James Atlay was the 98th Anglican Bishop of Hereford

Bishop of Hereford

The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.The see is in the City of Hereford where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelbert which was founded as a cathedral in 676.The Bishop's residence is...

, from 1868 to 1894.

James Atlay was the son of Rev Henry Atlay and Elizabeth Rayner Hovell. Educated at Oakham School

Oakham School

Oakham School is a British co-educational independent school in the historic market town of Oakham in Rutland, accepting around 1,000 pupils, aged from 10 to 18, both male and female, as boarders and day pupils . The Good Schools Guide called the school "a privileged but unpretentious and...

, he entered St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, where he held a fellowship from 1846 to 1859. He was vicar of Madingley

Madingley

Madingley is a village near Coton and Dry Drayton on the western outskirts of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.Known as Madingelei in the Domesday Book, the village's name means "Woodland clearing of the family or followers of a man called Mada"....

, near Cambridge, from 1847 to 1852, and Queen's preacher at the Chapel Royal

Chapel Royal

A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...

, Whitehall, 1857. He occupied the position of a senior tutor in his college at the time he was elected in 1859 to the vicarage of Leeds

Leeds Parish Church

Leeds Parish Church, or the Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds, in Leeds, West Yorkshire is a large Church of England parish church of major architectural and liturgical significance. It has been designated a grade I listed building by English Heritage...

. Dr Atlay was appointed a canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 of Ripon Cathedral

Ripon Cathedral

Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...

 in 1861.

In 1867, he refused the bishopric of Calcutta

Bishop of Calcutta

The Bishop of Calcutta exercises episcopal leadership over the Diocese of Calcutta of the Church of North India. The diocese was established in 1813 as part of the Church of England and the first bishop was Thomas Fanshawe Middleton and the second Reginald Heber...

, but in the following year accepted the bishopric of Hereford, in succession to Dr Hampden

Renn Dickson Hampden

Renn Dickson Hampden , was an English Anglican clergyman whose selection as Bishop of Hereford formed a minor cause celebre in Victorian religious controversies.-Biography:...

.

He married in 1859 Frances Turner, younger daughter of Major William Martin of the Bengal Army

Bengal Army

The Bengal Army was the army of the Presidency of Bengal, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia. Although based in Bengal in eastern India, the presidency stretched across northern India and the Himalayas all the way to the North West Frontier Province...

. The Rt Rev James Atlay DD died on 24 December 1894 aged 77 and is buried in Hereford Cathedral

Hereford Cathedral

The current Hereford Cathedral, located at Hereford in England, dates from 1079. Its most famous treasure is Mappa Mundi, a mediæval map of the world dating from the 13th century. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.-Origins:...

 where he has a magnificent memorial in the north transept.

He possessed great organising ability and an attractive personality and was described by Archbishop Benson

Edward White Benson

Edward White Benson was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death.-Life:Edward White Benson was born in Highgate, Birmingham, the son of a Birmingham chemical manufacturer. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1852...

 as 'the most beautiful combination of enthusiasm, manliness and modesty.'

Among his children was Rev.d George William Atlay who was murdered by a party of Ngoni people while attached to the Universities' Mission to Central Africa

Universities' Mission to Central Africa

The Universities' Mission to Central Africa was a missionary society established by members of the Anglican Church within the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and Dublin. It was firmly in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church, and the first to devolve authority to a bishop in the...

 at Likoma

Likoma

Likoma can mean:*Likoma Island – an island surrounded by Lake Malawi*Likoma District – an administrative district of Malawi*Likoma, Malawi – a town located on Likoma Island that serves as the administrative capital of Likoma District...

, Lake Nyasa.