[6] John Webster the Jacobean dramatist, married his heavily pregnant 17-year-old second wife, Sara Peniall, at St Mary's in Lent 1606, by special licence.

On 24 July 1738, the Vicar of St Mary's, George Stonehouse, invited Charles Wesley to "take charge of his parish, under him, as his Curate.

In 1759, Philip Quaque, son of the Fante king Birempong Cudjo, was baptised at St Mary's, after having attended the church with his brother for four years.

[13] Wilson's son, also Daniel, served as vicar of the church for fifty-four years, during which time many new parishes were created as the population of Islington soared.

[14] The young Samuel Ajayi Crowther was sent to Islington from Sierra Leone in 1826 to study at the church's school and attend services.

He built the Bishop Wilson Memorial Hall (subsequently renovated for use as St Mary's Neighbourhood Centre) and the vicarage, which is still in use.

The partnership[18] of John Seely and Paul Paget produced an ambitious design that attempted to create a space suitable for a "renaissance of evangelical worship".

[19] The main worship space is vast, with a volume of over 5000 cubic metres, and features deep clear windows that allow an unusually high amount of more natural light.

[20] In 1962, George Carey became curate and, among other innovations, made connections with local council departments and founded a new Boys' Club.

St Mary's role in British Evangelicalism waned, as the Islington Clerical Conference (of which the vicar had been ex-officio president) ended in 1983.

In 2003, vicar Graham Kings and others founded Fulcrum, which seeks to renew the evangelical tradition at the centre of the Church of England.

From the 1990s, as Islington became a more fashionable place to live and Upper Street developed a significant nightlife, St Mary's retained a concern to serve the widening range of people in the locality.