James Aspinall

James Aspinall (22/6/1795-15/2/1861), was a Church of England clergyman and miscellaneous writer.

Born Liverpool Rev. James Aspinall was the son of John Bridge and Ann Aspinall, of Cleongar Hall, Cheshire. A graduate of St Mary Hall, Oxford (BA1820, MA1823), in 1831 he was the joint incumbent of St. Luke's, Liverpool where he preached a remarkable sermon called "The Crisis, or the Signs of the Times with regard to the Church of England". In 1844 he was rector of Althorpe, Lincs., which he held till his death in 1861. On 26 January 1844 he delivered an address at the great free-trade meeting, held at Hull, at which Bright and Cobden both spoke. In 1853, after the celebrated Roscoe Centenary at Liverpool, he published Roscoe's Library, or Old Books and Old Times, dedicated to the Earl of Carlisle, "the representative of the intelligence of the aristocracy and of the aristocracy of intelligence". In this little work he holds up Roscoe as an example to the youth of the Mechanics' and Literary Institutes throughout the country, in whom he felt a profound interest, perhaps due to the acquaintance he made with the working-class operatives at Rochdale at the commencement of his career. He was domestic chaplain for over thirty years to Baron Clonbrock. He married, firstly, at Liverpool 16/7/1827 Annie Lake; secondly 17 January 1861 at West Butterwick, Lincs., Annie, widow of W. Hunter, Esq., of the Ings, East Butterwick, dying the same year. He was a clerical Justice of the Peace for Lindsey.