relief during the Cotton Famine; attention was drawn to this and to Stephens' past history when there were riots on the relief issue in Stalybridge. In 1868 he lectured against disestablishment of the Irish Church. Stephens is buried in St. John's Church in Dukinfield and commemorated by a blue plaque placed on the remains of the former Stalybridge Town Hall and an obelisk monument in Stamford Park. Rayner Stephens High School in Dukinfield is named after him. Bibliography Holyoake, George Jacob. (1881) Life of Joseph Rayner Stephens, preacher and political orator. London: Williams and Norgate Issued to support the memorial appeal. Not so much a 'Life' as a collection of extensive quotations from a few letters and sermons - furthermore Holyoake (a Radical and free-thinker) is clearly not in sympathy with Stephens' political position (and perhaps does not understand it) Edwards, M.S. (1994). Purge This Realm – A Life of Joseph Rayner Stephens. London: Epworth Press. Notes References External links www.thepeoplescharter.co.uk Spartacus article on Joseph Rayner Stephens 1805 births 1879 deaths British Methodists Clergy from Edinburgh Burials in Greater Manchester