xt was the Rev. P. W. Copeman;
afterwards came the Rev. W. Wailing, who was succeeded by the Rev.
Mr. Betts, whose mantle fell upon the Rev. J. Cousins. Then came the
Rev A. T. Armstrong, and he was followed by the present incumbent.
During the reign of Mr. Cousins there was a rupture at the place,
and many combative letters were written with reference to it. Up to
and for some time after his appointment the Sunday schools of the
Parish and St. James's Churches were amalgamated--were considered as
one lot; but through some misunderstanding a separation ensued. Mr.
Cousins, who had no locus standi as to the possession of the
schools, took with him some scholars, drilled them after his own
fashion for a time, and eventually the present day and Sunday
schools in Knowsley-street were built and opened on behalf of St.
James's. The day school is at present in excellent condition, and
has an average attendance, boys and girls included, of 400; the
Sunday school has an average attendance of something like 200, the
generality of the children being of a respectable, well-dressed
character, although no more disposed, at times, than other
juveniles, to be docile and peaceful.

The Rev. J. Wilson has been at St. James's upwards of 15 years. He
was curate of the Parish Church from 1847 to 1850. In the latter
year he left in order to take the sole charge of a parish in
Norfolk. In 1854 he gravitated to Preston again, and in the course
of a year was made incumbent of St. James's. For some time he had
much to contend with in the district; and he has had up-hill work
all along. He was one of the original agitators for an alteration of
the Parish Church, and in one sense it may be said that the move he
primarily made in the matter eventuated in the restoration of that
building. The creation of St. Saviour's Church is also largely due
to him, and owing to the building being in St. James's district,
which is a "Blandsford parish," and the only one of the kind in
Preston we may remark, he has the right of presentation to it. Mr.
Wilson is a calm, middle-sized, rather eccentric looking gentleman,
tasteful in big hirsute arrangements, and biased towards a small
curl in the front of his forehead. He is light on his feet, has a
forward bend in his walk, as if trying to find something but never
able to get at it; has a passion for an umbrella, which he carries
both in fine and wet weather; likes a dark, thin, closely-buttoned
overcoat, and used