Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/220

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208
SHOWELL'S DICTIONARY OF BIRMINGHAM.

likewise took part as a member of the managing body and he was interested in the School of Art and the Midland institute. Wherever, indeed, there was work to be done, the Rector of St. Philip's was sure to be found helping in it; and though there have been many Rectors at the church it can be truly said that none left more regretted by the poor, notwithstanding the aristocratic handle to his name, than did Mr. Yorke. The Hon. and Rev. gentleman died at Worcester, Oct. 2, 1879.

J.C. Miller.—The Rev. John Cale Miller (born at Margate, in 1814), though only thirty-two, had already attracted the notice of the Evangelical party in the Church, and his appointment to St. Martin's (Sept. 1846), gave general satisfaction. His reputation as a preacher had preceded him, and he soon diffused a knowledge of his vigour as a worker, and his capacity as an administrator. Few men have entered so quickly into popular favour as Dr. Miller did, which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the fact that he not only showed a sincere desire to live in harmony with the Dissenters of all shades, but that he was prepared to take his full share in the public work of the town, and determined to be the minister—not of any section of the people, but of the parish altogether. Under his direction St. Martin's became a model parish. New facilities were afforded for public worship, schools were established, parochial institutions multiplied under his hand, an ample staff of curates and scripture-readers took their share of labour, and the energies of the lay members of the congregation were called into active exercise. To the Grammar School, the Midland Institute, the Free Libraries, the Hospitals and Charities of the town, the Volunteer movement, &c. , he gave most assiduous attention, and as long as he remained with us, his interest in all public matters never failed. In the early part of 1866, Dr. Miller was presented to the living at Greenwich, taking his farewell of the townspeople of Birmingham at a meeting in the Town Hall, April 21, when substantial proof of the public goodwill towards him was given by a crowded audience of all creeds and all classes. A handsome service of plate and a purse of 600 guineas were presented to him, along with addresses from the congregation of St, Martin's, the Charity Collections Committee, the Rifle Volunteers (to whom he had been Chaplain), the Committees of the Hospitals, and from the town at large. The farewell sermon to St. Martin's congregation was preached April 29. In 1871 Dr. Miller was appointed residential Canon of Worcester, which preferment he soon afterwards exchanged for a Canonry at Rochester as being nearer to his home, other honours also falling to him before his death, which took place on the night of Sunday, July 11, 1880.

George Peake.—The Rev. G. Peake, Vicar of Aston, from 1852 to his death, July 9, 1876, was a ripe scholar and archaeologist, a kind-hearted pastor, and an effective preacher.

Isaiah Birt.—Mr. Isaiah Birt, a native of Coleford, undertook the pastorship of Cannon Street in 1800, holding it until Christmas, 1825, when from ill-health he resigned. The congregation allowed Mr. Birt an annuity of £100 until his death, in 1837, when he had reached 80 years of age.

Thomas Potts.—The Rev. Thomas Potts, who died in the early part of December, 1819, at the age of sixty-and-six, was, according to the printed funeral oration pronounced at the time, "an accurate, profound, and cautious theologian," who had conducted the classical studies at Oscott College for five-and-twenty years with vigour and enthusiasm, and "a grandeur of ability peculiarly his own."

Sacheveral.—Dr. Sacheveral, the noted and noisy worthy who kicked up such a rumpus in the days