Introduction

Biography

James was the son of John Skin­ner, dean of Dunk­eld and Ab­er­deen, Scot­land, and grand­son of Bi­shop Skin­ner of Ab­er­deen.

He was edu­cat­ed at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Dur­ham (BA 1837, MA 1840), and was sub­se­quent­ly a fel­low of his uni­ver­si­ty.

Taking ho­ly orders in 1841, he be­came a chap­lain to Queen Vic­tor­ia’s forc­es in 1844. He was sub­sequen­tly cur­ate of St. Bar­na­bas, Pim­li­co; vi­car of New­land; and war­den of the Beau­champ Cha­ri­ty.

He re­tired from pa­ro­chi­al work in 1877 due to ill health.

Works

• The Church in the Pub­lic School
• A Guide to Ad­vent
• Guide How to Keep Lent
• An Office of Spir­it­ual Com­mun­ion
• Perversions to Rome
• Plain Di­rect­ions for Keep­ing Lent
• The Priest’s Call
• Revelation of An­ti­christ
• The Stew­ards of the Mys­ter­ies of God
• Warnings and Con­so­la­tions
• The Way of the Wil­der­ness by the Red Sea
• Why Do We Prize Ex­ter­nals in the Ser­vice of God?
• Twenty-One Heads of Chris­tian Du­ty
• Cælestia, a ve­ri­fied trans­la­tion of the so-called Ma­nu­al of St. Au­gus­tine in 36 odes.
• Daily Ser­vice Hym­nal (Lon­don & Ox­ford: Riv­ing­tons, 1863)