When you make cheap comments about James Fraser ….

So earlier today I was a tad unfair to James Fraser, former Bishop of Manchester.

James Fraser, former Bishop of Manchester, 2026

His statue stands on the northern side of Albert Square hard by the water fountain looking out on Princess Street just yards from where Cross Street enters the square.

From his lofty position he has observed plenty of the changes to the area including the construction of the Second City Crossing which takes trams from St Peter’s Square down to Exchange Square and onto Victoria.

Perhaps happily he also faces outwards and so has never looked down on the several make overs to Albert Square and its eight long years as a construction site during the Town Hall’s refurbishment.

 But as that draws to its conclusion the square is home again to the Manchester Markets, and the Manchester Wheel, and that is where I have been unfair to James Fraser because yesterday, I posted an image of the bishop apparently standing,  aloof from all those seasonal preparations.

Making it worse with the caption “James Fraser turns his back on fun”.

James Fraser with his back turned, 2026

It was cheap and suggested that perhaps he was a party pooper.  Now I have no idea if he was a man devoid of humour, but a little research has thrown up that he was a deeply caring individual who applied his religious conviction in very practical ways.

My Wikipedia tells me he “was a reforming Anglican bishop ….. An able Church administrator and policy leader was active in developing the Church's approach to education and in practical politics and industrial relations. Though his views were ecumenical and he was respected within a wide variety of religions”. *

So much so that he was remembered as the "bishop of all denominations”.

I could go on but that Wikipedia article does it all too well and includes his work on child labour in agriculture, his wider work on education, industrial relations, and commitment to the co-operative movement as well as his defence of a fellow clergy man who fell foul of the establishment.

Moreover, I was intrigued by the comment from the Bishop Fraser Trust, that he “was a figure defined by service, humility, and a deep commitment to the people he served. Appointed in 1870, he quickly earned widespread respect by rejecting the comfort of a traditional bishop’s residence and choosing instead to live in the city centre, close to the community". **

The x marks the former  residence of James Fraser, 1894

And that led me to search out his residence, which in 1881 was at 177 Bury New Road in Broughton. 

His home was a terraced house, close to an Engraving Works a several brickworks and within walking distance of rows of more modest homes.

That said his neighbours in 1881 listed their occupations as merchants, accountants, solicitors, and doctors, as well as a surgeon and an Inspector of Mines.

So, perhaps his afternoon conversations over the garden wall were not with labourers, road sweepers, and washerwomen, but nor was he living in a palace or in the leafy green out suburbs.

And that is where I shall leave it along with an apology for using him in such a cheap and trivial way.

Location; Albert Square

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2026 and the former residence of Bishop Fraser, from the OS map of  South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*James Fraser, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fraser_(bishop)

** Bishop Fraser Trust, https://www.tbft.uk/about-us/welcome-from-the-ceo