The see of Chester then included the counties of Chester, Lancaster, and portions of Cumberland, Westmorland, York, Flint, and Denbigh.
In 1836 the archdeaconry of Richmond was assigned to the new see of Ripon, and the part of Lancashire known as Furness, together with these parts of Westmorland and Cumberland above mentioned, were added to the diocese of Carlisle.
In 1847 the new see of Manchester was formed from the diocese of Chester.
The diocese of Manchester lies within the county of Lancaster, but does not embrace the whole county, part of which forms the see of Liverpool, while a small part of it belongs to that of Carlisle.
It consists of three archdeaconries:—Manchester, Lancaster, and Blackburn.
The total number of benefices in the diocese in the year 1900 was 550, of beneficed clergy, 525, and of assistant curates about 360.
The cathedral church is calculated to afford accommodation for 2000 persons.
Since the foundation of the see it has been presided over by three bishops.
The first was the Right Rev. James Prince Lee, D.D., F.R.S., for many years headmaster of King Edward's School, Birmingham, and a distinguished scholar. He was elected in 1847, and consecrated in the first month of the following year by the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Chester and Worcester. He died in 1869 at Mauldeth Hall, Heaton Mersey, and was buried in Heaton Mersey Churchyard.
He was succeeded by the Right Rev. James Fraser, D.D., who when at Oxford had gained the Ireland Scholarship, and became a Fellow of Oriel College. He was a man of great intellectual power, of kindly manner, and won the respect and confidence not only of Churchmen, but of members of all denominations, especially of the mill hands of his populous diocese. He was nominated to the see in January 1890, and consecrated in March of the same year. He died 22nd October 1885 at Manchester, and is buried in the churchyard of Ufton Nervet, Berks.