Vicars at St. James's Church
The history of the vicars at St. James's Church can be found on the pages Previous Vicars at St. James's.

Revd. Phillips

Curates and Ordinands at St. James's Church
Revd. Studholme Wilson was curate for the last three years of Revd. Fitz Wygram’s incumbency. From 1890 Revd. de Ritchie was curate for three years. Revd. H. Clarkson was licensed as curate of Hampton Hill by the Bishop of London in 1894. While Revd. Job was away "fresh cases of sickness should be reported to Mr. Clarkson who will also witness any signatures to pension papers that may be required and issue Hospital Orders". In 1897 he moved to Lancashire and was replaced by Revd. E. S. Phillips, who had already been reading the lessons in church for about three years. A man of varied talents, he helped with aspects of parish life varying from the Church Lads’ Brigade to carving at the various “Supper Do’s”. After fourteen years of service as curate, he moved to Devonshire. Read more about Revd. Phillips.

Revd. F. St. Clair Goldie, who was a B.A. of the University of Wales, was ordained at the Lenten Ordination in 1914. He left in 1916 during the war and nobody replaced him. The “necessary work cannot be properly carried out without such assistance”, so in 1920 the Finance Committee unanimously decided to restart the subscription list for the Assistant Clergy Fund. Revd. F. G. Nelson accepted the post and stayed until 1922 when Revd. J. F. Laughton became ‘part-time’ curate until Revd. N. C. R. Campbell took over the post. In November 1924 Revd. Harvey announced: "The Rev. B. Kitchin is taking up his residence amongst us, and is going to take his share in the services and organisations. To the Revd. F. J. Laughton, Curate-in-charge, I owe a great debt of gratitude for his kind help." Revd. Laughton helped out again when Revd. Kitchin became ill, then Revd. Ernest Richard Milton was ordained and became curate in 1926. However only two years later, he was asked to find work elsewhere as the Parochial Church Council were faced with a financial deficit and were unable to raise the necessary stipend (£250 per annum) for a full time assistant priest. Mr. Seymour Harris was made a Deacon in St. Paul's Cathedral on 21 September 1975. A year later he was ordained and completed his three-year 'title-period' as assistant curate. Christopher Swift was welcomed to the parish during July 1990 as an ordinand, a person training for the ordained ministry of the church. He was ordained deacon in Blackburn Cathedral on 29th June 1991.

Revd. Freda Evans Revd. Julie Gittoes

Betty Stewart became a deacon in 1993. Read the articles Betty Stewart's Ordination and Work as Deacon and Betty Stewart's Retirement. The Bishop of Kensington formally offered St. James’s another Deacon from June 1999 for three years, which was "a project with great potential for outreach and for strengthening our commitment to our parish". Freda Evans accepted the position as a stipendiary curate, which was a training appointment. Read the article Freda's Ordination. One of the projects she worked on was leading workshops for the children of the parish at key points in the Christian year. Read the articles Children’s Easter Workshop and Farewell to Freda. In his role of Director of Ordinands, Revd. Leathard encouraged Julie Gittoes to become the new curate in 2003 and she was ordained as a deacon in the same year. Read the article Julie's Ordination. Revd. Gittoes gained her Ph.D. in 2004. "There cannot be many parishes in the country with two reverend Doctors as their clergy!" She left St. James’s to take up the post of vicar at All Saints Church, Hampton, in 2006. Read the article Thank You Julie.

Revd. Debbie Oades became St. James’s non-stipendiary curate in October 2008. She had been ordained deacon in 2006, priest in 2007, and served as curate of the Good Shepherd, Hounslow. Among other things, she instigated the formation of St. James's Ark, a Carers' and Toddlers' Group, in September 2010. She left St. James's at the end of 2010 to take on a full-time, paid post as Assistant Vicar of the Parish of Maybush, Southampton in the Diocese of Winchester. Read the article Our New Curate. An ordinand, David Bell, was attached to St. James's in September 2009. Read about David Bell.