James Slade

Who was James Slade?

James Slade, M.A., generally remembered as Canon Slade, was the Vicar of St Peter's Church, Bolton le Moors, Lancashire, England from 1817 to 1856.

James Slade was born in Daventry, Northamptonshire on May 2, 1783 to the Reverend James Slade and Elizabeth Slade. He had two brothers and a sister. He was educated like his father at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he studied mathematics. He was ordained a deacon at Peterborough Cathedral in 1806, and a priest in 1807. He was a Curate at Willingham from 1806 to 1811. On May 18, 1812, he married Augusta Law, daughter of George Law, Bishop of Chester and under his patronage Slade was made Rector of Teversham, Cambridgeshire in 1813 and Prebendary 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 and to building churches in the expanding suburbs.