Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/117

Rh “The Church in Manchester,” the Dean remarked, “is placed at considerable advantage, owing to the possession of the estate devised by Thomas de la Warre in 1421, by which he founded a collegiate body, which was to have the spiritual oversight of the ancient parish of Manchester. Thomas de la Warre, who was Rector, transferred the advowson to the collegiate body, which now has revenues sufficiently large to provide incomes for the clergy of all parishes within the ancient parish (including the larger part of Salford) which now number considerably over 120. In the thirties an order in Council was made, directing that on the avoidance of either the See of St Asaph or Bangor those districts should be merged into one Diocese, and in that case a Bishopric of Manchester was to be created, with jurisdiction over Lancashire, which had hitherto been a part of the Chester Diocese. That order, however, was rescinded ten years later. The way having been cleared for the formation of the See of Manchester in 1847, it was competent for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by Act of Parliament to constitute the Diocese, and to make the Collegiate Church into a Cathedral, establishing therein a Dean, Chapter, and Cathedral body, who became the hereditary successors of the Warden, Fellows, Chaplains, and other members of the old Collegiate Church. The revenues are continually increasing in value. During the past three years thirteen new