George Wilkins, D.D. (b. May 1785 - d. 13 Aug 1865)
Ordained 1810, Curate of Great Plumstead 1808, Curate of Hadleigh, Suffolk 1808 - 1815, Vicar of Laxton, Nottinghamshire 1813 - 1817, Vicar of Lowdham, Nottinghamshire 1815 - 1839
Vicar of St. Mary's Church, Nottingham 1817 - 1843
Prebendary of Southwell Minster 1823 - 1865, Rector of Wing, Rutland 1827 - 1839, Archdeacon of Nottingham 1832 - 1865, Rector of Beelsby, Lincolnshire 1843 - 1865
George Wilkins came from a family of architects. His brother William designed several famous buildings including the National Gallery in London. His father was estate architect to the head of the Pierrepont family, who since 1806 had been styled the Earl Manvers.
In accepting the incumbency of St. Mary's, George Wilkins took on a parish with an enormous workload and limited financial resources. In his first year, he and a single curate between them took 1,127 baptisms and 897 burial services. In addition there were marriages and churchings in a parish of 33,000 souls. The vicar of St. Mary's also had extensive civic duties. Corporation elections were solemnised in church and national events demanded special services, but these events did not confer much prestige on Wilkins. The powerful local Corporation was dominated by Nonconformists. The small number of bishops also created problems; confirmations of Nottingham folk were usually held in St. Mary's, as the building could hold the largest number of people. Confirmations often exceeded 4,000 people at a time.
The first full year of Wilkins incumbency coincided with the Government establishing the Million Fund, a grant of one million pounds for the building of churches in populous areas. Wilkins secured money for the building of St. Paul's Church, on George Street, which opened in October 1822. Other churches which Wilkins formed out of St. Mary's parish were Holy Trinity, opened in 1841 and St. John's Leenside, 1844.
During his incumbency, he had to deal with not only the strength of the Nonconformists in Nottingham but the demise of the church rate. This struggle took a great toll on him. The lack of a church rate impoverished St. Mary's but Wilkins found funds to complete a scheme to renovate the interior of St. Mary's in 1838/39. This enlarged the seating capacity in the body of the nave, placed the pulpit centrally in full view of the congregation, and brought the reading-desk some way down the central aisle so that everybody could hear the Gospel. The galleries were done away with to improve the acoustics, the organ moved to the west-end and the chancel cut off to form a separate area for special services.
In 1842, when all the money was spent, it was discovered that the piers of the central tower were not solid masonry, but an outer casing containing builders' rubble. Cracks appeared, the architect L.N. Cottingham, was summoned and the church was closed on Christmas day. Part of the church must have re-opened shortly afterwards. In March 1843, an incident famous in Nottingham history was the final straw for Wilkins. The congregation paniced during a service and stormed out of the church, fearing its imminent collapse. A crowd gathered on Sneinton hill to watch, but it didn't fall. The church remained closed until 1848.
Wilkins resigned as vicar of St. Mary's and was succeeded by Joshua Brooks in 1843. However, he continued in his role as Archdeacon of Nottingham.
Adapted with kind permission from The Anglican Church in the Industrialised Town, St. Mary's Parish, Nottingham 1770-1884 M.W.Bowen MA, M Phil, University of Nottingham, October 1997