1830. July 16th. This new Church was consecrated and opened by the
Lord Bishop Folliott this day. It was built at the cost of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The first Incumbent was the Rev. Arthur
Miller, M. A. The body of this spacious Church was built to accommodate
1500 people, and the galleries contain 1000 free sittings. The
foundation of this Church was laid by Dr. Booker, the Vicar of Dudley,
on November 30th, 1827. On the awful visitation of the Asiatic cholera
in England, (in 1831 and 1832) Dudley did not escape this dreadful
affliction, which raged for eighteen months with awful violence and
fatality in this parish. By the order of the authorities the cholera
corpses dying in the parish were all buried in the north east side of
St. Andrew's Burial Ground, Netherton.
From this time to the period of the agitation on the great Reform Bill
of (1832) we find no events worthy of record. The burning question of
Catholic Emancipation received at the time its petitions to Parliament
for and against the measure, in accordance with the expanded or
contracted views of the petitioners; but the Vicar of Dudley (the Rev.
Dr. Booker) failed not in his episcopalian views _occasionally_ to
denounce the contemplated innovation upon our glorious constitution,
and to predict the evils that must follow the introduction of Roman
Catholics into Parliament. The Doctor was an eloquent preacher and a
noble, attractive figure in the pulpit, with a fine voice; during his
many years' ministrations amongst us, he upheld the true dignity of the
Church, and endeavoured zealously to promote the glory of God and the
salvation of the souls committed to his charge. A fine portrait of the
Doctor is to be seen in the drawing room at the Hotel, Dudley.