Monument to Bishop Fraser, Manchester Cathedral, 1887

Bishop James Fraser was appointed the Bishop of Manchester in 1870 and remained there until his death in October 1885

According to wikipedia Bishop Fraser's opponents said of him that, "Omnipresence was his forte, and omniscience his foible", reflecting his restless activity in preaching the gospel, reform and activity in civil society. He was a common sight on the streets of Manchester, hurrying to address workers of all kinds several times a day. He was a vocal opponent of Charles Darwin’s ideas and in an address of 1871 said that they were, “merely guesses, conjectures, and inferences resting upon remote analogies”. He was governor of many educational institutions including Manchester Grammar School . He was an early enthusiast for and advocate of the cooperative movement. He has a statue in Albert Square, Manchester

James Forsyth proposed a model of this effigy in June 1886 and the completed memorial was unveiled in July 1887. Second World war bomb damage to the cathedral forced amendments to the side chapel built to honour Fraser and the memorial is now 'less' than it was as can be seen from the below postcard