Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Fleming, James
FLEMING, JAMES (1830–1908), canon of York, born at Carlow on 26 July 1830, was youngest of five children of Patrick Fleming, M.D., of Strabane, who married in 1820 Mary, daughter of Captain Francis Kirkpatrick. Both families were of Scottish extraction. From 1833 to 1836 the boy was in Jamaica, his father having become paymaster to the 56th regiment; and on his father's death in 1838 his mother, who smrvived till September 1876, moved to Bath. His two brothers, William and Francis, were sent to Sandhurst, but ultimately took orders; William, an old-fashioned protestant, died vicar of Christ Church, Chislehurst, in May 1900. James went to King Edward VI's grammar school, Bath, in 1840, and to Shrewsbury in 1846, under Benjamin Hall Kennedy [q. v.]. He was in the school eleven, and won the Millington scholarship, matriculating on 15 Nov. 1849 at Magdalene College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1853, proceeding M.A. in 1857 and B.D. in 1864. Ordained deacon in 1853 and priest in 1854, he was curate, first, of St. Stephen, Ipswich (1853–5), and then of St. Stephen, Lansdown, in the parish of Walcot, Bath (1855–9), with charge of the chapel of All Saints, where his plain evangelical preaching attracted good congregations. He started classes of instruction in elocution for working people in 1859, and was a strong advocate of total abstinence. In 1866 he was appointed by trustees to the incumbency of Camden church, Camberwell, formerly held by Henry Melvill [q. v.], and in 1873 was presented by the marquis (afterwards first duke) of Westminster to the vicarage of St. Michael, Chester Square. Admitted on 19 Feb. 1874, he retained this benefice till his death, becoming chaplain to the duke of Westminster in 1875. On 21 June 1899 the second duke of Westminster, on behalf of the congregation, presented him with an address and 2000l. on the completion of twenty-five years' incumbency. During the period parochial schools and local churches increased and a convalescent home, for which a parishioner gave Fleming 23,500l., was built at Birchington. Outside his parish his chief interests were Dr. Barnardo's Homes [see Barnardo, Thomas John, Suppl. II]; the Religious Tract Society, of which he was an honorary secretary from 1880; and the Hospital Sunday Fund, to which he trained his congregation to make large annual contributions, amounting in twenty-eight years to nearly 35,000l.
Meanwhile on 30 May 1879 Lord Beaconsfield nominated Fleming to a residentiary canonry in York Minster (see Debate in House of Lords, 16 June 1879). William Thomson [q. v.], archbishop of York, made him succentor on 20 Aug. 1881, and precentor with a prebendal stall on 3 Jan. 1883. In 1880 Lord Beaconsfield was inclined to appoint him first bishop of Liverpool, but local pressure caused John Charles Ryle [q. v. Suppl. I] to be preferred. He afterwards declined the bishopric of Sydney with the primacy of Australia, Nov. 1884 [see Barry, Alfred, Suppl. II], and from reasons of income Lord Salisbury's successive offers of the deaneries of Chester (20 Dec. 1885) and of Norwich (6 May 1889). Honorary chaplain to Queen Victoria (1876) and chaplain in ordinary to her (1880) and to Edward VII (1901), Fleming from 1879 preached almost yearly before Queen Victoria, and before Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, at Sandringham. On 24 Jan. 1892 he preached at Sandringham the sermon in memory of the Duke of Clarence [see Albert Victor Christian Edward, Suppl. I], which was published as 'Recognition in Eternity,' and had a continuous sale, reaching in 1911 to about 67,000 copies. The author's profits, amounting by May 1911 to 1725l., were distributed between two charities named by Queen Alexandra — the Gordon Boys' Home and the British Home and Hospital for Incurables. From 1880 Fleming was Whitehead professor of preaching and elocution at the London College of Divinity (St. John's Hall, Highbury). Three times — 1901, 1903, and 1907— he was appointed William Jones lecturer (sometimes called the Golden lectureship) by the Haberdashers' Company. Fleming, who early in 1877 denounced the 'folly, obstinacy, and contumacy' of the ritualists in 'The Times' (25 Jan. 1877), ceased to wear the black gown in the pulpit after the judgment in Clifton v. Ridsdale (12 May 1877). But his suspicion of ritualism increased with his years (cf. Mrs. Creighton's Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, ii. 308–309). In later life he supported the protestant agitation of John Kensit [q. v. Suppl. II]. His personal relations with C. H. Spurgeon [q. v.], William Morley Punshon [q. v.], and other nonconformist leaders were very cordial. Fleming died at St. Michael's Vicarage on 1 Sept. 1908, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery. A reredos and choir stalls in memory of him were placed in St. Michael's (1911), and a statue of King Edwyn in York Minster. He married, on 21 June 1853, at Holy Trinity, Brompton, Grace, elder daughter of Admiral Purcell, who died on 25 May 1903. They had three sons and three daughters. A cartoon portrait of Fleming by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1889.
Fleming's personal charm and grace of speech made him popular, but he was neither a student nor a thinker. 'The Stolen Sermon, or Canon Fleming's Theft,' a pamphlet issued in 1887 (embodying an article in the 'Weekly Churchman,' 6 May), showed that one of two sermons by Fleming, published as 'Science and the Bible' (1880), reproduced almost verbatim 'The Bible Right,' a sermon by Dr. Talmage ('Fifty Sermons,' 2nd series, 2nd edit. 1876, pp. 312-21). Fleming explained in a published letter that he had inadvertently transferred Dr. Talmage's sermon from his common-place book. Apart from some twenty separate sermons, chiefly for special occasions, Fleming published a useful manual on 'The Art of Reading and Speaking' (1896) and 'Our Gracious Queen Alexandra' (1901) for the Religious Tract Society.
[A. R. M. Finlayson, Life of Canon Fleming, 1909; The Times, 2 Sept. 1908; Record, 4 Sept. 1908; Guardian, 2 and 9 Sept. 1908; Crockford, Clerical Directory, 1908.]