Reverend Thomas Vickers BA

Priest of St. James 1925 - 1930

 The reverend Thomas Vickers was collated by the Bishop of Chester and inducted by Canon Armistead, Rural Dean on the 14th September 1925. Mr Vickers was educated at Walsingham Grammar School and Hatfield Hall, the University of Durham. He obtained a BA degree in 1909. He was Senior Curate at Warrington parish church and Curate in Charge of St. Clements Mission from 1909 to 1916. He was appointed Curate of the Parish Church of Liverpool, where he remained until 1919 when he was made Priest in Charge of Lulindi, Central Africa, where he spent three years. From 1922 until 1925 he was Chaplain of Dar – Es – Salaam in Tanganyika Territory.

It was during the incumbency of Thomas Vickers that the real influence of the Oxford Movement came to St. James’s. He was a very devout and wise Priest and he emphasised Christian devotion and development. Mr Vickers obtained the first set of vestments for St. James but apparently left it up to Fr. Barker to actually wear them. In his farewell speech in March 1930, Mr Vickers said "that when he first came to St. James’s he had laid down a very strong rule for adoption by the Church Council that whatever else they did, they should not get into debt."

He left St. James with the knowledge that the finances of the Church were in a most satisfactory condition. Mr and Mrs Vickers and family moved to Oxton, Birkenhead