THE BEGINNING

The foundation stone was laid on 14th January 1812, and the church, dedicated to St. Mary was opened for Divine Service 14th March 1813. It was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on 25th Sep 1813.

Until 1812 there was no Anglican church at Edge Hill. The population was, however, growing rapidly. In 1812 Mr. Edward Mason purchased a plot of land to build a church from Bamber Gascoyne Esq.

The initial benefactors of the Church

Edward Mason

It appears Edward himself was a timber merchant and Mason Street L7 is named after him.

Edward Mason 1736 – 1814 (from Oil Painting in Church)

Bamber Gascoyne of Childwall Hall, Lancashire (1758 – 17 January 1824) was an eighteenth-century British politician. He was an ancestor of two British Prime Ministers, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and Arthur Balfour.

He was the son of Bamber Gascoyne (senior) and Mary Green.

He was Member of Parliament for Liverpool from 1780 to 1796. He was succeeded as MP for Liverpool by his brother Isaac.[1][2]

He spoke in Parliament against the abolition of the slave trade, and led the opposition to the Sierra Leone settlement bill, which successfully incorporated the Sierra Leone Company in 1791.[3]

He was married to Sarah Bridget Frances Price, born in 1767, daughter of Chase Price and Susan Glanvile.[4] Their daughter Frances Mary Gascoyne (c. 1806 - 15 October 1839) married, on 2 February 1821, James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury.

They became the parents of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, and the grandparents of Prime Minister Arthur Balfour.[5]<

(Wikipedia)