St John's Church, Manchester
Clowes preached the first Sunday school sermon in the Manchester area, introduced Swedenborgianism there and was prominent in championing Whit Walks.
In 1906, around 250 children attended the Sunday school and the church had numerous affiliated groups, such as a Penny Bank and a Choral Society.
Today the graveyard of the church is commemorated by a stone cross and a plaque states that more than 22,000 bodies lie buried in the vicinity.
[1] According to William Shaw, a local historian and fellow of Owens College, the church was "intended for the 'genteel' residents who were migrating to the south side of the town".
[1][3][4] Its parish, which was not formalised until at least 1839, encompassed an area described by the Manchester Courier in 1900 as Between Quay-street and Brazennose-street on the north, and the Central Station and Bridgewater-street on the south.
The church was described by the English author and historian Clare Hartwell as being the first significant building in Manchester to be constructed in the Gothic Revival style of architecture.
[12] In 1906, the church was looking to raise funds to acquire and convert the nearby St John's Hospital of Manchester and Salford for the Ear for use as a rectory.
[12] Another window was of some antiquity, originating from a convent in Rouen, France, and presented to the church by a grateful French refugee priest.
[12] In 1906, around 250 children attended the Sunday school and the church had numerous affiliated groups, such as a Penny Bank and a Choral Society.
[12] In the same year, Hannah Mitchell, a suffragette, was arrested at the day school for protesting during an election campaign speech by Winston Churchill.
He was commemorated by two stone tablets in the church, one by either Richard Westmacott or his son, erected after his death and one, the only example of the work of John Flaxman in Manchester, to celebrate his 50th anniversary as rector.
Clowes preached the first Sunday school sermon in the Manchester area, introduced Swedenborgianism there and was prominent in championing Whit Walks.
[22] William Cowherd, a Swedenborgian proponent of teetotalism and vegetarianism, was a curate in the late 1700s, before leaving to establish the Bible Christian Church in Salford.
[23] By the early 1900s, the graveyard was overshadowed on its northern side by a warehouse built on the Quay Street site of the Byrom family residence.
[e] The area had been residential—Richard Cobden was among those who lived nearby and attended the church[24]—but changed in character during the 19th century, as many homes once occupied by affluent families became lodging houses and the locale became increasingly a place of business.
[26] The Ecclesiastical Commissioners proposed to hand over the church site to Manchester Corporation in 1929, with the hope that the city would convert it into an open space similar to Parsonage Gardens.
[27] The Manchester Guardian had reported a similar proposal to convert the "bleak expanse" of the graveyard into an "open, cultivated space" in 1914.
