Modern times began for St Thomas' in 1813 for at this moment there came to Dudley one of its most distinguished vicars, Dr Luke Booker. In his younger days Dr Booker had been headmaster of the Grammar School and minister of St Edmund's, so that he knew Dudley. By 1815 he had gained the passing of an Act of Parliament for the demolition of the old parish church of St Thomas and the building of the present church.
The preamble of the Act of Parliament sets out the case for the change.
Whereas the parish church of St Thomas in the town of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, and the tower and chancel thereof, are very ancient and much decayed, and the said church is also too small for the inhabitants of the said parish, and it is therefore necessary that the same should be taken down and rebuilt…
There was considerable opposition to this proposal, mostly on the part
of the Dissenters, who were compelled, by assessment on the rates, to contribute
towards the new church. Dr Booker's strong personality, however, carried
everything before him. The foundation stone was laid by the Bishop on October
25th, 1816, with the most elaborate ceremony. There was a procession from St Edmund's church to St
Thomas' churchyard, the band being followed by builders and masons, with
a model of the new church carried on the shoulders of four men. After them
came the boys and girls of the Bluecoat Schools and then "the young gentlemen of the Free Grammar School"
, with their masters and mistresses. Then followed the Bishop and clergy and finally a contingent of the military.
This somewhat motley procession provoked a clever satire to which Dr Booker
was not slow in replying. His critic described him as being just like a moving steeple
but even his satirical language gives a picture of him cutting a striking and triumphant figure in:
His best black brigs and eke his shoes,
His long-tailed coat and silken hose,
His buckles bright and broad-brimmed hat,
His finest shirt and best cravat.
The new church which was designed by the London architect, William Brooks, was opened on St Thomas' Day, 1818.
In some ways it may seem a pity that the old church was swept away but the earliest known authentic drawing of it dating from 1815, shows it to have been in a deplorable state. Luke Booker's decision to rebuild may have been the only practical answer. A contemporary description of the old church calls it
a small inconvenient Saxon (sic) edifice, with a square tower and red-tiled, steep roof, furnishing an indifferent specimen of ancient architecture.
Tradition has it that the materials of the old church were bought, but, by a ruse, never paid for, and that they were used to build a row of cottages in the town, the tombstones forming the bottoms of the ovens. Lettering and sacred signs on the householders' loaves of bread were claimed as proof of the story.
By some standards there is much to criticise in the architecture of the present church, but judged by the standards of church building at that time it was an exceptional building. John Noake, writing on the churches and congregations of Worcestershire in 1851, expresses this point of view.
The interior is a specimen of costly beauty, which it is feared nothing but an act of Parliament would have produced… Till within the last few years it was so rare an occurrence that art, science and wealth, were made handmaids to religion, or that even a degree of decency and taste, such as would be observed in the erection of our private dwellings, was bestowed upon the houses of God, that it is interesting to find a church erected between thirty and forty years ago, possessing some proof of artistic skill and correct feeling.
In the nineteenth century the growth of the population was very rapid, but it was met by continuous and generous church extensions.
In 1830 St Andrew's Church, Netherton, was consecrated and in 1840, under the Revd W. H. Cartwright, Dr Booker's successor—himself a grandson of a former vicar of Dudley—the two churches of St James', Eve Hill, and St John's, Kate's Hill, were consecrated. In 1844 the three new churches, with the old church of St Edmund's, were formed into separate parishes. Interestingly, this implies that St Edmund's was still not a parish in its own right despite having had its own priest since the church was rebuilt. In fact another source shows that St Edmunds' did not become an ecclesiastical parish until 1874.
In the middle of the century Dudley was in a terrible condition from a sanitary and health point of view. A visit by a commissioner from the Ministry of Health revealed shocking housing and drainage conditions and also the fact that the average age of mortality in Dudley was sixteen years, the lowest in the country. Dr Browne, Mr. Cartwright's successor, took a very prominent part in combating these evils with their attendant moral and spiritual degradation. Owing to the great height of the town, before the reservoir was built good water was rare. It was said indeed that in those days ale was more plentiful in the town than water, there was none to spare for sanitation.
Dr.Browne's activities were not only social, for in 1861 St Thomas' was restored, but it was with the coming of Dr William Reyner Cosens in 1870 that there was a great development in church life. Two new parishes were formed, St Luke's in 1876 and St Augustine's, Holly Hall, in 1884, and there was a new movement of evangelistic enthusiasm. Dr Cosens was an exceptionally able preacher and pastor and congregations and communicants increased rapidly.
Dr Cosens was succeeded in 1892, by exchange, by the Revd Adam Gray Maitland, who was vicar until 1918.
