and, after he ignored a letter from White informing him he did not have White's permission to officiate at services at St John's Downshire Hill, White began proceedings against Wilcox for officiating without the permission of the incumbent A consistory court ruled in favour of White, but local feeling was on the side of Wilcox. The poet John Keats, who was living nearby at the time in what is now Keats House had earlier referred to White as "the Person of Hampstead quarrelling with all the world" and a petition was organised and signed by influential local people including the then Lord of the Manor of Belsize, Lord Galloway, and Sara Coleridge. The outcome of the case also attracted strong criticism at the time in the Church of England magazine: "In the existing state, therefore, of our Ecclesiastical law, a clergyman may incur every penalty for preaching, praying and administering the Sacrament, which he could incur were he guilty of adultery, drunkenness, profane swearing, or other outrageous and abominable conduct... It will be observed that this decision has no reference whatever to any real or supposed want of religious instruction in the parish...[T]he existing chapel on Downshire Hill may perish with the dry rot – may be turned into... a Ballroom, a Theatre or a Gambling House, but according to existing law, it can never be opened as a place of worship for the Church of England, until the Incumbent of the parish gives consent." The decision of the court prevailed, with the church closing until 1835. The church's name remained infamous in ecclesiastical circles for some years following. Wilcox remained in the area during this time, apparently devoting his time to educating local children at a St John's Church School which he had founded at his own expense, also on Downshire Hill, before dying in December 1835. 1835–1916 In 1835, an alternative minister was found who was approved of by Dr. White: John Ayre was minister of St John's between 1835 and 1855; he remained the longest-standing minister of St John's for many years after. In 1862, the copyhold of the church was converted to a freehold, following a payment by the official copyholder at that time. With the need for increased capacity to accommodate churchgoers, a new parish church in the area was planned. In 1863, St John's was proposed as the new parish church. The proposal was