirable that
the building should be purchased and made into a church for the
accomodation of the children of the schools and of the
neighbourhood." And the result was the purchase of the Rev. James
Fielding's "Primitive Episcopal Church."
The building is made mainly of brick, and looks very like a
Dissenting place of worship. It is a tame, moderately tall,
quadrangular edifice, flanked with stone buttresses, heavy enough to
crush in its sides, fronted with a plain gable, pierced with a few
prosaic windows, and surmounted with collateral turrets and a small
bell fit for a school-house, and calculated to swivel whilst being
worked quite as much as any other piece of sacred bell-metal in the
Hundred of Amounderness. There is a small graveyard in front of the
church containing a few flat tombstones and six young trees which
have rather a struggling time of it in windy weather. The ground
spaces at the sides of the church are decorated with ivy, thistles,
chickweed, and a few venerable docks, The internal architecture of
the building is as dull and modest as that of the exterior. The
seats are stiff, between 30 and 40 inches high, and homely. Just at
present they have a scraped care-worn look, as if they had been
getting parish relief; but in time, when cash is more plentiful,
their appearance will be improved. A considerable sum of money was
once spent upon the cleaning and renovation of the church; but the
paint which was put on during the work never suited; it was either
brushed on too thickly or varnished too coarsely; it persisted in
sticking to people rather too keenly at times; would hardly give way
if struggled with; and taking into account its tenacity and ill-
looks--it was finally decided to rub it off, make things easy with
pumice stone, and agitate for fresh paint and varnish when the
opportunity presented itself.
There is a large gallery in the church; but, like everything else,
it is plain, The only striking ornament in the building is a
sixteen-spoked circular window (at the chancel end), and until made
to turn round it will never be popularly attractive. In 1846 the
chancel, which isn't anything very prepossessing, was added to the
church. The pulpit is high and rather elegant in design; the reading
desk is a gothicised fabric, and, with its open sides, reminds one
more of a genteel open gangway on which everything can be seen, than
of a snug high box, like those in which old-fashioned clerks used to
sup gin and go to sleep during the intervals. Until recently there
were two wooden gas stands at the sides of the reading desk. They
looked like candlesticks, and short-sighted people, with thin
theological cuticles, and a horror of Puseyism, disliked them.
Eventually the wood was gilded, and, seeing this, as well as knowing
that candles were never gilded, and that, therefore, the stands
couldn't be candles, the dissatisfied ones were appeased. There are
about 400 free sittings in the church; but few people appear to care
much for them. These seats are situated on each side of the
building, at the rear, and in the gallery; and they will be dying of
inanition by and bye if somebody doesn't come to the rescue. People
don't seem to care about having a thing for nothing in the region of
St. James's church. They would probably flock in greater numbers to
the edifice if there were an abundance of those oysters which it is
said "Saint James gives;" but they appear to have a sacred dread of
free seats. Very recently we were at the church, and on the side we
noticed seventeen free pews. How many people do you think there were
in them? Just one delicious old woman, who wore a brightly-coloured
old shawl, and a finely-spreading old bonnet, which in its weight
and amplitude of trimmings seemed to frown into evanescence the
sprightly half-ounce head gearing of today. Paying for what they get
and giving a good price for it when they have a chance is evidently
an axiom with the believers in St. James's. There is at present a
demand for seats worth from 7s. to 10s. each; but those which can be
obtained for 1s. are not much thought of, and nobody will look on
one side at the pews which are offered for nothing. That which is
not charged for is never cared for; and further, in respect to free
pews, patronage of them is an indication of poverty, and people, as
a rule, don't like to show the white feather in that department.
The congregation is thin, but select--is constituted of substantial
burgeois people, and a few individuals who are comparatively
wealthy. There is a smart elegance about the bonnets and toilettes
of some of the females, and a studied precision in respect to the
linen, vests, and gloves of several of the males. Nothing gloomy,
nor acetose, nor piously-angular can be observed in them; nothing
pre-eminently lustrous is seen in the halo of the respective
worshippers; yet there is a finish about them which indicates that
they have no connection with the canaille, and that they are in some
instances approaching, and in others directly associated with, the
"higher middle class." There are only two services a week--morning
and evening, on a Sunday--at St. James's. Formerly there were more--
one on a Sunday afternoon, and another on a Thursday evening; but as
the former was only attended by about 30, and the latter by eight or
ten, and as the fund for maintaining a curate who had the management
of them was withdrawn, it was decided some time ago to drop the
services. The Sunday congregation, although it does not on many
occasions half fill the church, is gradually increasing, and it is
hoped that during the next twenty-years it will swell into pretty
large proportions.
The choral performances form the main item of attraction in the
services. Without them, the business would be tame and flavourless.
They give a warmth and charm to the proceedings. The members of the
choir sit in collateral rows in the chancel; they are all surpliced;
all very virtuous and clerical in look; seldom put their hands into
their pockets whilst singing; and, whatever quantity of "linen" may
be got out by them they invariably endeavour to obviate violence of
expression. Their appearance reminds one of cathedral choristers. In
precision and harmony they are good; and, as a body, they manage all
their work--responses, psalm-singing, &c.--in a very satisfactory
style. For their services they receive nothing, except, perhaps, an
annual treat in the shape of a country trip or social supper. They
wouldn't have money if it were offered to them. St. James's is the
only Preston church in which surpliced choristers sing, and we
believe they have tended materially to increase the congregation.
The choral system now followed at St. James's was inaugurated in
1865, Originally, the choir consisted of 12 boys and 10 men, but, if
anything, parties who are under the painful necessity of shaving now
preponderate. In one corner at the chancel end there is a moderately
well-made organ; but it is not an A1 affair, although it is played
with ability by a gentleman who is perhaps second to none hereabouts
in his knowledge of ecclesiastical music. Like the singers, the
organist resolves his services into what may be termed a "labour of
love." In other ways much may be fish which cometh to his net; but
he is, ORGANICALLY, of a philanthropic turn of mind. The necessary
expenses of the choir amount to about 25 pounds a-year, and they are
met by private subscriptions from the congregation.
The lessons are read in the church by Mr. Gardner, who comes up to
the lectern undismayed, with a calm, military cast of countenance,
and goes through his articulative duties in a clear, distinct style,
saying nothing to anybody near him which is not contained in the
book before him, and making neither incidental comment nor studied
criticism upon any of the verses be reads. The Rev. John Wilson,
son-in-law of the present vicar of Preston, is the incumbent of St.
James's. He is the seventh minister who has been at the place since
its transference from the Primitive Episcopalians. The first of the
seven was the Rev. W. Harrison; the next was the Rev. P. W. Copeman;
afterwards came the Rev. W. Wailing, who was succeeded by the Rev.
Mr. Betts, whose mantle fell upon the Rev. J. Cousins. Then came the
Rev A. T. Armstrong, and he was followed by the present incumbent.
During the reign of Mr. Cousins there was a rupture at the place,
and many combative letters were written with reference to it. Up to
and for some time after his appointment the Sunday schools of the
Parish and St. James's Churches were amalgamated--were considered as
one lot; but through some misunderstanding a separation ensued. Mr.
Cousins, who had no locus standi as to the possession of the
schools, took with him some scholars, drilled them after his own
fashion for a time, and eventually the present day and Sunday
schools in Knowsley-street were built and opened on behalf of St.
James's. The day school is at present in excellent condition, and
has an average attendance, boys and girls included, of 400; the
Sunday school has an average attendance of something like 200, the
generality of the children being of a respectable, well-dressed
character, although no more disposed, at times, than other
juveniles, to be docile and peaceful.
The Rev. J. Wilson has been at St. James's upwards of 15 years. He
was curate of the Parish Church from 1847 to 1850. In the latter
year he left in order to take the sole charge of a parish in
Norfolk. In 1854 he gravitated to Preston again, and in the course
of a year was made incumbent of St. James's. For some time he had
much to contend with in the district; and he has had up-hill work
all along. He was one of the original agitators for an alteration of
the Parish Church, and in one sense it may be said that the move he
primarily made in the matter eventuated in the restoration of that
building. The creation of St. Saviour's Church is also largely due
to him, and owing to the building being in St. James's district,
which is a "Blandsford parish," and the only one of the kind in
Preston we may remark, he has the right of presentation to it. Mr.
Wilson is a calm, middle-sized, rather eccentric looking gentleman,
tasteful in big hirsute arrangements, and biased towards a small
curl in the front of his forehead. He is light on his feet, has a
forward bend in his walk, as if trying to find something but never
able to get at it; has a passion for an umbrella, which he carries
both in fine and wet weather; likes a dark, thin, closely-buttoned
overcoat, and used to love a down-easter wide-awake hat. He is a
frank, independent, educated man; has no sham in him; is liberal is
far as his means will allow; works hard; has an odd, go-ahead way
with him; cares little about bowing and scraping to people; often
passes folk (unintentionally) without nodding; and has nothing of a
polemically virulent character in his disposition. There is
something genuine, honest, gentlemanly, and unreadable in him. He
almost reminds one of Elia's inexplicable cousin. He has a special
fondness for architecture; plans, specifications, &c., have a charm
for him; he is a sort of clerical Inigo Jones; and ought to have
been an architect. He is a rather polished reader; but he holds his
teeth too tightly together, and there is a tremulousness in his
voice which makes the utterances thereof rather too unctuous. As a
preacher he is clear, calm, and methodical. His sermons, all
written, are scholarly in style cool in tone, short, and, in the
orthodox sense, practical. In their delivery he does not make much
stir, he goes on evenly and rapidly, looking little to either the
right hand or the left, broiling none, and foaming never.
Occasionally, but it is quite an exception, he forgets his sermons--
leaves them at home--and this is somewhat awkward when the mistake
is only found out just before the preaching should be gone on with.
But the company are kept serene by a little extra singing, or
something of that kind, and in the meantime a rapid rush is made to
the parsonage, and the missing manuscript is secured, conveyed to
the church either in a basket or a pocket, taken into the pulpit,
looked at rather fiercely, shook a little, and then read through.
How would it be if the manuscript could not be found? Long official
life appears to be the rule at St. James's. Mr. Wm. Relph, who died
last year, was a churchwarden at the place for 21 years; Mr.
Bannister has been in office as churchwarden for nearly as long; the
person who was beadle up to last year had officiated in that
capacity for nearly eleven years; the organist has been at the
church above 15 years; the mistress of the school belonging the
church has been at her post about as long; and the schoolmaster has
been in office 13 or 14 years. If long service speaks well for a
place, the facts we have given are creditable alike to the church
and the officials. Mr. Wilson, who gets about 300 pounds a year, is
well-respected by all; he manages to keep down unpleasant feuds;
regulates the district peacefully, if slowly, deserves a handsomer
church, and would be quite willing, we believe, to be its architect
if one were ordered.