Raine, James, 1791-1858

James Raine (1791-1858) was born at Ovington, Yorkshire, the son of James and Anne Raine, and educated at Kirby Hill School and at Richmond Grammar School in Yorkshire. From 1812 until 1827 he was Second Master at Durham School. He was ordained deacon in 1814 and priest in 1818. Meanwhile, in 1816, he had been appointed librarian to the Dean and Chapter of Durham, a post which he retained until his death. In 1822 the Dean and Chapter appointed him to the rectory of Meldon, Northumberland. In 1825 he was appointed Principal Surrogate in the Consistory Court of Durham under the Chancellor, James Baker, and in 1828 he was appointed by the Dean and Chapter to the rectory of St Mary the Less, Durham City.

Raine achieved lasting fame as an antiquary and historian. As a young man he was the friend of several of the most notable local historians of North East England, including Robert Surtees (d. 1834), the historian of County Durham, and John Hodgson (d. 1845), the historian of Northumberland. Raine's first historical writings appeared in the 1820's, and the first to achieve fame was his account of the excavations of 1827 at St Cuthbert's shrine in Durham cathedral. In and after 1834, he was the prime mover in the foundation of the Surtees Society, intended as a memorial to the historian whose name it bore. In the ensuing years, Raine edited numerous texts for the society, as well as producing further works of his own, of which the best known was his History and Antiquities of North Durham .

Raine married, 28 January 1828, Margaret Peacock. They had three daughters and one son (Rev. James Raine the younger, 1830-1896, Chancellor and Canon Residentiary of York). The family lived at Crook Hall, just outside Durham. James Raine the elder died on 6 December 1858, and was buried in the churchyard of Durham cathedral.