Читать книгу The Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country, From 1800 to 1860 - C. F. G. Clark - Страница 8

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1830. July 16th. This new Church was consecrated and opened by the Lord Bishop Folliott this day. It was built at the cost of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The first Incumbent was the Rev. Arthur Miller, M. A. The body of this spacious Church was built to accommodate 1500 people, and the galleries contain 1000 free sittings. The foundation of this Church was laid by Dr. Booker, the Vicar of Dudley, on November 30th, 1827. On the awful visitation of the Asiatic cholera in England, (in 1831 and 1832) Dudley did not escape this dreadful affliction, which raged for eighteen months with awful violence and fatality in this parish. By the order of the authorities the cholera corpses dying in the parish were all buried in the north east side of St. Andrew’s Burial Ground, Netherton.

From this time to the period of the agitation on the great Reform Bill of (1832) we find no events worthy of record. The burning question of Catholic Emancipation received at the time its petitions to Parliament for and against the measure, in accordance with the expanded or contracted views of the petitioners; but the Vicar of Dudley (the Rev. Dr. Booker) failed not in his episcopalian views occasionally to denounce the contemplated innovation upon our glorious constitution, and to predict the evils that must follow the introduction of Roman Catholics into Parliament. The Doctor was an eloquent preacher and a noble, attractive figure in the pulpit, with a fine voice; during his many years’ ministrations amongst us, he upheld the true dignity of the Church, and endeavoured zealously to promote the glory of God and the salvation of the souls committed to his charge. A fine portrait of the Doctor is to be seen in the drawing room at the Hotel, Dudley.