James Anderton of Lostock (1557–1618) was an English Catholic aristocrat and controversialist. He belonged to the well-known Catholic

Anderton family The Anderton family was a notable family, which was divided into several branches and lived in various places throughout the historic county of Lancashire, England. After the Reformation they provided a number of prominent Roman Catholics. Promin ...

who lived at

Lostock Hall Lostock Hall is a suburban village within the South Ribble borough of Lancashire, England. It is located on the south side of the River Ribble, some south of Preston and north of Leyland. It is bordered on its southeastern side by the i ...

, Lostock, in the parish of

Bolton le Moors Bolton le Moors (also known as Bolton le Moors St Peter) was a large civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in Salford (hundred), hundred of Salford in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, England. It was administered f ...

, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, and inherited a large estate from his parents, Christopher and Dorothy Anderton. In 1582 he married the recusant Margaret Tyldesley, though the marriage produced no children. Like his father he became a lawyer, and in 1592 succeeded his father as

prothonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

of the Duchy Court at Lancaster. Both his mother and his wife were faithful Catholics, but like his father, he temporized. In 1603 he signed a loyal address from all the gentry of Lancaster welcoming James I on his progress to London. He was credited with the Catholic works "The Protestant's Apologie" (of particular note for its labyrinthine footnote apparatus), "The Lyturgie of the Masse", "The Reformed Protestant" and "Luther's Life". It has been claimed, most notably by the nineteenth-century Catholic biographer

Joseph Gillow Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics". Biography Born in Frenchwood Hous ...

, that the real author of these works was his nephew, the Jesuit Laurence Anderton, although this assertion has been proved to be spurious in recent years.A.F. Allison, "Who was John Brereley?", ''

Recusant History Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

'' 16 (1982), pp. 17-40. Anderton was responsible for setting up a Catholic press at his brother's home of Birchley Hall, approximately from Lostock. Around 20 works were published from this clandestine press between 1615 and 1621, although it is thought that the press was established as early as 1613. Anderton died on 7 September 1613, having been fully reconciled to the Catholic faith. He left £1500 to the maintenance of the Catholic priesthood in England, a sum of money that the Privy Council and Bishop of Chester became interested in capturing. They never did. He was widely respected by Catholics of his day. His "Apologie" was translated on the continent into Latin in 1615, and the two editions of the work, published in 1604 and 1608, both got responses from Thomas Morton, the King's chaplain and the man responsible for getting John Donne into holy orders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderton, James 1557 births 1618 deaths People from Bolton 16th-century English lawyers 17th-century English lawyers 17th-century Roman Catholics 16th-century Roman Catholics