13/05/2026
WiganchurchesWednesday
The photograph shows the monument to Bishop Francis Chavasse, second Bishop of Liverpool, in the cathedral. He was a frequent visitor to Wigan Deanery and knew its churches well.
Wigan lies within the Diocese of Liverpool with the famous Anglican cathedral at its heart. Created in 1880, the new diocese was formerly part of the Diocese of Chester. Liverpool was a great and growing city and Chester was some distance away, so a new diocese was formed.
The first bishop was Rt. Revd. John Charles Ryle (1816-1900) who was bishop for ten years until his death.
Rt. Revd. Francis James Chavasse (1846-1928) was the second bishop of Liverpool serving from 1900 to 1923.
He was frequently ill as a child and in adulthood stood only 5’ 3’’ tall. Described in an account of one of his many visits to Wigan as the ‘saintly little bishop’, he used to stand on a kneeler so he could be seen by everyone.
After attending Oxford University and being ordained in 1870, he served as a curate in Preston before becoming Rector of the Evangelical church of St. Peter in the Bailey back in Oxford. His reputation growing, he was appointed Principal of Wycliffe Theological College in Oxford in 1889.
What concerns us though is that in 1900 he was asked to become Bishop of Liverpool. It was largely through his efforts that work began to build the wonderful Anglican Cathedral Church of Christ, the one we know today. He cared deeply for Wigan Deanery, visiting the churches there frequently. Looking at just one year, 1904, he visited at least 13 times. That year he dedicated the font at St. Catharine’s in Scholes and preached at St. Michael and All Angels in Swinley where he encouraged the congregation to give generously to the Liverpool Cathedral Building Fund. He led services at the old ‘iron church’ at Platt Bridge, at St. John the Evangelist in Abram and at Belle Green Mission in Ince. In 1908 he spoke movingly at the open air service held on the Sunday after the Maypole Pit Disaster, in which 75 people died.
In the Wigan Observer we found a speech which Chavasse gave about the state of the church in the Wigan Deanery in 1905. Around that time he was very busy laying Foundation Stones and consecrating new churches in Bickershaw, Hindley Green and Platt Bridge. His reflections on the state of the church in the Wigan area make fascinating reading as he showed his knowledge and concern for the different parishes and their vicars.
Please follow the link to our website to read what he said:
https://whobuiltwiganschurches.co.uk/wigans-churches-in-1905-the-bishops-view/
Chavasse married Edith Maude in 1881 and they had seven children. Their four sons all fought in the First World War. The eldest, Christopher, won the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre. Christopher survived the war, eventually becoming Bishop of Rochester. His twin brother, Noel, a surgeon, who was awarded the only double Victoria Cross during the war, was killed in action in 1917 and was buried at Brankhoek Military Cemetery in Belgium. Their third son, Francis Bernard, also won the Military Cross but died in a car accident in 1941 while the youngest, Aidan, was killed in action also in 1917, his body never found.
Marjorie and May, their twin daughters, both lived to see their 100th birthdays.
