of the Western District, with effect from 30 January 1688, was Bishop Philip Michael Ellis OSB, who resigned in 1705. He should have been succeeded by Andrew Giffard (brother of Bonaventure Giffard), however, he refused to accept the appointment. The next vicar apostolic in 1713, after an interregnum, was Matthew Pritchard O.F.M. In 1840, a general redivision of the vicariates took effect. Wales and Herefordshire formed the new Apostolic Vicariate of the Welsh District, and thenceforth the Western District consisted of the English counties in the south west only. Despite this last subdivision and intermittent persecution, an Apostolic Vicariate of the Western District existed until 29 September 1850 when Pope Pius IX issued the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae, by which thirteen new dioceses which did not formally claim any continuity with the pre-Elizabethan English dioceses were created, commonly known as the restoration of the English hierarchy. Among them was the diocese of Clifton, which along with the new Diocese of Plymouth was formed from the territory of the former Apostolic Vicariate of the Western District. Legacy - Dioceses of Clifton and Plymouth Given that the Apostolic Vicars resided chiefly at Bath in Somerset, it was fitting that the last vicar apostolic of the Western District, Dr Joseph William Hendren (1791–1866), consecrated in 1848, should become the first Bishop of Clifton. Thus the new Clifton diocese was in continuity with the old vicariate. In the early period from 1850 the Clifton diocese was a suffragan of the Metropolitan See of Westminster, but a further development was the creation under Pope Pius X, on 28 October 1911, of a new Province of Birmingham, to which Clifton then was transferred. The archives of the Western District, one of the most important sources of information for the history of the Church in England from 1780 to 1850 are deposited in the archives of the diocese of Clifton. The other half of the apostolic vicariate became the Diocese of Plymouth. List of the Vicars Apostolic of the Western District See also Catholic Church in England and Wales Roman Catholicism in England and Wales Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops Catholic Church by country Catholic Church hierarchy Roman Catholic bishops References Bibliography History of Catholicism in England Apostolic vicariates Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe Apostolic vicariates in England and Wales