NOTTINGHAM CHURCES - 1853

This church is agreeably situated on Standard hill, without the boundaries of the county of the town. Towards the close of the last century, and for the space of twenty years, efforts were made to obtain a chapel of ease in this district in connexion with the established church; but the united opposition of the incumbents of the three parishes in the town rendered the attempt abortive. The promoters of the scheme, from the religious views they professed, were generally known as the evangelical party. When Standard hill was sold by the Duke of Newcastle, however, a piece of land was bought and an application made to parliament for authority to build a new place of worship. The three incumbents petitioned against the bill, which made a narrow escape in the House of Lords, but ultimately passed after a variety of amendments had been introduced, designed to preserve as in time past the surplice fees of the three parishes; in 1807 the measure received the royal assent. It is a noteworthy fact that among the noble peers who sat in committee upon this bill were the late King of Hanover and the celebrated Lord NELSON, the latter of whom had received orders to join the fleet, and was killed a short time after at the battle of Trafalgar. The Duke of Cumberland opposed, while the admiral supported, the measure. The building was immediately proceeded with. In a cavity in the foundation stone in the south-west corner is a brass-plate bearing the subjoined inscription:

The church, consecrated by the Archbishop of York, on the 13^th of June, 1809, was erected by subscription at a cost of nearly £13,000, including the price of the land as well as £1,100 of parliamentary expenses incurred in meeting the opposition of the parochial triumvirate. The edifice is an embattled Gothic brick structure, cased with stone; it has a low tower terminated with pinnacles, and containing one bell, cast in 1791 by Mr. HEDDERLEY, bell founder, for a cotton mill in Broad marsh. The interior, 90 feet long by 60 feet wide, is neatly fitted up with pews and commodious galleries over the side aisles, and is capable of seating 1,500 people. It is well lighted with sixteen Gothic windows. The organ, By ELLIOTT of London, was introduced in 1816, and cost £500. The first three presentations were vested in the three largest subscribers to the building - Edmund WRIGHT, esquire, Rev. J. Burnett STUART, A.M., and Thomas WALKER, esquire, father-in-law to the present incumbent. The living, of which the Lord Chancellor is now patron, amounts to £200 a year. The congregation is large and fashionable.

The Rev. John Burnett STUART, who was appointed in 1809, held the incumbency for upwards of thirty years, during which he discharged the duties of his office with zeal and faithfulness. For a long period the congregation attending this church was the largest and most respectable in the town. In consequence of declining health, Mr. STUART was compelled to relinquish the charge in 1841 to his successor, the Rev. J.C. COLEMAN, on which occasion an address expressing sentiments of sympathy and esteem, very numerously signed, was presented to him. After his death, which took place in 1845, a neat commemorative tablet with the following inscription was placed on the north wall of the chancel:

The Rev. Henry BELL, A.M., succeeded to the charge in 1849. Mr. BELL, besides officiating as incumbent of St. James's, is vicar of Ruddington, in this county, and chaplain to the General Hospital. As a preacher he is much appreciated, his discourses being always elegant and effective, and often eloquent and powerful. On the platform he appears to perhaps still greater advantage than in the pulpit; whatever he advances is told in language concise and forcible; and during his incumbency he has lent valuable assistance to the Midland Blind Asylum and other benevolent institutions.

Among other clergymen who have temporarily officiated at this church are the Rev. W. HOWARD, the present incumbent of St. John Baptist's; the Rev. S. ROGERS, of Bulwell; the Rev. W. O. RUSPINI, chaplain to the Bishop of Calcutta; the Rev. F. THORNBURGH, of London; and the Rev. Edward BULL, of Pentlow, Surrey.