According to the 'Annals of Liverpool', St. James' Church was opened for Divine service on 4th June 1775, although the church was not consecrated until the following month. A notice in 'Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser', 21st July 1775, states that 'the Anniversary of the Ancient and Honourable Society of Bucks which was to have taken place on Thursday 25th July [1775] is postponed ... on account of the Consecration of St. James' Church ...'. ,  The outside was restored in 1830, the interior in 1875.

1898: Under the terms of the Liverpool Corporation Act, the Corporation appropriated St. James' churchyard and closed it for interments. An agreement dated 11th Sep 1899, between the churchwardens and the Corporation was confirmed on 29th Jan 1901, empowering the Corporation to use part of the churchyard for widening St. James' Place and to lay out the remainer as an ornamental garden. Copies of inscriptions of the gravestones removed are held by Liverpool Records office.

1899 Foundation stone of a chancel to St James’s Church Toxteth Nov 7th, this opened in 1900..  
1912 Bequest of £1,000 for the enlargement of St James Church, Toxteth Park in the will of Mrs Elizabeth Stringer.
1931 the benefices and parishes of St. James' and St. Matthew became united into the new parish of St. James with St. Matthew.
1940, following the closure of Holy Trinity Church, Parliament Street, the parishes of St. James with St.Matthew and Holy Trinity became amalgamated into the parish of St. James with St. Matthew and Holy Trinity.

This is now owned by the Churches Conservation Trust. apparently because of its interior ironwork. There are galleries, built with cast-iron columns supporting them, although the original pews and pulpit have been removed.  St. James stands with the grounds pleasingly open to inspection but sits sealed, looking vulnerable and in a seemingly poor state of repair with much evidence of neglect and crumbling masonry and brickwork.  There is no external evidence of conservation. It is sad that one of the the oldest buildings both in Toxteth and Liverpool is seemingly being allowed to just crumble away.  

I gather that this may no longer be correct as a large sum of money has apparently been spent on conservation and the building is currently (June 2005) the subject of an appeal to raise further sums and restore it to some form of use. BBC link

Further details of St James can be obtained from 'A History of the Church of St. James, 1775 - 1925', 1925. 

The School At a meeting, 'holden in the Vestry of St. James' Church on the 27th day of June 1786, it was unanimously agreed to erect and support a school for the Education of the Children of the Poor. A Subscription was immediately set on foot for that benevolent purpose and the school was opened on the 25th day of July following'. In 1908 the Corporation assumed possession of the school which was then carried on as a Council School. A new school building was opened in 1911 and the school last appears in the 'Liverpool Directory' for 1949. No further information concerning this school can be traced.

Liverpool records office holds :- Old registers, 1775 - 1813, Baptism registers, 1813 - 1959, Marriage registers, 1775 - 1965, Burial registers, 1813 - 1894, Banns registers, 1823 - 1936, Grave register, 1910, Confirmation register, 1930 - 1965, Service register, 1893 - 1958, Choir registers, 1936 - 1953, Vestry, Parochial Church Meetings and Parochial Church Council minutes, 1775 - 1972, Rate book for repairs, 1856, Estimate for cleaning and overhauling the organ, 1936, Parochial roll of Electors, 1920 - 1968, St. James' School, minutes of Committee of Subscribers and Management, 1786 - 1874.