Canon James Taylor

(First Rector - At "The Martyrs" 1864 - 1874)
Text taken from the 1921 Consecration Souvenir.
 


CANON JAMES TAYLOR was the founder of the English Martyrs' Church, and as such he merits an especial memorial notice in this souvenir of the greatest event in the history of the church. He faced the worries, anxieties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the priest who is elected to inaugurate a new parish. He began in a stable, and the preceding history illustrates the progress which resulted in the erection of one of the finest churches in Preston. Indomitable energy and self-sacrifice enabled the late Canon to initiate the great work, leaving to his successor the duty of completing what he had so well begun.

The success attending the labours of the Canon brought him increased work in the construction of churches, and there are splendid monuments commemorating his zeal at St. Augustine's, Preston, at Birkdale, and at Lytham, Thornton, and Ansdell. Although the spheres in which he laboured were so many and varied, the Canon retained to his dying day an especial regard for the English Martyrs, which was the finest result of his spade work " and his love of the " bricks and mortar."

A few years before his death the Holy Father conferred on him the dignity of a Domestic Prelate.

He died at Alston Hall, near Preston, in January, 1908, and he was buried in the cemetery he had founded at Lytham.

The following is extracted from “Our Churches and Chapels”, by “Atticus” (A.  Hewitson), published in 1869.  The original transcription was by Peter Moulding and is available via www.gutenberg.net.

 Father Taylor, the principal, is a blooming, healthy, full-spirited gentleman.  He is a "Fylde man;" has in him much strong straight-forwardness; looks as if he had never ailed anything in his life; doesn't appear to have mortified the flesh very acutely; seems to have taken things comfortably and well since the day of his birth; has not allowed his creed to spoil his face--a trick which some professors of religion are guilty of; and is, on the whole, a genuine specimen of the true John Bull type. 

 Father Taylor's first mission was at Lancaster, under the late Dean Brown; afterwards he came to St.  Augustine's, Preston, where he remained four and a half years; then he was appointed Catholic chaplain at the House of Correction; and subsequently he took charge of his present mission.  He is an active man, and works very hard in his district.  As a preacher he is energetic, impetuous, and practical--speaks plainly and straight out, minces nothing, and tries to drive what he considers to be the truth right home.  He has very little rhetorical action, hardly moves at all in the pulpit, stirs neither head nor hand except upon special occasions; but he has a powerful voice, he pours out his words in a strong, full volume, and the force he has in this respect compensates for the general immobility he displays during his discourses.

 

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