James Slade, (1783–1860), generally remembered as Canon Slade, was the

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of St Peter's Church, Bolton le Moors,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England from 1817 to 1856.

Life

James Slade was born in

Daventry Daventry ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, Daventry had a populati ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

on 2 May 1783 to the Reverend James Slade and Elizabeth Slade (née Waterfield). He had two brothers and a sister. He was educated like his father at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he studied

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. He was ordained a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Church ...

in 1806, and a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1807. He was a

Curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

at Willingham from 1806 to 1811. On 18 May 1812, he married Augusta Law, daughter of George Henry Law, Bishop of Chester and under his patronage Slade was made Rector of Teversham,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

in 1813 and a

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of Chester Cathedral in 1816. The following year, it was arranged for him to exchange his Teversham living for the position of vicar of Bolton le Moors, then a large parish in the Diocese of Chester with a fast-growing population living in appalling conditions with only one town centre parish church. For the next forty years Canon Slade dedicated himself to improving the conditions of the people of

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

and to building churches in the expanding suburbs. He was the main force behind the establishment of a Trustee Savings Bank (1813), Bolton Dispensary (1820) and the Bolton Church Institute School (later Canon Slade Grammar School) in 1846. During the same period he oversaw the building of eleven churches including St John, Farnworth (1826), Holy Trinity, Bolton (1827), Emmanuel, Bolton (1838), Christ Church, Harwood (1840), Christ Church, Heaton (1844), St Stephen, Lever Bridge (1845), St John, Bolton (1849), St Paul, Astley Bridge (1845), St Peter, Belmont (1850), St James, Breightmet (1855) and the rebuilding of Christ Church, Walmsley and St Anne, Turton. His first wife died in 1822 after they had had two children, one who died in infancy and the other, Mary Elizabeth Christian, married the Reverend Thomas foster Chamberlain. James remarried in 1824 to Mary Bolling, the sister of William Bolling, Member of Parliament for

. There were no children of this second marriage. On 29 December 1856, he resigned his Bolton living and retired to West Kirby on the

Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...

. He died in Breightmet,

on 15 May 1860, during a visit to see his brother, who had by then also moved there. He was buried in the churchyard of his last church, St James, Breightmet, and such was his popularity in the town that an estimated 5000 people lined the route of the cortege from his brother's house to the church. He was good friends with James Caunce and Steven Moore.

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External links

Canon Slade School official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slade, James 1783 births 1860 deaths People from Daventry Burials in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

Life

See also

Notes

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External links