UMFC minister, born on 24 November 1820 at Rawdon Fold, Yorks. He was President of the UMFC Conference in 1869 and died on 21 December 1908.
His son, James Marshall Mather (1851-1916; e.m. 1871) was born at South Shields on 9 May 1851 and followed his father into the ministry. After one year in Mansfield, he spent the rest of his ministry in the Manchester area. His chief interest was in literature, and especially the Lancashire dialect and he served as associate connexional editor from 1892 to 1907. He wrote John Ruskin, his Life and Teaching (c.1888) and Popular Studies of Nineteenth Century Poets (1892) and Rambles round Rossendale (1894). He died at Higher Broughton, Manchester on 16 May 1916.