January 1688, was Bishop Bonaventure Giffard, who in 1703 was translated to become the Vicar Apostolic of the London District. The Midland District consisted of the historic counties of Cambridgeshire (with the Isle of Ely), Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Notwithstanding intermittent persecution, an Apostolic Vicariate of the Midland District continued in existence until in 1840 when the existing four Vicariates were further divided. The Midland District was renamed the Central District on 3 July 1840, but it lost jurisdiction of the counties of Cambridgeshire (with the Isle of Ely), Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, and Rutland to the newly formed the Apostolic Vicariate of the Eastern District. The Central District was to last only ten years, until on 29 September 1850, Pope Pius IX issued the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae, by which thirteen new dioceses were created, commonly known as the restoration of the English hierarchy, among them the diocese of Birmingham, which replaced formally the previous Vicariate. The last Apostolic Vicar of the Midland District was Bishop Thomas Walsh, who from 1840 till 1847 had the new title Vicar Apostolic of the Central District. Bishop and Archbishop of Birmingham Bishop Walsh was succeeded as Vicar Apostolic of the Central District by the Benedictine William Bernard Ullathorne, who on 29 September 1850 received the new title of Bishop of Birmingham. On 28 October 1911 a new ecclesiastical province was created dependent on Birmingham, and the title became that of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Birmingham. List of Apostolic Vicars Apostolic Vicars of the Midland District Apostolic Vicars of the Central District See also Catholic Church by country Catholic Church hierarchy Catholic Church in England and Wales Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholicism in England and Wales References Bibliography History of Catholicism in England Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe Midland District Apostolic vicariates Christianity in Birmingham, West Midlands 1688 establishments in England