All Saint’s Incumbents

Curates, Perpetual Curates and Vicars
Visitors to this list of incumbents may notice a relatively high turnover of curates during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By this time the parish had grown considerably, and with the addition of two mission churches the work was far more than one clergyman could manage alone. Curates were fully ordained priests who assisted the vicar with services, pastoral care and parish duties. For many, a curacy was the first appointment after ordination, providing valuable practical experience before they were appointed to lead a parish of their own. As a result, curates often remained in Daresbury for only a year or two before moving on. Although this system still exists today, there are far fewer clergy being ordained than there were a century ago, and the days when younger sons of landed families were commonly expected to enter the Church are long past.
Readers may also notice that, between around 1819 and 1880, there is a Perpetual Curate rather than the Vicar. Historically, a perpetual curacy was a benefice where the incumbent carried out all the duties of a parish priest but did not receive the tithes that traditionally supported a vicar or rector. Instead, the perpetual curate was usually supported by a fixed stipend, and the right to appoint the incumbent rested with the patron of the living. In 1880, when Sir Gilbert Greenall became patron of Daresbury, the living was reorganised and the incumbent thereafter held the title of Vicar. From that point onwards, the patron had the right of presentation, appointing each new vicar when the living became vacant.